Posted by Amy Carbone on Oct 1, 2019 9:30:00 AM
If email marketing isn't part of your dental practice's overall advertising strategy, it should be. Here are 6 tips to help make your email newsletter campaigns effective.
Educate Your Patients About Important Dental Health Topics
A significant contributing factor to treatment acceptance rates in dental practices is the lack of education patients have on the importance of certain dental procedures. Email newsletters can be used to educate your patients about key dental health issues, like bone loss after losing a tooth.
Tailor your email newsletters to your target market. If, for example, you own a pediatric dental practice, your email newsletter should be geared towards parents and contain information about common dental issues children face, such as what to do about cavities in baby teeth.
Connect Emotionally with Your Patients
Another component of treatment acceptance is an emotional connection. Patients who feel like their dentist understands them and empathizes with them tend to accept recommended treatment at higher rates than patients who lack an emotional connection with their dentist. Your email newsletter can be written to identify with the pain points of your patients, offer sympathy, and call them to action.
If you're a cash-only practice, let your patients know that you understand their frustration with insurance companies and the high cost of paying cash at practices that also accept insurance. Or, if you run a periodontal practice, empathize with your patients about the self-esteem issues that come with losing teeth. When used correctly, your email newsletter can help you form a strong bond with your patients.
Offer Exclusive Specials
Email newsletters are a great way to offer patients on your email list exclusive specials. Perhaps you'd like to offer loyal patients 15% off their next dental cleaning, or you're running a sale on at-home teeth whitening kits. Send your patients printable coupons that can be brought into your office for a discount or tell them to simply mention the email to your administrative staff at the time of their appointment. Consider advertising that you offer exclusive deals to patients who are subscribed to your newsletter, to encourage new signups.
Create Downloadable Educational Newsletters
Free downloads are a great way to educate patients and make them feel like they're getting something valuable with minimal investment on your end. Set up a series of automatic marketing emails, called a workflow, that take potential patients through the buyer's journey, offering them worksheets, checklists, or eBooks to download free of charge.
Make sure these content assets include strong calls to action to schedule a new patient dental exam with your practice. Be sure to also make it easy for patients to find your contact information.
Let Patients Know What Your Dental Practice is Up To
You can also use your email newsletter to give patients a "behind the scenes" look at your dental practice. Did a staff member get married or have a baby? Did your practice support a cause as a group? Take plenty of pictures and send your patients an email letting them know the latest.
Many dentists make the mistake of believing that patients only care about information that is relevant to them, but in today's oversaturated dental market, many dentists offer nearly the exact same thing. Taking your patients on a deeper dive to get to know your staff can help them feel comfortable connecting with you, which as mentioned earlier, can increase the rate of treatment acceptance.
Always Split Test
A/B testing is one of the fundamental concepts of email marketing. It’s a common practice in which two similar emails are sent to two halves of a group of people, in order to determine which subject lines and calls to action are more effective. It's extremely difficult to know how effective your dental email marketing campaign is without split testing, or to know how effective your campaign could be.
Send Targeted Emails
If you have a wide variety of patient types, consider sending out targeted email newsletters to specific groups within your patient base. For example, you can segregate your email list by gender and market to your male patients differently than you would your female patients and vice versa. Or, perhaps you want to segregate your email list by age and market to your older patients differently than you would your younger. Targeted emails seem more personal to patients, which helps to facilitate an emotional connection to your patients.
Don't Have a Dental Email Newsletter Campaign? Your Office Needs One Now
If your dental practice doesn't have an email marketing campaign in place yet, think about setting one up. Get advice from digital marketing professionals who are experienced in working with dental practices of all kinds.
About Treloar & Heisel
Treloar & Heisel is a premier financial services provider to dental and medical professionals across the country. We assist thousands of clients from residency to practice and through retirement with a comprehensive suite of financial services, custom-tailored advice, and a strong national network focused on delivering the highest level of service.
Treloar & Heisel and Treloar & Heisel Risk Management are divisions of Treloar & Heisel, LLC.
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Treloar & Heisel, LLC. and its divisions do not offer marketing or legal advice. Please consult a professional concerning these topics.
