Email Marketing as a Trust-Based Tool for Dentists
Email is a crucial communication tool for dental practices. It enables appointment scheduling, reminders, and follow-ups with patients. Additionally, it facilitates sharing important oral health information, treatment plans, and post-visit care instructions.
By utilizing email, dental practices can provide efficient, convenient, and personalized communication to enhance patient trust, satisfaction and maintain a healthy patient-provider relationship.
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Email as a Communication Tool for Dentists
I believe e-mail as a medium of communicating with patients has long been used by Dental Clinics all over the world.
It enables appointment scheduling, reminders, and follow-ups with patients.
Additionally, it facilitates sharing important oral health information, treatment plans, and post-visit care instructions.
By utilizing email, dental practices can provide efficient, convenient, and personalized communication to enhance patient satisfaction and maintain a healthy patient-provider relationship.
Email marketing for Dental Clinics
In the ever-evolving world of dentistry, where precision meets innovation, email marketing emerges as the trusted maestro orchestrating patient engagement.
In this article, I will share a step-by-step guide of how the self-marketing Dentist can leverage the power of email marketing using the email marketing software named Mailmodo.
How e-mail marketing helps Dental Clinics?
- Focuses on promotional and marketing content.
- Utilizes newsletters, special offers, and educational materials to engage and retain patients.
- Aims to generate leads, increase appointments, and boost brand awareness.
- Involves segmenting and targeting specific patient groups for tailored campaigns.
- Measures success through metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates.
Now that we know the advantages of Email Marketing for Dental Clinics, let’s get started with the most important step that kick starts the marketing process: Building an Email Subscriber List.
Building an Email Subscriber List
Building an email subscriber list is vital for dental clinics. Usually the easiest way to start would be by delivering great value periodically. Start by creating engaging, informative content like oral health tips, treatment updates, and special offers.
A quality subscriber list enhances patient engagement and clinic growth.
There are several ways to build your email list of subscribers.
An article by Shopify shares an exhaustive way of building a list.
Check them out by clicking the link that suits your Dental Clinic’s approach to collecting data.
- Add a pop-up offer to your homepage
- Put an opt-in form in your navigation or footer
- Collect emails at your Dental Clinic or in-person events like dental camps or during dental epidemiological surveys conducted in business organizations or universities
- Add a signup button to social media
- Build personalized landing pages
- Include a newsletter signup option at checkout
Considering that you have built an email subscriber list with one of the above options, now let’s jump into creating some email marketing campaigns with the use of email marketing softwares.
Before getting there, have you ever wondered why do we need an Email marketing software?
Isn’t it great if we send personalized emails to each of our current or future patients from our own email IDs?
Let’s see how a dedicated email marketing software works in this imaginary narrative.
Imagine an email marketing software as your personal assistant for sending emails to a group of people, like friends or family, but on a much larger scale.
Think of it like a magic postman who helps you create beautiful letters (emails) with pictures, videos, and special messages. You tell this postman who should receive these letters, and he delivers them to everyone on your list, one by one.
But here’s the clever part: this postman doesn’t just deliver the letters. He also watches to see if your friends open and read them. If they do, he lets you know.
And if you want to invite your friends to a party, this postman can keep track of who RSVPs and who can’t make it. It’s like having a party planner too!
So, email marketing software is like a helpful postman and party planner rolled into one, making it easy to send messages and stay in touch with lots of people, whether they’re your friends or your customers.
Data proving the high trust and success rate of Email Marketing
A 2023 survey by e-marketer shows that among the Marketers interviewed 62% of the respondents have increased their budget for Email Marketing.
Key Features Dentists must look for in an Email Marketing App
- These platforms should offer user-friendly interfaces.
- They should provide templates, automation, and segmentation features.
- Email software must ensure compliance with email regulations.
- It ought to offer real-time campaign performance analytics.
- Save time, enhance patient engagement, and drive practice growth for dental clinics.
Email Marketing Software – Mailmodo – Illustrations and Benefits
While you may choose or continue to use softwares like Mailchimp, Hubspot or GetResponse, I found a few good benefits for Dentists in Mailmodo which I would like to share here.
Mailmodo is a new-age email marketing tool that helps you create and send dynamic and interactive emails to help you get higher conversions and Return on Investment.
Key Benefit 1: Plenty of Classified Templates
While every email marketing applications provide a good number of templates, Mailmodo offers a number of templates based on the requirement. It offers specific templates to engage with your patients, templates to request for referrals from existing patients, to request patient reviews or feedback or to conduct surveys.
These templates are ready to use with minimum tweaking required before sending the email.
