As the dental industry continues to expand, getting new patients takes more than just an appointment card. Keeping your existing patients engaged will require more effort.
While there’s a variety of dental marketing strategies to grow your practice, from social media campaigns to radio ads and billboards, you might have overlooked one of the simplest ways to connect with patients - email marketing.
According to Emarsys, email remains as the main driver of customer retention and acquisition for small and midsize businesses. 81% of them still rely on email to acquire new customers.
By 2023, the world will have 4.3 billion email users. That’s half of the global population.
89% of Americans check their email at least once a day. More than 20% do it five or more times.
This can only tell you one thing: Email marketing is definitely an important business tool you want to take advantage of.
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Although email marketing may not be the most powerful marketing strategy, it sure can be effective when it comes to bringing you new faces and retaining old ones.
Here’s a few other reasons why we strongly recommend dental email marketing:
Back in the day when online communication was merely starting out, dentists would only interact with their patients once they were on the dental chair. After a patient leaves, the communication also ends.
Fast forward to the present, the dentist-patient relationship has evolved tremendously - and we have email and social media to thank for that.
A follow-up email can make all the difference. By sending your patients a simple e-mail a few days after their visit, you can make them feel special and valued.
As with any other dental practitioners, you probably have a list of emails from patients who have missed an appointment or two.
Sending them a personal email is all it takes to bring them back into your clinic.
And if you want to make sure that they really push through with their appointment this time, , you can give them an exclusive promotional offer.
If there’s one surefire way to reduce the chances of a no-show or cancellations, automated appointment reminders should be it.
It’s not uncommon for dental patients to miss an appointment, so there’s no need to be alarmed. What’s the top reason for it, though? Forgetfulness.
That’s why sending them automated email reminders has been proven to work time and again.
Patients love personalized emails. Something as simple as a message reminding them to buy a new toothbrush can mean a lot to them.
You’ll establish yourself not only as a competent dentist, but also as someone who really cares about their patients. This will create a genuine dentist-patient relationship.
Now that you understand how your dental practice can benefit greatly from email marketing, let’s talk about the seven types that can leave your patients wanting for more!
Remember, each dental email marketing type has its pros and cons, so it’s best that you use them depending on your goals and budget.
Patience reassurance is a big must for healthcare professionals - and email confirmation is the only way to do it.
As a dental practitioner, one of your priorities is to provide your patients a satisfying experience, making sure that they’re free from confusion.
Once a patient fills your appointment form, be sure that you send them an email confirming their booked appointment.
Failing to do so gives them the assumption that their booking didn’t go through. Others may think that you didn’t accept their appointment, eventually leading them to look for another dental practitioner.
Confirmation emails tell your patients that you’ll be seeing them on their scheduled appointment. That’s everything they need to get a peace of mind.
The Practice | Beverly Hills shows us how it’s done:
If you’ve noticed, the message not only focuses on account confirmation, but it also directs patients to a link where they can fill out their forms ahead of their appointment date. Talk about an exceptional customer service!
Appointment reminder emails are a no-brainer for professionals in the healthcare industry.
As previously mentioned, automated reminders can help reduce patient cancellations and no-shows, saving you money in the long run.
Your patients aren’t trying to skip their appointment on purpose. Like you, they get so caught up with work that they forget about other things.
With this dental email marketing strategy, however, they won’t be forgetting about an appointment ever again!
Most dentists usually send the reminder twice: the week before the appointment and the day before the appointment.
Additionally, appointment reminder emails give your patients the chance to inform you that they won’t be able to make it. That way, you can reschedule while still having enough time to fill the newly vacant slot.
You can also include a “Confirm Appointment” call to action (CTA) for reassurance, like what Summit Dental does here:
There’s no better way to promote your newest products and boost your sales than by sending product launch emails to your patients.
Ideally, the email should include an eye-catching headline, a detailed how-to guide, and two CTAs (one at the beginning and another below).
Before composing the email, you’ll need to know everything about the product first.
For example, if you’re about to release an eco-friendly toothbrush, be sure to include all its features and benefits in your email. Most importantly, be able to explain how it helps our environment.
Dental email newsletters are the perfect way to keep your patients posted about the latest happenings in your dental practice.
