Healthcare provider’s guide to email marketing

Email marketing for healthcare providers can help make sure that you're their first pick when something does happen. Starting a dialogue with email enables you to keep in touch with your patients, build long-lasting relationships and stay top of mind.

Healthcare marketing falls into two areas: acquisition (getting new patients) and retention (turning them into regular patients).

Acquisition strategies often rely on online reviews, advertising, promotions and social media to get new patients. When you get that new patient, you work hard to win their trust and deliver a positive experience. That is priority numero uno.

Email marketing is the best digital marketing channel for healthcare providers to build long-lasting relationships with their patients. After their initial experience, email marketing allows you to stay in touch until they need you again.

This guide to healthcare email marketing is designed to give you the tools, tips and newsletter examples to get the most out of email marketing.

Email is a unique marketing channel. You completely control the message with a target audience that wants to hear from you. It’s a mutual relationship that empowers you both to establish a deeper connection.

Hopefully, you only see your patients a few times a year. When you see them, you build a rapport that makes them feel comfortable. Email lets you extend that trust throughout the year.

Email is proven to be very useful and cost-effective. Based on our industry data, the average open rate for healthcare emails is 23.46% with a super-high 3.62% click-through rate. It’s one of the highest open rates among all industries!

This goes to show that patients engage with health care emails and, more than in other industries, actively open and read these emails.

There’s little debate that email marketing is essential for any thriving healthcare practice. Now, let’s go deeper into how you can start and maintain a successful health care email marketing campaign.

When it comes to healthcare marketing, the standard email list building tactics don’t always apply.

Most healthcare providers don’t have the time or resources to create inbound content to attract new people. Moreover, the number one goal of your website and ad campaigns are to attract and book new appointments – not to build an email list.

That said, not everyone is ready to make an appointment when they are researching you. People like to explore their options to see which one of the offers is the best fit. Give these people more information about your practice and stay connected by inviting them to join your health care email list.

Email marketing also plays a critical role after you’ve landed a new patient. Here are 3 ways healthcare providers can effectively build their email list:

1. Get patient emails at the first appointment

As we mentioned, your #1 priority is to give each new patient a first-class experience. But if you want to start building a long-lasting relationship, you also need to keep step two in mind—obtain their email address.

When your new patients are filling out paperwork (either digitally or on paper), make sure you include a section that allows them to opt-in.

Here’s a typical form example. Make sure you include a separate checkbox clearly indicating that the patient wants to receive promotional emails. Learn more about GDPR compliant forms here.

The paperwork phase is by far the best time to allow opt-in to receive your health care email campaigns. Make it super clear what value your emails will add to their lives to higher the likelihood of your patients checking the opt-in box.

If you want to modernize the process, you can use our iPad app at checkout to seal the deal. Your desk admin can promote the newsletter and let the patients input their information into the tablet right on the spot.

Their email addresses will automatically update in your MailerLite account!

2. Use opt-in forms on your site

Another way to acquire email addresses is to reach people online. If your practice has a blog or uses digital advertising to attract new people to your website, you can create embedded forms, pop-ups or custom landing pages by using your email tool.

You can add forms and pop-ups throughout your site so people have several opportunities to sign up. Place them strategically in various places that won’t interrupt the website experience.

Here’s an example of a nice footer subscriber form from Michigan dental. It’s designed well with a clear value proposition of what the subscriber will receive (all the latest news in dental health).

Successful newsletter design doesn't require a graphic desiginer. You can do it on your own. We break down email design into two main elements in our guide to designing emails that people will read.

If you plan on segmenting your list so you can send more targeted newsletters, create a signup page that allows people to choose their preferences. For example, you can let subscribers choose how often they want to hear from you or what topics they’re most interested in.

Once they submit the form, they are segmented automatically into your email tool. This allows you to set up health newsletters that focus on a specific topic and choose the automatically created segment when picking your recipients.

Want to learn more about segmenting your subscriber list? We've got a guide just for that!

Here’s an example from Jersey City Medical. You can see under the name fields that there are checkboxes with various topics. Each subscriber chooses only the ones they want to know more about. This is a powerful way to empower your subscribers to receive only what they want!

Similarly, subscribers should be able to control what kind of emails they are receiving and unsubscribe from them.

Apart from finding new subscribers via your website, you can also run digital ad campaigns or place links on other digital channels like social media, and create unique landing pages for each campaign.

Here is a BabyCenter landing page that allows you to calculate your baby’s due date. Many aspiring or again-to-be parents will find this information very valuable, making the decision to signup easy.

It’s important to give your website viewers a good reason to sign up. You can offer educational content, special discounts or event notifications. Whatever you decide, make sure you offer value for their email address.

So how do you decide what content works for your subscriber list? We answer this and more in our guide to writing email content that people will care about.

3. Leverage your social media for email signups

Your followers on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest or Twitter are either current patients or potential patients who want to hear from you. Why not get them on your email list as well?

