How effective was your practice’s email marketing last year?
According to recent stats by email marketing software provider MailChimp, the average open, click-through and soft bounce rates for the medical, dental and healthcare sectors are 22.40%, 2.44% and 0.73% respectively (Source). How do yours compare? Are you even measuring them?
Chances are there’s room for improvement and, given that email marketing continues to prove to be an effective way to build brand awareness, gain authority and grow patient trust, it’s certainly worth investing some time and effort into it.
Wondering what you can do better? Here are some tips.
No matter what type of content you choose to send out to your patients and contacts – appointment reminders, information on health-related topics, practice updates – don’t try and include it all in one email, instead keep a narrow focus.
Not only will this extend your opportunities for keeping in touch, but medical and health-related information can be hard to digest so by sticking to one clear message you give yourself the space to communicate the information more successfully. To boost engagement, enhance your message with images and videos.
Related: 10 content ideas for your medical practice blog
Targeted emails – ones that are highly relevant to the reader – have been proven to be much more effective than generic ones. It makes sense. Because of this, if you’re not already segmenting your contacts (dividing them into groups based on demographics, specific needs or diagnosis), now’s the time to start.
Yes, healthcare audiences can be extremely diverse so segmentation can get complicated, but it’s also important. It wouldn’t make sense, for example, to send an email on genealogical issues to male patients or one on dentures to younger clients – the topics just wouldn’t interest them. In fact, it’s actually fostering negative patient relationships.
More and more people are opening their emails on mobile devices however the reality is that the experience isn’t always a positive one when they do. How many times have you opened an email and had to scroll across to read the text or zoom in to click a link? Frustrating isn’t it.
If the emails you’re currently sending out to patients fall into this category, your chances of seeing positive results from your campaigns are significantly reduced. The solution? Switch to mobile-responsive designs. If an email displays well it’s likely to be received better and get more clicks-throughs.
Sending out regular emails will not only assist you in planning your content but can build trust with your patients and contacts by setting expectations. In healthcare, daily or weekly emails may be overkill. Instead, once a month or bi-monthly might be more suitable. If you’re unsure, why not ask at sign up stage?
Once you’ve decided on a schedule, the best way to manage it is to use email marketing software such as MailChimp or Campaign Monitor. As well as giving you the tools to create professional looking emails, they also have the ability to automate what you send – useful for timely content and appointment reminders.
Related: The beginner’s guide to getting your email send times spot on
If you want your emails to heed results, every one you send should have a clear purpose and a clear call-to-action. For example, if you’re sending an email reminding a patient to rebook, tailor your message to this end and make it easy for them by including a link to your online booking form.
The best call-to-actions are short, to the point and use action verbs to encourage click-throughs. Appropriate calls to action might be ‘Book your appointment today’, ‘Learn more’ or ‘Sign up for our free event’. Be sure to clarify the benefits in taking action e.g. don’t run out of medication, discover all you need to know about the procedure etc.
It’s all very well sending out emails to your patients and contacts but if you don’t know how well they’re performing, your efforts are wasted. If you’re using email marketing software, you can access detailed analytical information on the no. of clicks, opens, bounce, subscriber social activity etc. for every campaign.
As well as helping you see whether individual emails are being positively consumed and leading to action, you can A/B test (send out two different variations of an email) to identify problems e.g. perhaps your subject line is not powerful enough or your emails are too long.
By following this advice, email marketing can produce much better results for your practice. Importantly, don’t forget to ensure your efforts are in-line with current regulations such as the Privacy Act and anti-spam laws.
