2025 Customer Engagement Planning and Execution Benchmarking Study

The pharmaceutical industry is undergoing a significant transformation, and several notable trends are shaping it. Among those are the growing use of omnichannel customer engagement, more sophisticated patient journeys, and the increasing role of artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI (GenAI).

Digital transformation continues to be a central focus in the industry. Driven by advancements in data analytics, AI, GenAI, and other digital technologies, the evolution of customer engagement is accelerating, enabling pharmaceutical companies to interact with customers in more personalized and efficient ways.

It is critical to understand the consequences of these trends across various facets of field force planning and execution. Customer segmentation and targeting, territory design and alignment, call planning, plan generation, and field execution are all being transformed in this process.

Today’s healthcare providers and patients have complex needs and preferences that require more personalized and dynamic support than in the past. Successfully adapting to such industry changes requires field representatives to make a behavioral shift, for which they need dynamic planning tools, near real-time guidance, and coordinated promotions across digital, virtual, and in-person touchpoints. Artificial intelligence empowers field representatives with the intelligence they need to deliver more personalized and targeted messages as they develop engagement strategies for customers and patients.

In an omnichannel world, the role of the field force has changed, shifting from simple demand generation to more intricate and synchronized engagements. While the pharmaceutical industry has widely adopted triggers and next best actions, holistic omnichannel dynamic targeting and planning is still in the early stages of adoption. This approach integrates personal and non-personal channels to create a more agile and comprehensive targeting strategy, generating substantial business value.

Axtria’s 2025 Customer Engagement Planning and Execution Benchmarking Study was conducted across the Commercial Operations practices of life sciences organizations in the US. In it, we cover key areas such as:

• Organizational approaches to customer engagement planning and execution
• Benchmarks for critical areas of sales operations – segmentation and targeting, activity planning, activity plan generation, and field execution
• Insights into omnichannel maturity, dynamic targeting approaches, next best action, and organizational adoption

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