Without tracking how emails perform and using that data to refine your strategy, email marketing can be a waste of time and money. However, when done right, it’s a valuable opportunity to build meaningful relationships with customers that can blossom into brand advocacy and business growth.
In today’s world, email is typically used for professional pursuits and business interests. It’s a one-to-one form of communication that can feel like a personalized connection between your brand and a customer. There are real people at each end of an email; that’s why it’s crucial for healthcare marketers to have a firm understanding of email marketing, how it ties into customer experience, and how it can be harnessed to build meaningful personal relationships with clients old and new.
Let’s explore how email marketing can help you build relationships with your clients at scale:
Keep it conversational
You may be writing one email to a large audience, but it pays to write as if you’re addressing one person only. Keep your writing conversational and personalize it wherever possible. Your readers aren’t robots. Concise, personal messaging will be far more impactful than something that seems to be generated by a crude AI device.
When’s the first time they’ll get a taste of this? Your subject line! Keep these short and sweet, and stick to crafting ones that work. This HubSpot article shares tried-and-tested tips for writing subject lines that do the initial heavy lifting for you. These tips are easily actionable, like communicating a sense of urgency, inciting curiosity and mentioning your offer upfront.
Pay attention to presentation
The way you present information is as important as what you’re saying. Without clearly written copy that’s laid out well, readers are not likely to pay attention. Balancing text with visuals in an easy-to-follow layout helps prevent reader fatigue, increasing the chances they’ll pay attention to, and understand, what you’re sharing.
This extends to optimization: in a digitally connected world, everything you do online needs to be optimized to display effectively on all devices — including your emails.
Provide real value, at the right time
Your emails need to provide real value. Using what you know about your reader to deliver relevant content at the right time will go a long way to developing an empathic connection between your brand and them, via your offer. Be consistent, but avoid being irritating — time your emails smartly. People want to be updated with relevant industry news. Timing your emails to match the stage of the buyer's journey, or to coincide with a relevant event, will cement your reputation as a brand whose emails are worth opening.
Automate
Imagine being able to send time- or action- triggered emails to your subscribers. This would save you countless hours of typing up emails to individual contacts, without necessarily losing out on a personalized feel. Automation can be used for anything from time-triggered birthday greetings to a series of emails that are triggered to nurture a new lead once they’re enrolled into your database. It takes the spadework out of staying connected — helping you scale, without losing touch with your audience.
Segment your audience
Segmentation, or dividing your email subscribers up into smaller segments based on set criteria, helps target offers to better match customer needs and desires. For example, you could segment your subscribers based on their content preferences, geographic location, or purchase history. This allows you to offer a more personalized experience that makes it easier for your reader to feel as if each email was written specifically for them.
Tracking your efforts is key to understanding what works and what doesn’t. Using a database allows you to track email data, like open and click-through rates. It also gives you insights into your marketing efforts that can fuel continuous improvement in process and customer service.
In the digital era, customers expect a seamless experience throughout their journey to purchase — it’s the assumed golden standard. With your competitors vying for their attention, you need to deliver a valuable, personal experience to each prospect and customer. Email marketing is one of your most effective ways to do this.
KBK Communications draws on more than 50 collective years of experience at the intersection of marketing and healthcare. We specialize in crafting digital strategies that create seamless customer experiences, using email marketing and more.
Now you can also learn how to satisfy your customers from research to purchase and beyond, with our latest guide to Creating a Frictionless Customer Experience. Click here for your free copy.
