Businesses have used email marketing for more than a decade to generate leads, conversions, and sales. Doctors can use this powerful, cost-effective digital marketing method, too. Research shows that email marketing, on average, generates 4,300 percent ROI, according to the Direct Marketing Association.
Do you collect information and communicate with patients via email? If not, now is as good a time as ever to create an email marketing strategy for your practice. Crystal Clear Digital Marketing provides you with a suite of tools that engage patients, publicize important information, and gather valuable data. It’s cheaper than sending paper communications to your patients — and better for the environment.
Update Your Communications Strategy
Patients prefer email as a communication method. Ninety-three percent of patients said they would rather email their doctor than use the phone. Moreover, 43 percent would still choose email consultations, even if it meant a $25 consultation fee.
Using email marketing for doctors is an effective way to keep in touch with your patients. You can use this technology to:
• Publicize health-related information through newsletter marketing and targeted personalized communications.
• Automate follow-up emails to patients.
• Market new services.
• Schedule patient appointments.
Increase Leads
How do you currently manage incoming patient leads at your practice? Do you have a proper system in place that lets you collect patient information effectively? Crystal Clear’s Social Patient Center (SPC) is a patient management system that streamlines this entire process. You can track phone calls and emails from new patients in real-time and target different audiences automatically. The result? You get to spend more time on other important tasks.
The SPC is cloud-based, so you can access valuable information wherever you are in the world. Plus, you get access to in-depth intelligence about your patients and practice, which allows you to solve problems and make important decisions. Think of it as a Swiss Army knife for doctors, with multiple tools for email marketing that provide you with all the information you need.
We deliver email marketing solutions for healthcare professionals in various industries, including:
• Aesthetic and wellness practice directors
• Cardiologists
• Chiropractors
• Consultants
• Cosmetic surgeons
• Dentists
• Dermatologists
• General practitioners
• Medical spa directors
• Orthodontists
Establish Connections With Your Existing Patients
Patients like to receive good service. Establishing a good rapport with a doctor improves a patient’s perception of a medical practice and makes him or her feel at ease. You can use email marketing to better connect with your existing patients. By sending regular emails — health-related information, appointment reminders, personalized communications, etc. — you get to keep your patients ‘in the loop.’ As a result, they are more likely to trust you and communicate with you in the future.
This doesn’t mean you should send your patients emails just for the sake of it, though. Creating a content strategy that provides patients with valuable, relevant information will ensure your emails don’t end up in the Trash folder.
Here are just some examples of email content that will help you establish a rapport with your patients:
• Important health-related news and information tailored to a patient’s interests and medical history.
• Occasional healthy living and eating tips.
• News and developments about your medical practice (new services, important milestones, new staff members, revised opening and closing times, etc.).
Creating an email content strategy is not only time-consuming, but it is also difficult to master. Crystal Clear Digital Marketing, however, does all the hard work for you. With more than 20 years in the industry, we specialize in digital marketing services that really work for your patients and practice. Say goodbye to old emails and improve your open rates, click-throughs, and conversions when you use our revolutionary email marketing technology.
Incorporate Email Marketing Into Your Existing Digital Marketing Strategies
One of the benefits of email marketing for doctors is that it seamlessly integrates with other digital methods. Think of it as the bedrock of your digital marketing strategy — a foundation that you can build upon to enhance the way you communicate with patients.
Here are some examples of how you can blend email marketing with other technologies:
• Share your email newsletters on social media channels like Facebook and Twitter. This lets you reach people who haven’t signed up for your email list and increases the visibility of your medical practice. Facebook alone had 2.2 billion active monthly users in the fourth quarter of 2017, making it one of the most effective platforms for sharing medical-related content.
• You can also publicize your social media channels through email marketing. Include popular posts and photos in your emails and encourage more of your patients to sign up to your Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram accounts. Don’t forget to include social sharing buttons in the footer of your message. If you have a YouTube channel, include a link to that, too.
• Do you want more people to visit your website? Promote your site with email marketing. You can include links to your pages in the body of your emails and share exclusive content with your readers.
Crystal Clear’s SPC provides you with loads of opportunities to transform your email communications. Use this system to create creative content marketing strategies that keep patients informed, educated, and entertained.
Optimize Your Emails For Mobile
Unlike regular paper-based communications, which can go missing or end up in the trash can, emails are reliable. Thanks to smartphones and tablets, your patients can read your messages wherever they are in the world. You don’t have to pay for postage costs, and you can reach people in a speedy timeframe. Need to close your practice early because of an unforeseen emergency? Notify your patients by email. Want to publicize a new service? Just send a quick email. Your patients will soon get the message.
Crystal Clear Digital Marketing optimizes your emails for all mobile devices. This means patients can read your messages no matter which platform or device they use.
Here are some of the reasons why you should always optimize your emails for mobile:
• Eighty percent of internet users now own a smartphone. If you want to reach more of your patients, send responsive emails instead of traditional emails or paper-based communications.
• By the end of this year, eight in ten email users will access email exclusively from mobile devices. If you don’t optimize your emails for mobile, you could lose out on valuable leads and conversions.
• Emails that don’t display properly on all devices could boost your churn rate — the number of people who hit the ‘back’ button on their browser. Plus, patients could unsubscribe from your mailing list.
Personalize Communications
Patients love personalized emails. Including your subject’s name in the header or body of your email and incorporating a relevant call-to-action at the end of your message increases open rates and engagement.
Content personalization also welcomes new patients who have recently joined your practice. Why not send them a welcome email with details of your opening times, services, and other important information? With Crystal Clear’s email system, this is really easy to do.
Research shows that personalized emails, on average, improve click-through rates by 14 percent and conversions by 10 percent. In a separate study, 74 percent of marketers said targeted personalization boosts customer engagement. Don’t forget to include the name of the patient’s doctor at the end of an email, too. This can increase engagement even further.
With personalized content, you get to deliver messages that are relevant to your readers. Crystal Clear lets you create highly targeted campaigns that engage your audience without any of the fuss.
Keep Your Readers Interested
Not all emails are the same. Patients get bored of reading long messages that don’t relate to them — something that could jeopardize your digital marketing strategy in the future.
Here are some tips on how to keep your readers interested when you deliver emails:
• Get to the point. Research from Nielson reveals that only 20 percent of email users read below “the fold” — the information that appears on the screen before they have to scroll the page. Including strong introductions will increase the likelihood of patients reading your entire message.
• Keep it short. Email newsletters with around 20 lines of text — that’s about 200 words — result in the highest click-through rates in most industries, according to research. Keeping your emails short will increase readability and get your message across in the quickest possible timeframe.
• Include images and videos. Big blocks of text can be off-putting to patients. Depending on the context of your email, you should incorporate photos, videos, and other graphics to keep readers interested in your content.
Crystal Clear helps you develop a content marketing strategy that keeps readers engaged, from the moment they see your email in their inbox right through to the end of the message.
Get Started Today
Email marketing for doctors is one of the most effective communication methods for generating new leads, engaging existing patients, increasing awareness, and promoting new services. Whatever you need email marketing for, we can help you utilize it properly. Ready to start right now? Contact Crystal Clear Digital Marketing today!
