Think about your personal email inbox. If it’s like everyone else’s, you have emails from Amazon, any retailer that has asked you for your email address at checkout, politicians seeking donations, and Facebook or any other social media you happen to use. Now think about what you do with so many of those emails.
Whether you delete or just “mark as read” to get rid of that menacing red flag, it’s likely that you don’t read every message that appears in your inbox. The emails that you do read are entertaining, informational, or simply relevant to what you’re genuinely interested in. If you want your patients to actually read your emails, you need to provide similar content for them.
Why Email?
In a time when social media is king, email is still a valid way to make personal connections with your patients. How? Emails can be easily personalized, helping you target the patients who are interested in specific treatments. Emails also can be tracked, allowing you to know which patients interacted with your emails. And, emails can be timely, giving you an opportunity to incorporate local and current events. If you mix up the content of your emails, not only do you stay in the forefront of your patients’ minds, but you also increase the likelihood of them being read in the first place.
How to Mix It Up
If you’re stumped about how to keep your email content interesting and relevant, we’ve got some ideas. Using a combination of the following categories will help keep your patients interested and give them reason to be a long-term part of your dental family:
- Educational: Is there something innovative happening in the world of dentistry? Tell your patients about it. Don’t bore them with technical information or dentistry jargon, though. Focus on how their experience at your office can be improved.
- Practice happenings: Have you invested in new technology? Has a new dental assistant been hired? Anything that could benefit your patients should be shared with them!
- Before and after pictures: Pictures say far more than you could ever express in words. Some of your emails should include your most impressive “Before & After” photos and a brief (and patient-friendly) explanation of the procedure.
- Testimonials: Video has the most impact, so whenever possible, embed a video in your email or provide a link for your patients to watch it on your website. Nothing instills more confidence in a hesitant patient than someone who has actually experienced the very treatment they’ve been considering.
- Fun stuff: Email is particularly effective for patients who don’t regularly use social media. If you include fun content (similar, but not the same as what you post to Facebook) that makes you and your team relatable, you’ll have greater patient retention.
Before you send your next patient email, think about the desired outcome. If anything that comes to mind involves actually reading the email, then you absolutely have to keep your content fresh. How will you know you’re reaching patients? By using the data provided by the open and click rates.
If your patient demographic is more responsive to videos, then continue to include them in your emails. If you have better luck with emails that target patients who need a gentle nudge to commit to treatment, go with that. Whatever you do, don’t let your patients get bored. Keep them coming back by keeping it fresh.
With more than a decade of experience in corporate dental laboratory marketing and brand development, Ms. Ulasewich decided to take her passion for the dental business and marketing to the next level by founding My Dental Agency. Since starting her company, she and her team have helped a wide variety of business owners all over the nation focus their message, reach their target audience, and increase their sales through effective marketing campaigns. She can be reached at (800) 689-6434 or via email at jackie@mydentalagency.com.
Related Articles
Include Google Ads in Your 2019 Marketing Plan
Do Your Ads Resonate With the Patients You Want?
