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Today we want to talk about autoresponders and a closely related topic, opt-in mailing lists. Autoresponders are important tools for list management, and managing email product promotions, newsletter subscriptions and the like. If you use emai

According to USFDA, a combination product is one composed of any combination of a drug and device; biological product and device; drug and biological product

l at all to promote your products, opt-in processes are crucial to your avoiding being accused of SPAM (and communicating to others you’re a really nice person). :-)

Autoresponders
Autoresponders are software systems that manage your

; or drug, device, and biological product and fixed dose combination would include two or more combinations of drug.

Examples of combination products may in

email communications with people on your list. They come in all sizes and shapes. If you have a website, you probably have a basic one included with your hosting package.

Most of the time you want to email people on your list for one of three reasons. You

lude drug-coated devices, drugs packaged with delivery devices in medical kits, and drugs and devices packaged separately but intended to be used together.

want to send them:

One-off information, a product offer, for example, or a reminder about a soon-to-expire bonus offer
A regular series of communications such as subscription newsletters or modules of a training manual
A sequence o

here is enormous increase in the number of combination products entering the market in the recent years. Combination products have proven advantages but fixe

messages introducing new members to your products and your philosophy about life, the universe and direct marketing

(You also will be sending one-off messages to individuals as, for example, replies to queries. We shall ignore these in this art

d dose combinations are still in the process of convincing regulatory authority on their advantages over the single ingredient formulations.

Combination pro

cle.)

Quite simply, if you have no more that about three people on your list, when you wanted to email them, you sit down at your computer, draft individual messages and send them out. As your list grows, you need to be able to automate the process. This

ucts have become life saving products for the pharmaceutical companies who doesn’t have many innovative molecules in their product pipeline and have been inc

s what autoresponders do.

With autoresponders you can do a number of things:

You can personalize messages. Instead of ‘Dear Friend’, each reader will see his or her name. You can include any number of other bits of information specific to individ

easingly used in the product life cycle management. Even the companies having product patents are trying to extend their product life cycle through the combi

uals such as where they live dotted throughout the message

You can send specific messages automatically at pre-determined times. If somebody has purchased a front-end product, for example, you can send him or her a Thank You message on day 1, an An

nation products and maximize the revenues. But the companies involved in this practice are overlooking that they are burdening the patients both economically

Questions? message on day 3, a How’s It Going? Message on day 5 and a back-end product offer on day 7. This is entirely automatic once you have set it up

Newsletters can be sent out regularly with no input from you other than the content and the d

and physically. They need to rightly judge the benefits of the combination products and they have to even look at the risks involved when combining the produ

te of mailing. Your autoresponder will do the rest, including managing names on your list

There are three types of autoresponder available to you:

Your hosting package probably includes an autoresponder, as we said above. These are usua

ts. Some of the combination products were well accepted by physicians while others suffered. Companies involved in development of combination products are fi

ly fairly basic

You may purchase your own autoresponder software. Features vary, as do prices. Do a search of the Internet. This option will probably give you maximum flexibility but you will have to set it up

There are turnkey services ava

ding difficulty in defining their combination products and facing various challenges from selecting a combination to marketing it.

Following aspects would a

lable such as www.aweber.com that will do everything for you including maintaining your list on their server. You pay a monthly or yearly fee. This is probably your best choice when you have outgrown the on

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

Which markets to tap where the combination products can do fairly well?
Which combination prod

offered by your host.

Because of the range of autoresponders available, it will be a good idea to ask your techie or guru for their recommendations. When you are new in the business, you can do it all manually. When you list begins to grow – an

cts are meaningful and rational?
Which therapeutic categories to select?
Which Combinations can address unmet needs of the patients?
Do combin

we hope it does very quickly :-), you will need one.

Opt-in and double opt-in mailing lists
People on your list must have opted-in. By this we mean they must have somehow indicated they want to receive information or sales offers fr

tions increase the patient compliance?
What would be the developing cost?
How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen

om you. They have either responded to a classified ad or filled in a form on your website requesting information. One way or another, they have indicated they are prepared to receive emails from you.

A safer option is double opt-in. This is a two-step pro

t?

As combination products don't fit into the traditional categories of drugs, medical devices, or biological products, the USFDA is in the process of devel

ess. When they enter their names and email addresses in the form on your website, you send them an email message. This message asks them to reply to confirm their interest in you and your products. If they don’t reply, they don’t go onto your list.

We sha

ping new procedures for reviewing their safety, efficacy and quality.

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

l talk about SPAM in detail in Article Thirty-One. Here I just want to say a bit about it. SPAM is defined as ‘unsolicited emails of a commercial nature addressed to an individual’. Before you send out any email, be certain your recipient has somehow indic

y and representatives from various regulatory agencies are working out to design the regulatory requirements for manufacture and sale of combination products

ted he or she is prepared to receive it.

Don’t SPAM! It’s rude, unprofitable and it will get you shut down – your host will close down your website and you will be out of business. :-(

Even with double opt-in you will still get a few SPAM complaints. The

.

As there is an increasing trend of the combination products companies manufacturing such products should be able to tackle the problems involved in the de

e usually are from people who signed-up with you then promptly forgot they did it. When your host comes down on you, and believe me it will happen, you have documentation with your double opt-in reply message.

That’s all for this time. See you soon.

Next

elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements.

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

time we shall talk about joint ventures. If you have a list but no products or a product but no list, a joint venture is one way out of this dilemma.

Thanks for listening. :-)

Copyright © 2006 Mary Rice-Johnston & Golden Goose Direct. All rights reserved

tion in industry events and feedback to regulatory authorities would be able to face the challenges and will be successful in developing combination products

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