Today’s consumers are bombarded with marketing communication from businesses. This often results in all emails except those considered worthy of opening, ending up in the trash. For healthcare organizations trying to stand out, it may seem that email marketing has become an ineffective way to communicate. This is not the case. In order to stand out, businesses must take special steps to craft open-worthy email messages. Here are some tips to create more impactful email marketing messages.
5 Tips to Better Email Open Rates
- Make messages mobile friendly
The vast majority (67%) of emails are opened on mobile devices. If your emails are not optimized to be easily viewed on a variety of platforms, you risk your messages not being read. Today the majority of email services such as Mailchimp and Constant Contact provide templates for creating mobile emails. Take advantage of these and engage your contacts on all devices.
- Segment your contacts
An email list is a valuable marketing asset and should be treated as such. Chances are, your marketing list contains a variety of ages and interests. Instead of emailing the same message to every contact on your list, segment the list by age and interests. For example, pediatricians can segment their list so specific age groups receive messages relevant to that age. That means parents of children in the tween and teen years would receive messages that are different from those sent to parents of babies and toddlers. Segmenting your lists will help keep your contacts interested in what you have to say and will improve your open and click rates.
- Create compelling subject lines
When you decide what emails to open, it probably comes down to either the sender or the subject. Crafting an attention-getting subject line is no simple task. It can be frustrating to create a great email only to have the open rate be low. A well-written teaser can go a long way and make a big impact on open and engagement rates.
- Check grammar before sending
Before sending an email or any other marketing message, be sure to have it reviewed for grammatical and spelling errors. While you may be the best healthcare provider in the area, your business is still up for judgment. Let your wonderful bedside manner be what stays on the mind of patients, not spelling and grammatical errors.
- Don’t forget to include a call to action
What is the purpose of your email? Is it to incentivize people to call or schedule an appointment? If so, clearly state what you want them to do and why they should do it. Be sure to have only one call to action. Having more than one can result in competing messages and lost efficacy.
Bonus Tip: Send your emails out at strategic times. According to Vertical Response, many consumers open emails in the evenings. Experiment with different times and see what generates the highest open and click through rates.
Email marketing is a cost effective medical marketing solution. Honor those on your list by sending well-written information targeted to the services and medical topics they are interested in. By doing so, you will find that your emails generate better results and you will have happier and more informed patients.