Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Despite what you may have heard, email marketing is not dead. In fact it is one of the best ways to stay in front of your patients and grow your dental practice.
Email Marketing is Growing
In a recent study by Exact Target, they found emails are not only the number one direct channel to reach customers, but a preferred method. According to the survey, 77% actually prefer to receive marketing messages through their email. Here are some more astonishing statistics:
- 82% of people open emails from companies
- 64% of people said they opened an email because of the subject line
- 44% of people made a purchase after receiving a promotional email
- Social sharing buttons in emails have a 158% higher click-through rate
- Roughly half of your email list will open and/or click on your emails
Best Email Marketing Practices
Knowing how to manage your dental practice’s email marketing and create email campaigns is half the battle. Below are some best practices to keep in mind.
Subject Lines – You must make a good first impression. Before your marketing message even has a chance to persuade someone to use your dental services, they need to open it. Your subject line must be catchy, creative, interesting, and short; 10 words or less.
Here are some ideas to help you get higher open rates:
- ask a question
- give surprising data or statistics
- use a sense of urgency or importance
- create an announcement or invitation
- personalize it with their name
- offer tips and advice
Calls-to-Action (CTA) – The worst thing you can do is send an email and not tell your patients what to do once they are done reading it. Tell them what to do next! Make it stand out and clearly outline it. Should they call you? Email you? Fill out a form? Share the email? Go to your Facebook page? Tell them.
Personalization – Statistically, the more personalized your email is, the higher your click-through and conversion rates will be. Patients like to feel special and know you took the time to write to them, personally. Write about what they are interested in or want to know more about. By now you should know your audience and what keeps their attention. But remember to respect their time and not constantly send useless emails that just clutter their inboxes.
Design & Branding – It’s all about the visual today. When designing your emails, you must decide if you are going to use a custom design or a pre-made template. Be sure the colors are not too bright, images are not cluttering the email, or too much information is written. These can all be a turn-off for the reader.
Keep in mind your color scheme, chosen fonts and relevant images, and always remember to use your logo or image for branding purposes. You also want to think about mobile-friendly emails and be sure your emails are compatible for those screens. Plus, some email servers and filters will not accept HTML emails, so you’ll need to create both HTML and plain text emails.
Videos – Don’t always use plain boring text. Spice things up a bit and sporadically use video. With the explosion of YouTube, Instagram and Vine, we all know how much people love to watch videos. So use them to your dental practice’s advantage. Let them get to know you on a more personal level and engage with them through video.
Social Sharing – Today, it’s all about content-sharing. With more and more people using social media platforms and sharing interesting content they find, be sure to use social sharing buttons on your emails. Not only will you gain more exposure when people start to share them, you could become a viral sensation.
Opt-Out Feature – To comply with the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, you MUST have an opt-out or unsubscribe feature. Otherwise, your email will be considered SPAM and you can get into legal trouble and perhaps have your domain blacklisted.
Email Scheduling – Timing is everything with email marketing. Studies have shown that most people read emails in the evenings and on weekends. However, knowing your audience should tell you what time of day to send emails, how often and the type of content they want from you.
Targeted Mailing Lists – You can’t have an email campaign without a database of emails. Build your list based on your target audience. Don’t be afraid to ask current patients if they want to receive emails from you. You also can incorporate an opt-in subscribe button on your website and social media sites as a way to build your email list.
Email Analytics – Periodically, you will want to evaluate your email campaigns to make sure you are getting a good return on your investment and not wasting your time. You can check your analytics through your email provider and generate reports that show your open rate, click-through rate, bounce rate, unsubscribe rate, invalid email addresses, undeliverable emails and other information.
Testing – Always test subject lines and marketing messages. Split your database into groups and try various tactics to see which group gives you the best results.
Email Service Providers
If you don’t know where to begin, then do some research online. There are many email providers out there. Be sure to check if they offer the features you are looking for, including contact management, easy-to-use templates, social media buttons, scheduling capabilities, analytic reporting, easy importing of your current email lists, and experienced customer support.
The top three companies you may want to check out first are Mail Chimp, Constant Contact, and iContact. All of them are well-known and offer many helpful amenities.
If you are not taking advantage of your email database list, then you should start. Invest in the email provider that best fits your needs.
By taking the time to write to your patients, you are building your rapport, interacting with your patients through a medium they prefer, informing them of important news, promotions and information, answering their questions, and offering your best advice.