September 28th, 2023, Lesley Simeon
Navigating conflicting information can get tricky, especially when trying to decide on purchases of critical items like health and pharmaceutical products. How do consumers tackle conflicting information around such items, now that they are less deferential when it comes to medical issues?
A recent YouGov survey asked consumers across 18 international markets about how they deal with inconsistent information around health and pharmaceutical products.
For over two in five (43%) consumers across all markets surveyed, consulting healthcare professionals or pharmacists for their expert opinion and guidance is the most opted for solution for conflicting information. Comparing information from multiple sources to identify common themes and discrepancies follows at a distant second (32%).
Two in ten (20%) consumers rely on the reputation of the source of the information and the qualifications of the author to determine the reliability of the information they consume. But importantly, around one in ten (9%) consumers say they don’t know how to navigate conflicting information about health and pharmaceutical products.
By country, here’s what consumers do when faced with conflicting information about health and pharmaceutical products
More than two in five consumers in the US (43%) and Great Britain (41%) consult healthcare professionals or pharmacists for their expert opinion or guidance, and that’s followed by comparing information from multiple sources to identify common themes and discrepancies (33% in the US, 29% in Great Britain).
Moving on to Europe, more than a third (36%) of consumers in Germany consult healthcare professionals or pharmacists for reliable information on health and pharmaceutical products. They are the least likely across all markets surveyed to rely on the reputation of the source and the qualifications of the author to determine the reliability of the information (11%).
In Singapore, consulting healthcare professionals or pharmacists is the top choice (50%) - consumers here are most likely to do so, across all markets surveyed. Comparing information from multiple sources to identify common themes and discrepancies (42%) follow.
In Denmark, over a third (35%) of consumers rely on the expert advice of healthcare professionals or pharmacists to overcome conflicting information about health and pharmaceutical products.
Polling data shows that at nearly two in ten (17%) consumers, UAE accounts for the largest share of respondents who say they don’t know how to navigate conflicting information about health and pharmaceutical products. Consumers in India follow at a close second (15%) and Germany ranks third (10%).
Explore our living data - for free
Discover more health and pharma content here
Want to run your own research? Run a survey now
Make smarter business decisions with better intelligence. Understand exactly what your audience is thinking by leveraging our panel of 20 million+ members. Speak with us today.
Methodology: YouGov Surveys: Serviced provide quick survey results from nationally representative or targeted audiences in multiple markets. The data is based on surveys of adults aged 18+ years in 18 markets with sample sizes varying between 437 and for each market. All surveys were conducted online in June 2023. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples. Learn more about YouGov Surveys: Serviced.
Photo by Volodymyr Hryshchenko on Unsplash