Case Studies American College of Physicians - Interactive Member Benefits Guide DDA uses interactive media to recruit and retain new and existing members of the American College of Physicians.
Challenge
The American College of Physicians (ACP), the largest medical specialty organization in America with 130,000 Internist members, needed an updated welcoming kit for new physician members. Additionally, current members and fellows were unaware of everything ACP had to offer. ACP needed a way to make new and existing members understand the value of the organization, and what was available, in order to increase member participation and retention.
Objectives
To offer an easy to understand and user-friendly, engaging presentation explaining the offerings and benefits of ACP membership. The goal was to provide brief information in a task-oriented format that covered the full spectrum of ACP's benefits, products, and services. Each task-oriented module would include a direct link to ACP's website where users could learn more. The tasks were to be loosely based on the structure of ACP's website.
When first presented with DDA's SmartSite™ technology, ACP immediately understood its value and realized its relevant application to serve the current marketing purpose. That said, the objective was to create a custom SmartSite™ for ACP, one that would provide users with complete control over the information they wanted to view and how they wanted to view it.
Solution
Embedded video produced in DDA's studios with actors from DDA's Actors' Network combined with synchronized text and images creates a compelling, visually-interesting, and immersive user experience in this interactive web-based tool. Everything American College of Physicians has to offer was organized in an easy-to-use, intuitive, and engaging platform, presenting users with all available options, while simultaneously making it easy for them to select exactly what they want. The task approach was rethought during development and a more logical and creative approach was initiated. The interactive member's guide can be used for multiple applications, beyond just as a welcoming kit, including for recruitment and retention purposes.
DDA's pioneering synchronous media presentation is comprised of interactivity features programmed to provide the user the ability to close and reopen integrated videos, text, and synchronized images; easily print web pages of important information; add these pages in a personal electronic library; and quickly email copies of these pages to a colleague. DDA also programmed a tracking capability that allows ACP to collect data regarding the number of visits by new and current members. Plus, DDA programmed the entire tool as a mobile version, compatible with iPhones®, iPads®, Androids™, and more to benefit the physicians on the go.
Results
A wholly engaging marketing and presentation device that uses DDA SmartSite™ technology to synchronize Flash video, images, and text while still being Smartphone compatible. The new task structure generated in the development of this marketing device compelled ACP to update the membership section of the organization's website to correspond more closely to this new task approach. The tool successfully welcomes new members to explore the many benefits that suit their interests and re-engages older members who may be looking to see what they can get with their ACP membership. In fact, the tool was so effective in driving membership that ACP is considering similar interactive marketing approaches to drive membership specifically among a younger demographic of medical students and residents.
