Picture of Health: Capturing a Market with Un-Standard Procedures

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A new condition seems to be spreading among consumers and how they gather their health information. While most still prefer to go to the mailbox than the waiting room, an increasing number are returning to doctors and nurses as one of the primary sources for their health-related information.

Consumers also are pulling back from the Internet as a preferred mode of health information, including for sensitive health information, according to a North American survey by ICOM, taken in January.

These results capture a potentially critical shift in consumer attitudes about how they receive health related information. For instance, consumers continue to prefer to get their health news from traditional mail over email, citing convenience, privacy and trustworthiness as the leading reasons why. For marketers, the resonant message resides in what is not said: Concerns about privacy could be driving consumers away from online sources.