Key Benefit 2: Audience Segmentation
After choosing the appropriate template for your email campaign, you would next determine the target audience. Based on the history of patient engagement with your previous emails, you can segment users into convenient segments.
Example:
Categorize your audience based on the history of action taken by them. In the below example, we target patients who have opened your emails but did not click on them. This helps tailor your message.
Action: Send the same email to those who did not click in the first occasion while sharing the second email in the sequence for others.
Key Benefit 3: Fully Automated Sequence of Campaigns
Once you have narrowed down on your target audience, we move towards the execution phase of the campaign. This is the most laborious phase as we have tailor our messages to each recipient based on their action or inaction towards the campaign.
This is where the fully automated setup of campaigns save us hours of our time!!
The key here is to keep your patients or prospective patients engaged with next set of items to act upon.
Here’s an example of how an automated email campaign setup would work:
- Appointment Confirmation Email:
When a patient books an appointment online or through the clinic’s reception, the clinic’s email marketing software triggers an automated confirmation email.
The email includes details of the appointment, date, time, and location, as well as a friendly reminder of any pre-appointment instructions.
- Appointment Reminder Email (Before the Appointment):
A day or two before the appointment, the software automatically sends a reminder email to the patient.
This email serves as a gentle nudge, helping patients remember their scheduled visit.
It may also include a map to the clinic or a link for rescheduling if needed.
- Post-Appointment Follow-Up Email:
After the appointment, the software sends a follow-up email to the patient. It thanks the patient for visiting and asks for feedback on their experience.
Find out how these elements help continuous engagement with your patients by availing the 21-day Free Trial available to use all premium features of Mailmodo. Usually, you would start to reap great benefits when you schedule email campaigns at regular intervals for 3 months duration.
Alternatively, you can request for a detailed demo of the platform.
Other Common Reasons for Dental Clinics to Send Emails
- Birthday Greeting Email:
The software tracks patient birthdays and sends a personalized birthday greeting.
It may include a special offer, like a discount on teeth whitening or a free oral hygiene gift.
- Newsletter Subscriptions:
Patients who subscribe to the clinic’s newsletter automatically receive periodic updates on oral health, promotions, and clinic news.
The software adds new subscribers to the mailing list and sends out newsletters as scheduled.
- Reactivation Email (For Inactive Patients):
For patients who haven’t visited the clinic in a while, the software sends a reactivation email.
It offers an incentive or highlights the benefits of returning for a check-up.
What is so Unique about Email Marketing for Dentists?
Before I jump into the uniqueness of Email Marketing for Dentists, let me show off a few things that I have understood about Trust-Based Marketing from my own experience and learning.
Dentistry is a field deeply rooted in trust, and trust-based marketing methods are its lifeblood. Patients entrust their oral health and well-being to their dentists, making trust the cornerstone of every dental practice.
Building and nurturing this trust is pivotal, and it extends beyond clinical expertise to encompass open communication, empathy, and reliability. Patients are more likely to seek and recommend dental services from professionals they trust, and word-of-mouth referrals are a testament to the power of trust in dentistry.
Therefore, marketing in dentistry thrives when it reinforces the authenticity, competence, and caring nature of dental practitioners, reaffirming the patient’s faith in their dental care providers.
“Trust-Based Marketing“ – Dan Kennedy
Author and Dental Marketing Guru, Dan Kennedy talks about Trust-Based Marketing at length with many references to Dentists in his Bestselling Book “No B.S Guide to Trust-Based Marketing“. It provides a fresh set of ideas to service-based professionals.
Email Marketing – A Trust-based Online Marketing Method
Email marketing thrives primarily on trust as it relies on consent and a direct line of communication with recipients. (check eMarketer Survey above)
Subscribers willingly share their email addresses, trusting that they will receive relevant and valuable content. Building and maintaining this trust is paramount, and it involves consistently delivering on promises, respecting privacy, and providing meaningful, helpful information.
Trust fosters higher open rates, click-through rates, and conversions, making it the foundation upon which successful email marketing campaigns are built.
And Finally, It’s Impact on your Dental Clinic’s Revenue
By nurturing patient relationships, driving appointment bookings, and promoting services, it significantly increases revenue streams. Its cost-effectiveness and efficient patient retention strategies reduce marketing expenses while boosting patient lifetime value.
The ability to track campaign performance provides invaluable insights, allowing clinics to refine their strategies and allocate resources more effectively.
In essence, email marketing acts as a direct and lucrative channel, consistently contributing to a healthier bottom line for dental practices, all while enhancing patient care and satisfaction.
At PPC Digital Marketer, we primarily focus on PPC Digital Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media Management and WordPress Website Designing exclusively for the Dentists.
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