Irrespective of the industry you belong to, email marketing plays a crucial role in reaching out to your prospective clients and customers alike. The healthcare industry is no exception. Along with your website, email is a marketing platform that you must focus on, as a healthcare professional.
Objective of Healthcare Email Marketing
Email marketing helps you in achieving three main purposes:
- Acquiring new patients.
- Facilitating patient retention and encouraging them to come back to you, if need arises.
- Staying in touch with readers and building a strong relationship with them.
So, how will your emails ensure that you achieve these goals?
Let’s look at some tips and tricks that can take your healthcare email marketing to the next level and contribute to business growth.
1. Maintain an empathetic tone in your emails
The world is going through a tough time, so you must draft copy that exudes empathy and consideration for readers. Since healthcare is a very tricky service to promote, make sure that you maintain a sensitive tone that does not look like a sales pitch.
Take a look at this email example by Quest Diagnostics.
The tone of the copy and the green color reflect warmth and give the feeling that they care for their patients.
They have even included a “Forward Email” link to prompt the user to share the informative email with their friends and family. In the long run, it enhances SEO efforts to boost the healthcare practice
Another important thing to note in this email is that it follows all the email accessibility best practices (as suggested by Litmus and Really Good Emails).
2. Build trust with the readers
The foundation of effective healthcare email marketing is in winning the patient’s trust. Share user reviews or testimonials from happy customers and patients to persuade the reader to use your services.
For example: If you are an ophthalmologist specializing in laser treatment to eliminate the need for glasses, you must include testimonials from satisfied patients who are leading a life without glasses because of your flawless treatment. The same applies to all other fields, including dentistry.
Perricone sends out a visually rich email to mark Acne Awareness Month. They shared a testimonial by a customer who has used their products and got rid of troublesome acne.
In addition, they offered a discount to bring in more conversions.
The email is an interesting read because it looks like a mini-infographic filled with intriguing statistics and facts.
Did you see the nice visuals in the email above?
Well, that brings us to the next point.
3. Include rich media elements
To make email copy easy to consume, it is advisable to include relevant visuals. Complex topics are easier to understand when coupled with explainer videos or suitable images. This is even more important in the healthcare industry since people might not be aware of the intricacies involved in the medical field.
Here is an email example that includes a video thumbnail image with a ‘Play’ button to get more viewers.
Similarly, you can use interactive elements like menus and accordions if you have to convey more information in the limited space of emails. Just make sure you follow email design best practices while designing such emails.
4. Aim to educate readers
An educational tone goes a long way in spreading health awareness and encouraging people to get in touch with you. Just make sure that your email educates the reader without scaring them. It is of utmost importance to let the readers know that they should be aware and not scared.
DAO Lab sent out a nice email that sheds light on how Chinese Medicine Theory supports fertility and improves reproductive health. Many women might be having questions about this and this email provides satisfactory answers to all those concerns.
5. Send out relevant content by segmenting your subscribers
If you are a multi-specialty healthcare facility, you must segment your subscribers based on the services they have inquired about or facilities they have availed. For instance: If someone has used your pediatric healthcare services, you must send them relevant content related to pediatric wellbeing rather than hypertension or diabetes.
Additionally, you can segment your email list according to the patient’s age. Accordingly, you must send out content that is most relevant for them. To cite an example: Older adults might be happy to receive content related to geriatric medicine.
If you are a marketer for a dental clinic, the same applies to you. If a 60 year old patient has visited your hospital for dentures, you shouldn’t send them emails related to dental problems commonly seen in young patients which would hamper the patient experience and negatively impact the doctor’s reputation.
6. Set automation workflows and monitor them regularly
Whenever a patient comes to your clinic for the first time and shares their email address, send them an automated welcome email. Introduce your team of healthcare professionals and your story with patients. It is always good to read about ‘how it all started’.
Once the treatment is completed, deploy a feedback email asking the user how satisfied they were with the services. You can also send out emails on the patient’s birthday and show that you care for their wellbeing.
You can even send out occasional emails in case you launch any new services or achieve exciting milestones in your business.
Just make sure that you analyze the metrics of these automated emails and keep optimizing them for best results. If needed, you can even consider pausing the automation which may be necessary in times of unrest and tough circumstances.
7. Benefit from referral marketing strategy
Incentivize users who help to bring you business. While this can be a very sensitive tactic for hospitals, you can certainly use it if you are in the wellness business or are a healthcare technology service provider.
Wrapping Up
The Healthcare industry has advanced by leaps and bounds in the past few decades and healthcare marketing tactics have evolved. Emails have gotten more sophisticated and facilitated communication between healthcare professionals and patients.
Just follow these simple tips and you will surely enhance the visibility of your healthcare business. It will also improve patient access and impart a pleasant experience to patients.
