Physicians Interactive President of Consumer Business John de Souza Reveals Key Ways to Engage mHealth Consumers at South By Southwest Conference

AUSTIN, Texas, March 25, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- John de Souza, the President of Consumer Business at Physicians Interactive (PI), spoke last week at the South by Southwest^® (SXSW^®) Conference, held in Austin, Texas, about how healthcare organizations can more effectively engage with consumers through mobile health (mHealth) applications.

De Souza's presentation focused on four pillars needed to successfully sustain lasting relationships with consumers through mHealth apps. To view his presentation on SlideShare, click on this link: "First Date to I Do: 4 Keys to mHealth Engagement."  

De Souza's four strategies for mHealth engagement include:

• Create an immersive experience by providing rich, relevant content
• Foster emotional connections that build a deep, positive and sustained relationship
• Develop and maintain a customer- and patient-centric experience
• Provide peer-based communities to share information and build relationships within the app

Drawing from his experiences at MedHelp, part of the consumer division of PI, de Souza explored how these strategies helped lead to their mHealth app successes, such as having the number one Android pregnancy app, I'm Expecting.

"Users appreciate relating to and connecting with real people with shared interests and common experiences," de Souza told the SXSW audience. "So we created relevant, active communities within I'm Expecting where our users can exchange advice, get answers to their questions, and forge relationships with other pregnant women who are their age or at the same week of pregnancy. We found this type of peer engagement brings people back more often and encourages them to use the app for longer time periods."

De Souza emphasized the need for companies to understand what engagement means to their audience and how to best foster it. "There is no silver bullet — building engagement is a diverse, multi-faceted and ongoing process," de Souza said. "At MedHelp, we've experimented with many different approaches, and continue to explore new ideas and refine our thinking. This philosophy has led us to great results. For example, I'm Expecting is now used by 40 percent of pregnant women in the US."

MedHelp, the world's largest health community, was founded in February 1994 and pioneered the field of consumer health information and communities on the Internet. De Souza was the president and CEO until the company was acquired by Physicians Interactive in 2014.

About Physicians Interactive

Headquartered in Reading, MA, PI aspires to use the power of worldwide networks of healthcare professionals and life sciences companies, together, in ways that will change the practice and business of medicine for the better. PI's value proposition is to offer the life science industry a low-cost, virtual, multichannel marketing approach that can be used to supplement currently promoted products, as well as non-promoted and orphaned products, that deliver benefits to physicians and patients. A key focus is providing services that fit into physicians' and healthcare professionals' daily workflow at the point-of-care, when they make diagnosis, treatment, and prescribing decisions. More information can be found at www.PhysiciansInteractive.com.

Media Contact:

Amendola Communications for Physicians Interactive
Tim Boivin, 224.209.6495
[email protected]

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SOURCE Physicians Interactive

Related Links

http://www.PhysiciansInteractive.com