You can add a link to a signup landing page on Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter and any other social media profiles. Use your social media followers to build your list. When people opt-in to your email list, you have a more direct and effective way of communicating with them via email.

Here's what we have say about making email marketing and social media work together for good.

Posting a link to a landing page is the easiest and most effective way to connect social and email. Check out how seamless The Joint chiropractic adds a link to their Instagram description.

Building your email list is never-ending. As you grow your social media presence and drive more people to your site, keep thinking about new ways to add to your list.

Before you think about your healthcare email marketing strategy, make sure you’re using these features that make email so effective.

Email’s amazing ROI comes from its ability to target the right people with a message tailored just for them. The 3 killer features that enable this are segmentation, automation and personalization.

When you’re setting up your campaigns, keep these 3 questions in mind:

• What’s the best way to segment?

• Can you automate certain messages such as a Welcome email or Happy Birthday?

• Can you make it personal with relevant content, useful subject lines and real names?

Keep experimenting to find out what works. Now let’s get to the good stuff – the types of emails you can send to keep your business healthy.

The people on your email list want to hear from you, so what are you gonna say?

Remember, your goal is to extend your relationships with your patients, not to pressure them to come in for an appointment.

Use email marketing as a long-term strategy in your healthcare business.  It’s about making a connection, building trust, and offering advice that improves people’s lives. How do you do that? 

Here are 7 ways to build stronger connections using email.

It might not seem that important, but an automated welcome email is the most powerful email you can send.

When someone signs up, you set up an automated message that will be sent at the exact moment they confirm their subscription. That immediate response sets the tone for the relationship. It lets each person know that they are important and that you’re ready to meet their needs.

The welcome email is your opportunity to set expectations and make a strong first impression. 

Below, RealAge does an exceptional job of welcoming new subscribers. They state their value proposition, explain what to expect and offer valuable content right off the bat.

People want to know that you care about their health beyond when they need you. Show them that you care and encourage them to be proactive with their health by sharing health-related events and seminars that they can attend.

Or better yet, create and promote your own events. Pediatric Associates of Frisco created a Summer Safety Event and sent this fun and colorful newsletter to promote it.

When it comes to health-related issues, there can be a lot of different emotions at play that affects people’s decision making. 

An authentic way to address these types of sensitive matters is to use real patient stories. Hearing about similar health experiences lets others know that they are not alone.

Tennessee Reproductive Medicine created this newsletter that features a couple’s journey through IVF, along with educational content and a patient testimonial. For a best-case scenario, this health newsletter would be segmented to target prospective patients dealing with the same issues.

Remember that you’re building a long-term relationship with email marketing. Sending an automated birthday email is by far the easiest way to let your patients know that you’re thinking of them.

In MailerLite, it’s really easy to set up an automated birthday email so the system sends out personalized emails throughout the year without you lifting a finger.

Dr. Bennet sends a nice birthday email. He makes it personal using the patient’s first name (which can be automated) and writes a thoughtful note. Notice he also includes his website link, phone number and social media channels, just as a subtle reminder that he wants to stay connected.

A common and effective marketing practice across all industries is to create content that shows people you’re an expert in your field that wants to help others.

The healthcare industry is no different. Set some time aside for content marketing: write helpful articles or develop a set of tips that will help your patients. Then, promote your knowledge via your newsletter.

HealthyChildren.org takes advantage of the holiday season to promote Thanksgiving tips as well as promote a photo contest to raise money for charity.

As a parent, this type of information can be super valuable. If I were a patient, I would definitely open this marketing email and click through.

Finally, a promotional email! After sending a few marketing emails that establish the value you provide, it’s perfectly fine to send them a promotional message to grow sales.  

The example below from Lady Lakes Dentist does an excellent job by offering a discount for a teeth whitening service, while also including some other content resources for recipients who aren’t interested in that service.

The promo messaging uses a nice image to draw the reader in and has a clear call-to-action (CTA).

When you put together your healthcare emails, you need to be sure what you want your subscribers to do next for you. Do you want them to follow you on social media? Book an appointment? We break down how to create a CTA that works in this all-in-one guide.

When you feel like you’ve reached a certain level of positive experiences and trust with a patient, it’s perfectly normal to ask for a review or even a referral.

Reviews from real people are priceless, especially in the healthcare field. When you ask people to refer you, you’ve successfully flipped your marketing funnel where your retention efforts have transformed into new patient acquisitions. That’s a nice place to be.

This email template from NY & NJ Family Dental is sent right after an appointment when the experience is top-of-mind. Notice that they make it super easy to find the button to leave a review.

Healthcare marketing relies heavily on building trust and offering a comfortable patient experience.

While this relationship starts during the first visit, your goal is to keep that feeling alive during the long periods when you’re not seeing them.

Email marketing gives you that personal connection with your patients. You stay top-of-mind and remind everyone of the care and expertise that you provide them.

Don’t waste that positive first impression by losing touch. Start building that long-term patient relationship and watch your practice flourish.

Does your healthcare organization currently send newsletters? If not, we hope this guide motivates you to get started!