Research Methodology
Our analytical professionals evaluate each program using actual retail prescription data (for most pharmaceutical products) and other industry - approved methods for non-prescription products or those programs that lack sufficient volume for statistically significant measurements to be made.
To start, we use a matched-pair "test vs. control" research design for most of our program measurements. This is similar to the basic methodology employed in pharmaceutical clinical trials and "design of experiments" models that are advocated by leading management science experts who measure marketing programs for a variety of industries and leading companies.
CHR encourages validation of our methodologies by our client's in-house market research and management science teams. Unlike many firms, our analytics organization is staffed to provide ongoing discussion and consultation with these teams throughout the design, implementation and measurement phases of a program. Our analytical staff is recruited from both academia and the management science groups of leading marketing and market research firms across the country, and is led by a Ph.D. statistician.
We design our controls to account for extraneous variables that may be occurring simultaneous to a CHR program, including other promotional activity, seasonal changes and store/chain differences. This helps to ensure that the results a client sees after conducting a CHR program are the result OF that CHR program.
We encourage measurement of performance over a pre-program test period as well as a program period of at least 26 weeks to better ensure findings that are both valid and statistically significant.
Unlike programs that measure only impressions, Gross Ratings Points, or other metrics that provide only a hint of the sales that might be produced, CHR calculates whenever possible a ROI measurement based on actual sales increases for the brand. We measure the incremental increase in prescription volume (or sales volume, for non-prescription products) delivered by the CHR program. For a brand or company seeking a return on their investment, we can think of no stronger test of a program's merit.