What’s great about newsletters is that they can be used for multiple purposes - building brand awareness, educating prospective and existing patients about dental care, and even offering email-exclusive discounts.
Here’s a great example by Lady Lake Smiles. While their tempting offer might already get everyone’s attention, the dental company also uses the newsletter to build trust among their subscribers.
What’s more, sending newsletters every month can help generate additional traffic for your dental website and social media pages. That’s always a good thing.
At this point, you might be wondering, what’s the best email marketing for dentists who want to reach out to prospective patients? Well, here you go!
Lead nurturing campaigns are designed to raise brand awareness. They educate potential consumers about a brand, its products, and its services.
In your case, you’ll be sending these emails to inform your readers about your dental practice by providing them answers to questions most dental patients typically ask. Your end goal here is to have them book an appointment with you.
Lead nurturing email is actually a series of emails typically sent to a target group on your email list.
Nothing says “I care about my patients” like sending them a sincere happy birthday email.
It’s critical to maintain a stable relationship with your patients, and emails like this can certainly make that happen. By wishing them well on their special day, you’re engaging them in a positive manner.
Dental patients love nothing more than a dentist who’s more than just a professional. Go ahead and show them that dentists can be loving humans, too!
By now, you might already know how powerful online reviews can be.
79% of people say they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations from friends and family. 94% agree that positive reviews make them more likely to use a business.
DentaVox found that 86% of dental patients checked online reviews before choosing their dentist. 60% of them went on to visit the dental office in person after reading positive feedback.
These statistics are pretty much all the convincing you need to start dental email marketing.
Right after a patient leaves your office, send them a follow-up email asking for a review. The email should include a link to the review site, like this:
Regardless of which type of email marketing for dentists you use, following these tips can lead you to success:
Any email campaign should always begin with getting permission and collecting email addresses.
Be sure to include “email address” in your new patient forms. Ask them if they’re interested to receive updates through email.
You can also ask current patients if they’d like to be a part of your email list.
If you have a dental website, you can include an online sign-up form in your homepage. For your social media platforms, you can add a subscription button.
Your welcome email is your only chance to make an impression on your prospective patients, so be sure to give it your best shot.
Keep it as short and sweet as possible, talk to them in a conversational tone, include a pleasant photo, and add a convincing call to action.
List segmentation is all about providing your subscribers with personalized information. To ensure that you’re sending the right emails to the right patients, you need to create different email lists.
Bear in mind that your patients are different, so you need to treat them differently.
Let’s say you have a segment of subscribers who only signed up to learn about bad breath treatment, while another group may be interested in teeth whitening solutions.
You wouldn’t wanna send an email about a new toothpaste with miraculous whitening effects to segment A. A dental email discussing natural remedies to bad breath won’t trigger segment B to open it.
See to it that your email content is tailored to your subscribers’ needs and interests. That’s the secret to getting them click your emails and converting them into new dental patients.
61% of emails are opened on mobile devices, which means that you need to optimize your marketing email template for mobile.
Mobile users who read a non-optimized dental email will most likely close it as soon as they see how messy the content is.
Here are some tips you can use:
l Keep your subject lines short.
l Use a single-column template.
l Use a large font size, preferably 13 or 14.
l Display small images.
l Set your email under 600 pixels wide.
l Display a compelling call to action.
l Test on multiple phones
l Don’t use an image for your call to action.
l Don’t stack links.
l Don’t include menu bars.
In case you’re not aware, drip campaigns are a set of pre-written emails that will be sent out according to a schedule or action trigger.
For example, if someone signs up to your dental website, they’ll receive a welcome email and perhaps a series of emails three days later, and another follow-up message the following week.
You’ll need drip campaigns to keep your prospective patients engaged until such time they book an appointment.
You may set up automated emails similar to this sequence:
Email 1: Welcome email
Email 2: Booking confirmation
Email 3: Introduce your dental team
Email 4: Show video clips of your practice
Email 5: Send an appointment reminder a week before the date
Email 6: Ask for an online review
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There’s no better time than now to get your dental business to the top!
Your friendly marketing specialists here at Digital Resource will take care of your email marketing campaign while you take care of your lovely patients!