Email platforms have evolved and grown since Ray Tomlinson sent the first email in 1971. Rules and regulations are now in place to enforce ethical usage and have put an end to people simply blind copying a list of addresses, sending them out and hoping for a response.

Why?

Before you start designing an email campaign, you need to know the reasons why you’re sending it. Here are some reasons to consider:

• Do you want to drive sales in a particular area?
• Would you like to inform patients about an upcoming event or offer?
• Do you want to increase brand awareness and share some general information with your audience?

Once you know why you’re sending the campaign it will help you determine who to send it to, when to send it and what you’d like to learn from it.

Who?

Having a well-managed email database is one of the most important parts of a successful email campaign. Managing your database will help make it easier to send targeted campaigns.

Beyond segmenting your list by name, age and location, you could also segment:

• Patients who’ve had a treatment in the last 6 months.
• Patients who’ve not visited the practice in 12 months.
• The type of treatment patients have received.

Consider why you’re sending the campaign and segment your email database accordingly.

When?

Take some time to research your selected audience and try to identify a time when they are most likely to engage with you. If you are unsure, most email marketing providers offer test functions that allow you to send out the same email with slight variations.

Consider your campaign objectives; if you are trying to get patients to phone in and book a consultation then it would not be wise to send the email when your practice is closed.

How will you measure success?

So you know the reason you’re sending the email, who you’re targeting and when to send it, but how will you measure your campaign’s success?

Some measurements of success could be noted in one or more of the following ways:

• Were there more enquiries after your email was sent?
• Did your website/blog see an increase in traffic coming from your email?
• Did you see an increase in enquiries from lapsed patients?

It’s important that you’re tracking the right metrics in order to determine the success of your campaign– If you’re looking to increase the number of new patient consultations, it’s no good just tracking how many people open your email each week.

What have you learned?

Most email marketing providers supply you with an abundance of statistics with regards to the number of opens and click-throughs that can help you understand how successful a campaign has been. However, it is also worth considering simple things such as:

• Were there parts of your email that produced a better response than others?
• Did people click on the links?
• How many people unsubscribed from your email?
• Should you better segment your database?
• Did you aim your message at the right audience?

It is important to take the time to review the reports from each email campaign and use this analysis to inform your next campaign.

All marketing tactics should always be planned as part of a wider marketing strategy but if you would like help with producing compelling email campaigns and want to discuss how to produce engaging content to serve your marketing goals, please get in touch on 01872 300232 or email us at hello@hivebusiness.co.uk.