In 2020, COVID-19 transformed the way dental practices interact with patients—and those changes aren’t going away anytime soon. As communication increasingly moves online, email marketing is more important than ever. According to Hubspot, email marketers are sending 27% more emails than they were before the pandemic.
Ready to take your email marketing to the next level in 2021? Try these tips.
1. Maintain a healthy email list.
Actively work to keep building your email list. Start by including an option to sign up for email marketing messages in all your new patient forms—but don’t stop there. If you notice a visiting patient hasn’t signed up for emails, ask if they’d like to subscribe before they leave the office. Encourage patients to subscribe to your marketing emails with a prominent button on your website; promote your email subscriptions on your social media channels.
Email marketing can help build and maintain connection with your patients. Honor that trusted relationship by staying compliant with anti-SPAM and HIPAA regulations. Clearly explain what types of emails patients can expect, and be sure each email offers an easy way to unsubscribe at any time.
2. Automate your email marketing.
Setting up standard email messages that you can customize and automatically send patients in various situations can amplify your marketing message and save time for your staff. Here are some standard email messages every dental practice should have ready to send to select patients:
- Welcome email for new patients. (A whopping 82% of welcome emails get opened, so make sure your welcome email sets a friendly, positive tone for your patient relationship)
- Follow-up email after the first visit
- Customizable appointment and recall reminders
- Reminders for patients with unscheduled treatment
- Targeted promotional campaigns with time-sensitive offers
- Monthly or quarterly newsletters
- Urgent announcements such as office closures, new hours, or new COVID-19 protocols
Email automation can trigger messages to send after patients take a certain action (such as booking an appointment on your website) or before an event (such as an appointment or promotion). Look for email marketing options such as Lighthouse 360 that offer easy tools and automation options you need to save your staff time.
3. Segment your emails.
Every patient is different, so why should they all get the same emails? “Segmenting” in email marketing means grouping your patients into lists based on similarities, behaviors, expressed interests and other factors. For instance, you might have one list for parents of young patients, one for patients with gum disease, one for dormant patients and one for patients who have expressed interest in cosmetic dentistry.
Segmenting your email messages helps you create relevant marketing that gets better results. Statistics show that 90% of consumers prefer personalized marketing. Particularly in this pandemic era, patients seek a personal connection with their healthcare provider. No wonder marketers who use segmented email marketing campaigns report revenue increases of up to 760%.
Segmenting your email may sound complicated, but it doesn’t have to be with Lighthouse 360. Our patient communication software lets you easily create segmented email lists and send them messages.
4. Pay attention to email design
We’re all busy these days, and COVID-19 stressors like working from home and managing children’s remote schooling leave patients little time to peruse lengthy emails. It’s more important than ever to make sure your marketing emails are attractive, clear and easy to read.
Since more than six in 10 emails are opened on mobile devices, design your emails with mobile use in mind. Keep text minimal and skimmable, with appealing images and easy-to-click buttons and links. Test to see how emails look on various mobile devices before sending.
Make sure your emails match your practice’s brand so they’re easily recognizable as coming from your office. Emails should feature the same colors, fonts and style of images as your website and other marketing materials.
Don’t have the time or skill to design your own emails? No worries—using templates that are easy to customize and proven to be effective can save you time and ensure attractive design. At Lighthouse 360, we specialize in dental marketing, so you can be confident our email templates will deliver results.
5. Include a call to action
A call to action (CTA) simply means asking the recipient to take action. Every email should have a key call to action, such as “Write a Review,” “Book an Appointment,” “Learn More” or “Call Now.” Putting your CTA in a clickable button draws attention and spurs action. Include time-sensitive offers or coupons to build urgency, such as “50% Off Teeth Whitening”, “FREE Smile Assessment”, or “$500 OFF Invisalign.”
Get help
Marketing during a pandemic is challenging. Using a professional email marketing service designed for dental offices can help. Lighthouse 360 has the templates, segmentation, automation and personalization features you need to make your email marketing the best it can be.
