Every email marketing campaign starts the same – with a marketer wondering what type of marketing emails I should be sending. Should I send weekly newsletters to keep my audience up to date with my brand? Or just focus on one killer dedicated email that will push them right down the sales funnel? What about email digests? Do they work or are they just a waste of time?
Whether you’re just starting out your healthcare marketing career or you are an experienced marketer I’m sure you’ve spent plenty of time pondering these questions. And that’s OK. It’s not always easy to choose the right type of email for your healthcare marketing campaign. That is why I have created this blog to elaborate on different email types and when to use them to achieve maximal results.
1. Newsletters
Newsletters are the newspaper of the internet. And just like newspapers have their informative, entertainment, and sports segment, healthcare marketing newsletters should also contain a variety of information that may interest the viewer. For example, they can include one blog post, news, an interesting offer, and an event announcement.
Newsletters represent marketing emails that should intrigue the imagination of the viewers with a short explanation of the content accompanied by a link to your website where they can learn more. The goal is to produce a certain sensation of anticipation among the receivers that will drive them back to your website.
That’s why newsletters are usually composed of selected information that has already been published on your online asset. For example, summaries of popular blog posts and links to videos on your webpage.
Newsletters are a great way of engaging and deepening the relationship with your audience. An interesting newsletter will spark people’s interest in your brand. Or inform them about your offer and keep their interest alive.
Newsletters are also a great way of gathering feedback from physicians. By following the feedback your newsletters provide, like the opening rate and the click-through rate, you can find out what posts have the best reception and focus your attention on the topics that draw the most attention.
2. Email digests
What is the difference between an email and a digest? This is the question that pops up every once in a while. After all, they are both sent periodically and contain similar content. Just like newsletters digests also contain links to the most popular blogs and articles alongside a short description of the content that lies behind the link.
But digests are far more complex than newsletters and normally packed with bulleted lists. These lists contain links that enable the readers to quickly scan the content and select their favorite stories. Since digests are composed of links that lead the receivers to certain content on the website that makes they are ideal for gathering important feedback about the preferences and the behavior of your audience.
Is a new report published on your website getting more attention than you anticipated? Make sure to issue another one and attract even more visitors.
3. Dedicated emails
Dedicated or stand-alone emails are used to promote one and only one piece of content, for instance, one particular blog event or better yet, one offer on your website. The advantage of stand-alone emails is the fact that they are strictly tailored to draw the attention of physicians to one offer. They are short and easy to create, and their impact is easy to measure. You can easily check a variety of metrics including click-through rate, landing page views, and the ROI of that email.
4. Lead nurturing emails
Maybe you’ve intrigued your customers with newsletters, digests, and dedicated emails but that doesn’t mean that they are ready to purchase or even meticulously review your offer. Research shows that only 25% of leads are immediately ready to accept the offer they see on the website or in an email. Another 50% will need some nurturing before they make a definite decision.
And what better way to nurture your leads than by sending them a series of marketing emails specially designed with the joint purpose of further intriguing the physicians that have already shown interest in your website? Lead nurturing emails use the info already left by the physicians to offer them information on the topic that already attracted their attention.
By sending lead nurturing emails you are showing your subscribers that you are aware of their interest. Then you provide them with further materials on the desired topic. It can be an email with new information about the product. A special limited-time discount. Or a special event connected to the offer. Either way, lead nurturing emails are there to further educate your leads and push them down the sales funnel thus creating a high revenue return on a low investment.
5. Transactional emails
Transactional emails or triggered emails are a little bit different than the previous types. They are triggered by the reaction of the website visitor. This is an expected email that contains information that the client wishes to see or confirm.
Transactional emails are messages that recipients want to get. It’s an email you receive when you sign up for a course or apply to download a medical publication. Their purpose is to enable you to confirm the action.
Transactional emails are a fantastic marketing tool. You can use them to push leads further down the funnel by adding promotional content to them.
How to use healthcare marketing emails to achieve success?
OK, now you know all types of marketing emails but are probably wondering when to send which. Sure enough, there are rules to email sending. And here’s the route to follow if you want to achieve success.
Make sure to send newsletters and digests periodically. While newsletters are usually sent once a week or even once a day, digests are usually delivered on monthly basis. These emails can be sent to any member of the potential audience with the intention to spark their interest in your company.
Once a physician has shown interest you should follow through with a dedicated email. That will inform them about one particular product, device, or other data relevant to your company. After that make sure to follow up with several leads nurturing emails designed to push the physicians further down the sales funnel.
And when they decide to download a white paper or subscribe to your newsletter send them the transactional email to complete the action. You may need to repeat the steps several times but after a while, you will surely get the attention and the results you need.
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