UPW Case: A Triumph in Compliance and Conversions for Private Online Pharmacy

This online pharmacy that operates in the private space clearly needed to work with an agency who knows how they operate to get them out of a sticky situation. Now, they have a new system and a dedicated pharmacy-led agency to supercharge their growth.

About This Pharmacy

A private online pharmacy that extends its services not just across the UK, but globally. Distinguished by its unique variety of products and commitment to customer service, the pharmacy faced significant challenges due to a non-GPhC compliant website and a GPhC inspection that required them to adapt. Positioned for growth, they required urgent and comprehensive solutions.

The Challenge

The pharmacy approached us in the face of distressing circumstances. They have used several agencies in the past but none of them could help them navigate through the evolving GPhC landscape of selling POM’s and P-lines online. Some of the things they were challenged with:

• Non-GPhC Compliance: An impending GPhC inspection had signalled a multitude of compliance issues on their previous website.
• Broken Website: Several functionalities of the website were non-operational, creating a less-than-ideal user experience and jeopardising trust and sales.
• Website Presentation: Poor quality medicinal images, formatting of critical pages and blogs. The website was in need of a huge face-lift.
• Database Transfer: A massive database consisting of 100’s of products needed to be transferred seamlessly to a new platform, as well as a database of 1000’s of patents.
• Digital Marketing Bottlenecks: Poor SEO strategies and challenges in paid advertising were shunting online visibility and sales potential.

The pharmacy team desperately needed to work with an agency who could guide them from a pharmacy, marketing and development perspective.

Pharmacy Mentor was the ideal solution.

The Solution

Since this business was already operating, a more detailed discovery session needed to take place, where we covered everything from website technical architecture, website transfer, GPhC compliance, content and marketing. Our discovery sessions with websites of this nature are always led by our CEO, who is a pharmacist, developer and marketeer. He’s usually accompanied by the Web Project Manager and Head of Development/Marketing.

The discovery session is a critical phase, and we developed a plan that consisted of a bespoke website designed around the online prescribing solution we had built i.e. the UPW.

• Web Design & Development: Designed and built a GPhC-compliant website with a professional aesthetic. The website was constructed on the UPW platform, providing a robust foundation for growth and seamless user experience. We developed bespoke features for this pharmacy in accordance with their unique needs.
• Database Management: Successfully transferred a large product database to the new system without disrupting sales or user experience
• SEO and Paid Advertising: Rolled out a new and improved SEO strategy and tactfully circumvented ad blockers, thereby driving targeted traffic to the website
• Social Proofing: Implemented a new review and testimonial strategy that had traditionally been neglected and forgotten about

The Results

Only nine months down the line, and this online pharmacy is reaping the rewards of working with an award-winning agency, dedicated purely to pharmacy:

• GPhC Compliance: The pharmacy is now ticking the boxes when it comes to GPhC compliance, reinstating operational viability.

Not all standards were being met by this pharmacy, and their previous website was letting them down. We changed that.

• Professional, Premium Website: The pharmacy is no longer stuck in the dark age. Their clean, professional website contends amongst the big players out there.
• Enhanced User Experience: The newly designed website has an improved user experience, enhancing the overall patient experience.

A professional, clean and well-designed pharmacy website is crucial for growth

• Sales: Almost £250,000 in online sales in the first 8 months of being with Pharmacy Mentor, with an ambitious goal to double this revenue in the next nine.
• Paid Advertising: We’re continuing to drive revenue successfully from expert advertising, circumventing policy issues, testing new Ad variants and improving overall ad performance
• SEO Success: We’ve seen a sharp rise in SEO from the consistent, quality content generation and technical improvements. The website is regularly receiving over 250 targeted organic website clicks per day

Going from strength to strength for this pharmacy business. More visibility = more sales

• Elevated Social Proofing: Generating over 200 5-star reviews bolstering the pharmacy’s credibility and customer trust.

Social proofing is critical in helping a pharmacy website of this type grow

What’s next for this pharmacy?

There is a lot of potential for this pharmacy, and we have plans to help them grow. We envisage doubling their revenue in the next year and implementing more advanced marketing tactics to encourage higher user engagement. The sky really is the limit…

Ready to take your pharmacy to the next level?

Whether you have an existing prescribing business online, or you are just starting out, Pharmacy Mentor can help you grow. We’re a team of talented individuals helping pharmacies of all shapes and sizes drive revenue in new ways. Talk to us to see how we can help you: