Leveraging Email Marketing to Reach New Patients
Healthcare digital marketers need to reach patients in digital environments where they’re least distracted. That’s why email marketing is so important. It gives marketers the chance to engage with patients directly via their inboxes.
That said, simply sending out mass emails isn’t an effective strategy. Marketers need to carefully plan campaigns to ensure they’re as successful and effective as possible.
Following email marketing best practices is essential. This includes using an email verifier tool, tracking performance metrics, and segmenting lists. The following healthcare marketing ideas can help your practice. They illustrate what types of campaigns tend to be most successful in this industry.
Engagement-Centric Emails
Marketing a healthcare practice is a unique challenge. In other industries, like retail, customers may decide to purchase an item or pay for a service when they want it. However, that’s not the case in the healthcare industry. Patients only schedule consultations or appointments when they feel they need to.
That’s why maintaining brand engagement among your followers is essential. You want your organization to be the first thing they think of when they’re in need of your services.
You can achieve this goal by designing a campaign that tells the story of your brand in a sequence of messages. Start with a welcome email when a new patient signs up for your mailing list. Then, send follow-ups that explain exactly who you are, what values you represent, and what specific services you offer. Including new reviews from patients can also help you deepen the emotional and practical impact of your messages while lending an air of authenticity to your claims. As well as, play a major role in local SEO for a practice.
Again, the goal isn’t to convince a patient they need to book an appointment now. Instead, a campaign should convince them to contact your organization when the time comes to book an appointment.
Education Campaigns
Sending emails that provide patients with information on a relevant subject is a smart tactic for several reasons. First, it serves as a continuous reminder of what services you offer. For instance, if you’re marketing a hospital’s surgical treatments, sending emails about, “How to prepare for [insert specific procedure here]” will ensure customers associate your brand with that particular treatment.
Second, providing this kind of information throughout a campaign also helps establish your authority and expertise. It’s important that patients feel your brand is trustworthy. If they perceive your organization as an authority in its niche, they’ll be more likely to turn to you when they need that kind of treatment.
Feedback Campaigns
Patients who subscribe to your email list are a valuable resource. You know they’re already engaged with your brand to some degree. You also know they’ve had multiple interactions with your brand via marketing content. Thus, you can rely on them to provide relevant feedback if you’re trying to improve future campaigns.
Patient surveys are a simple way of collecting feedback and learning what you can do to design stronger marketing content. To ensure the maximum number of patients actually open the email containing the survey, simply include the recipient’s name in the subject line. Doing so has been shown to boost open rates by as much as 50%.
You can also use email to solicit general feedback about former patients’ experiences if they’ve already been treated by your doctor or organization. With their permission, you may use someone’s positive remarks as a testimonial on your medical website or in future messages.
Product Launches
If you’re launching a new product or service, let your email followers know about it first is a smart move. You may even want to provide some form of a special offer or discounted service. Research indicates that loyalty emails yield a 50% higher reaction rate than generic promotional messages.
It’s also worth noting that you don’t need to wait until a new service or product is officially available to start promoting it via email. You want to ensure your followers are ready to take advantage of this new offering as soon as possible. Thus, you should send emails publicizing it ahead of time, which helps generate anticipation.
Segmenting
Does your organization or practice offer a wide range of services? If so, patients who subscribe to your email list are likely only interested in some of the topics you may cover.
That’s why it’s a good idea to send a welcome email that gives new subscribers the choice to select what types of content interest them most. This makes it easier to segment your list into different subsets. Doing so has been shown to yield a higher email open rate than simply sending the same emails to all your followers, regardless of whether they’re relevant to their needs or not.
Conclusion:
Again, healthcare marketing is unique, especially when email is involved. You’re not encouraging patients to take action now; you’re simply making sure they associate your brand with the treatments you offer. Applying these tips will help you achieve that goal.
Intrepy Healthcare Marketing is a medical and dental focused digital marketing agency that has years of proven experience in creating marketing and advertising strategies to help practices grow their patient base and revenue. Call us or fill out a form today.
