Email marketing may seem like a dying medium, but it still continues to be an effective and valuable strategy, especially if used correctly. While the rise of social media platforms and communication channels has become more prominent, email allows users to customize their feeds, keep in touch with their favorite brands, and receive valuable information such as news, updates, and health tips right in their inbox. For doctors and medical practices, email marketing is still relevant, and now more important than ever to use email campaigns to stand out and keep your patients engaged.
What Does Email Marketing Look Like Today?
Email marketing provides a simple way to keep track of your loyal patients and perform regular outreach for your practice. While social media and SMS marketing have risen in the last few years as viable forms of communication, people’s perspectives on how they wish to interact with businesses have changed drastically. About half of people prefer email as their primary choice for communicating with small businesses, outranking other forms of digital communication.
So, why is email marketing still relevant? Simple: Email provides a solid, simple, controllable environment where the user can engage and interact with businesses without the influence of a social algorithm. Users can opt into subscribing to a newsletter from their favorite businesses to keep tabs on their updates and engage at their own time and pace. Email also provides a private, personal form of communication that’s noninvasive and gives users the freedom of choice to engage.
However, the email landscape is far more complex than it was 20 to 30 years ago. Today’s emails consist of hyperlinks, subscriptions, interactive content, and social media campaigns, all of which work to curate the brand’s image and serve the reader with helpful information and promotional content. Email can be a key element to your success if you utilize it correctly, and it’s especially important to consider how marketing trends can influence how you plan and execute your marketing campaign.
Understanding Your Patients And What They Need
Learning who your patients are can help you begin an email marketing campaign if you still need to start one. This aspect means knowing who you’re talking to, what information they seek when engaging with you, and what kind of health information they seek from your practice. This means gathering your patient’s demographics, including their age, where they live, what conditions they face, how often your patients visit your practice, what services they seek, and what type of content they gravitate to the most.
Getting Your Emails Read: The Best Content For Email Campaigns
Once those aspects are gathered, you can develop content ideas demonstrating and working towards those needs. Many possibilities can be used and gathered regarding email content to help keep your patients informed and connected with your practice. If you’re looking for some content ideas that can be used for your email campaign, here are some vibrant examples you can use:
Health Tips and Wellness Advice
People love getting tips that can help them lead healthier lives. Your emails could include simple, actionable advice on common health topics. Some examples that you can use include:
- Seasonal health tips: Share tips on how to stay healthy during flu season, protect the skin from the sun in summer, or manage allergies in spring.
- Diet and nutrition advice: Offer recipes, nutrition tips, and information about the benefits of different foods. For instance, you could have a “Healthy Recipe of the Month” featuring dishes that are easy to make and good for specific health conditions, like diabetes or heart health.
Updates on Services and New Offerings
Provide your patients with up-to-date information about what’s happening at your practice, as this can be a great way to keep your patients engaged with your practice on a personal level. This could be:
- New services or treatments: If you’re offering a new type of therapy or have new equipment, an email is a great way to inform your patients.
- Changes in scheduling or staff: Inform your patients about changes in office hours, new staff members, or updates in how you’re managing appointments, especially if they affect their interaction with your practice.
Patient Success Stories
Sharing stories of other patients who have had positive experiences at your practice can be incredibly motivating for others. If you’re looking for inspiration, some examples can include:
- Highlight patient recovery: Share anonymous stories of patients who have overcome health challenges with help from your practice.
- Feature testimonials: With the patient’s permission, include quotes or testimonials about their positive experiences. This not only builds trust but also humanizes your practice.
Healthcare News and Updates
Keeping patients informed about the latest in healthcare can position your practice as a leader in the field. If you’re looking to inform them in your email marketing campaign with news and information of this type, some examples can include:
- Healthcare innovations: Talk about new research, treatments, and technologies in the medical field that might interest your patients.
- Local health news: If there’s a health concern or news in your area, such as a flu outbreak or health regulations changes, keep your patients informed and offer expert advice.
Educational Content and Resources
Use your email marketing campaign as an opportunity to teach your patients about different health conditions and treatments in a way that’s easy to understand. You could include:
- Explainer videos: Create or share short videos that explain complex health conditions or demonstrate exercises or treatments.
- Infographics: Send out easy-to-digest infographics that explain diseases, outline symptoms to watch for, or illustrate healthy habits.
Invitations to Events
Email is a perfect way to invite your patients and keep them involved in community health activities if your practice holds workshops, health fairs, or other events. You can send:
- Event announcements: Notify patients about upcoming events and provide details on how they can register or participate.
- Follow-up materials: After an event, send a follow-up email with key takeaways, additional resources, or links to presentations or videos from the event.
Reminders and Calls to Action
Regularly remind your patients about the importance of maintaining their health and how your practice can help can be used as an vital part of your email marketing campaign . This might include:
- Appointment reminders: Gently remind patients to book their annual check-ups or follow-up appointments.
- Health check reminders: Encourage patients to get regular screenings or flu shots, depending on their age and health conditions.
The Key To Success is To Personalize Your Content
Personalization is a powerful technique in email marketing, especially in the healthcare industry. Adding personal touches to your content can help bridge the gap between you and your patients and can be used to build trust with your brand name and the practice’s reputation. Using personalization in your email campaigns can make them more effective in the long run, and it’s important to keep these trends and aspects in mind when developing your campaign:
Dynamic Content
Dynamic content involves changing the content of the email based on the recipient’s data. For example, if you have information on a patient’s last check-update, you can include personalized reminders or follow-up care tips specific to their health condition. Similarly, if your practice offers various services, you can customize part of the email to highlight services relevant to the patient’s past visits or expressed interests. Dynamic content, in this case, can be more tedious but worthwhile if you’re looking to expand your patient base for your email marketing campaign.
Predictive Personalization
With the rise of AI assistance in medical practices, this method involves using machine learning and data analytics to predict patients’ needs, preferences, and future behaviors. Through AI models, you can analyze past interactions with your emails, website, and services and anticipate the content most relevant to each patient. For instance, if a patient consistently reads emails about pediatric services, future emails can focus more on child health and wellness topics.
Segmenting Your Content in Stages
Patients at different health stages under your care will have different needs. Newer patients might need more information about your practices and services, while returning patients may appreciate updates on new treatment options and policy changes with your practice throughout your email marketing campaign. Through this method, you can segment your email list by stages, such as new patients, regular visitors, and chronic care patients, to help them receive tailored messages for specific healthcare needs.
Trigger-Based Emails With Behaviors
Trigger emails are automatically sent based on specific actions the patient takes. These can include appointment reminders triggered a few days before an appointment, follow-up care surveys triggered after a patient receives a specific treatment, or anniversary emails for a patient’s first visit, offering discounts on services you provide. These types of emails can increase engagement with your website based on the relevance of your patients and how they interact with your practice.
Personalized Health Tips Based On Patient Data
Following HIPAA policies, health data related to your patients can be used for personalized health tips. For example, if a patient has diabetes, you can send them customized dietary tips, exercise recommendations, and the latest research or treatments. This shows that you care about their health beyond the clinic visit and positions your practice as a valuable resource for their overall well-being.
Design Exciting Emails For Your Campaign with Optimized360
Developing a personalized email marketing strategy isn’t just a benefit but an essential part of today’s marketing strategies. For practices looking to maintain a stronger relationship with their patients, the team at Optimized360 can help you develop and implement these techniques through their expert team of marketers and SEO experts. At Optimized360, they understand the unique needs of medical practices and can tailor your email campaigns to meet those needs, ensuring your messages hit the right note with every patient. If you’d like to learn more about your options, schedule a consultation with Optimized360 today.
