17 Jul 6 Ways You Can Enhance Your Email Marketing Strategy When It Comes to Generating Leads

While some people still try to insist email is dead when it comes to marketing, that’s just not the case. Email campaigns remain an important part of your overall marketing strategy, and when it comes to generating leads — or getting previous patients re-engaged — lead-nurturing emails can give you a good return for your investment. Here are six strategies to make your lead nurturing emails as productive as possible.

1. Ensure your content is relevant and valuable

When it comes to getting leads, making sure the content you’re sending out in your email campaigns is relevant and valuable to your target audience is critical. This could be a key piece of industry news or just a follow-up on the benefits of treatment or how to use a skincare product they’ve recently purchased. Links and downloadable PDFs give you a chance to promote your brand and get your material into the hands of prospective clients outside of email as well. On the flip side, sending out emails that are clearly nothing but a sales push and are only asking for something from the reader — instead of offering value — can actually turn clients off and lead to more unsubscribes.

2. Don’t underestimate the power of a thank you

When you thank your patients for being loyal to your practice, it can have a big impact on keeping them engaged and thank you emails have been shown to get double the engagement of other marketing emails. The best time to do this is with an email right after they’ve taken a step farther into the sales funnel, such as signing up for a newsletter list, scheduling an appointment or buying a skincare product. Make sure to keep it genuine, though. A sincere thank you leaves a positive brand impression, but one that comes across as patronizing can push your patients away.

3. Take advantage of anniversaries and birthdays

Timing your email marketing around client anniversaries and birthdays may take a little extra effort, but the payoff can be well worth it. Sending out an email for a customer’s birthday, for example, can increase conversation rates by around 60%. It’s even better if your recognition of the event includes a unique incentive or offer, which makes the customer feel special and strengthens their relationship with your brand. Regular holiday emails are also included in this category, but consider going a little further than the traditional Black Friday and Christmas offerings by noting special events such as National Donut Day or May 4th.

4. Maximize newsletters for better engagement

Remember when we talked about valuable, relevant content in tip #1? Newsletters are one of the easiest and best ways to do this. They let you offer patients useful content without being too salesy. Your newsletter could feature practice news, industry updates or just a “here’s what we have coming for you in the next couple of months” kind of message. Keep in mind, though, that more than 50% of people open emails from mobile devices, and a newsletter that isn’t formatted for smaller screens can turn what would have been a solid lead into an instant delete.

5. Don’t neglect renewals if you’re offering free trials

While this strategy won’t be applicable to all practices, for those who do offer free trials for membership clubs or auto-ship for skincare products, it’s crucial. Giving your patients a complimentary trial period where they can check out your service is a great way to increase your conversion rates, but only around a quarter of those who sign up will actually renew and become full-paying patients. You can impact this statistic for the better by sending out drip emails letting patients know that their free trial is expiring soon and giving them an easy way to renew. Make sure to provide real benefits for the patient instead of just a direct sales pitch. Offering a discount for the first few weeks or months isn’t a bad idea either.

6. Focus on current patients

While many practices are focused on generating totally new leads, there may be a neglected market when it comes to patients who have previously visited your practice for a procedure or purchased products but haven’t engaged with your brand in a while. Lack of brand engagement doesn’t necessarily mean these patients were unhappy or aren’t willing to make a purchase again; they just may need that extra incentive such as a discount code or special offer that comes in at just the right time. A good email marketing campaign should include occasional promotional emails targeted directly to this demographic.

When it comes to your email marketing strategy, lead-nurturing content is important to generating new patients and continuing to build relationships with your existing patients. Remember that email marketing is a bit of a slow build strategy, and it may take a bit before you start to see the increase in engagement and conversions you’re looking for. However, focusing on useful content targeted to the right patients at the right time will eventually yield results.