Secrets of email marketing
While the number of digital marketing channels may have grown since the early days of the internet, email is still the most effective for marketers. Despite the stigma of being 
middle-aged technology, email is still useful and universally accepted. Saying that its one of the hardest to get right!
Positive Email Marketing:
Email marketing is a great way to reach your patients without spending a lot of money but its a big responsibility too, people don’t just give their email address to anyone. The amount of emails being sent just keeps growing and so does the
return on investment.
1. Make it easy to subscribe and tell patients what they should expect:
Post a signup form on your homepage, blog, social media pages or wherever your
patients are already active. Whether you plan to send practice updates, e-
commerce sales, special offers or tips its important to tell your readers what to
expect and how often to expect it. This can prevent any complaints in the future.
2. Send a welcome email:
Its always good to remind people why they have signed up to your emails to
reassure them that good things will come from it. You may send them special
offers or exclusive content as a way of thanking them for their loyalty.
3. Design your email to fit your brand:
Your email campaigns should match your brands look and feel by adding practice
colours and logos. If your emails are consistent with the rest of the businesses
content then the reader will feel more familiar and comfortable from the start.
4. Make it scannable:
Your patients are busy people and probably don’t have a lot of time to sit reading
hundreds of emails. Break up the content in the email into short paragraphs and
include subheadings and images to guide readers through the email.
5. Regular emails:
If you go several months without sending any emails then your patients will
forget about you and are more likely to delete the next email or mark it as spam.
You should make time to plan, write and send your emails regularly.
6. Edit and test:
Once you send an email you cant go back and update it. Leave plenty of time for
editing and looking over your content as careless ones reflect poorly on the
companies that send them. As for testing, different email clients and mobile
devices display emails differently. You should send test emails to colleagues to
make sure you’re emails are going to look good on screens big and small.
Negative Email Marketing:
For small businesses, email still represents a cheap, effective way to establish
or maintain a relationship with clients. However, the content of the email has
the power to either attract or repel. So before you hit the send button there are
some common mistakes practices should be aware of:
1. Emailing without permission:
Getting an email newsletter that you didn’t sign up to feels like an invasion of
privacy. Small businesses often start their email campaigns by buying a list and
then hitting everyone on that list. Companies should stay away from third-party
lists as they simply don’t work and people will instantly expect to receive spam
from you in the future. Businesses shouldn’t take short-cuts and should build up
their list organically by having an opt-in form on their website or having a sign
up sheet in the practice.
2. Having ineffective or irrelevant subject and “from” lines:
You can’t guarantee that someone will open your email, but its less likely to
happen if you use a dull subject line. A subject line should be short, digestible
information that is likely to be of interest. If the email is properly targeted,
there’s a good chance patients will click through to see what it’s about. The
“from” lines are also important as very few people are likely to open an email if
they don’t recognise the sender.
3. Blasting irrelevant content:
Make sure your emails are relevant to your target audience. No one will open an
email if its something they are completed disinterested in.
4. Not looking at the numbers:
You need to be able to determine if your emails were a success by finding out how
many were opened and how many bounced back. Make sure you’re analysing and
comparing the numbers, which can help you get the most out of your future email
sends. Metrics can provide useful information to boost efficacy, including the
best day and time to send the email, the most effective subject lines and the
content that most reflects your audience.
5. Having no purpose:
Many businesses start email marketing with no idea as to why they are doing it.
They haven’t thought about what their goals are or what’s in it for the people
receiving the emails. Having a purpose will dictate your content.
6. Providing no dialogue:
A good email means that people will like it and will want to share it around. So
to maximise the chances that your message will be passed around, write
interesting content.
Would email marketing be beneficial at your practice?
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