3 Amazing Examples of Healthcare Email Marketing to Inspire Your Success

I’ve already discussed the many benefits of email marketing in the healthcare industry.

I’ve said it all so many times throughout this blog! Email marketing is one of the most adaptable forms of digital advertising. It’s a neat three-for-one deal, capable of conquering your acquisition, retention, and customer satisfaction. It’s a veritable powerhouse, and it’s one of the best ways to convert prospective patients into delighted customers.

But what does it look like?

How have other businesses handled their healthcare email marketing strategy, and what does that mean for you?

I’m here to answer these questions (and more), so get ready for another email marketing adventure! Keep scrolling, and you’ll learn about the wonderful world of digital healthcare marketing. (And, should you need a refresher, be sure to check in on my original blog post about healthcare email marketing.)

2 Common Problems in Healthcare Email Marketing (And 2 Wonderful Solutions)

I’ll start with some quick background information.

Today, most healthcare marketing has two major hurdles to overcome:

• Consumers have minimal brand awareness of your healthcare providers and services.
• Consumer trust is harder to come by, forcing brands to build an unshakable online presence.

Both of these issues may seem impossible to overcome. However, they’re simple problems once you break them into smaller parts.

How to Build Awareness as a Healthcare Practice

I’ll start with our first subject line, brand awareness.

Everyone wants to be known. Everyone wants to be at the forefront of a consumer’s mind. You want your services to become synonymous with your specialty, yet it may seem as if the entire world has cornered the digital marketing landscape without you.

First of all, take a deep breath! You can do this!

Now, look to the future. While it’s far from the only solution, email marketing is one of the most powerful ways to amplify your impact. It’s highly transformative, impeccably maintained, and trustworthy to a fault. Moreover, thanks to the proliferation of mobile devices, consumers now have constant contact with your services!

Truthfully, healthcare practices have used emails for years! They’ve been a longstanding recipient of appointment reminders for at least a decade, but their functionality as a commercial venue has been overlooked.

Yes, your current patients appreciate those reminders; I’m not telling you to stop them! I’m encouraging you to look at the possibility of using that contact list as a handy reference sheet for a monthly newsletter or content marketing outlet.

How to Gain Consumer Trust as Healthcare Providers

Secondly, you need trust to gain patient engagement.

Even the flashiest call-to-action fails if consumers are wary of your brand. For all its perks, the internet remains a dangerous place, and personal healthcare information is serious business. Consumers won’t hand over this data easily. You must gain their trust before gaining the privilege of inbox access.

Fortunately, email marketing can break through the tumult of modern content marketing.

Unlike a blog post or YouTube video, an email marketing campaign is a one-on-one interaction with your audience. It’s a highly personal connection that promises to engage patients in a friendly, inviting manner. Moreover, unlike other digital marketing channels, targeted emails give subscribers a sense of belonging. It may take you mere minutes to set up the proper segmentation, but the results are priceless!

Now, don’t take this as advice to abandon social media channels! That content remains valuable, and it’s a treasure trove of data when you’re sending messages. Beyond its obvious utility as a customer acquisition tool, this pool of content can be recycled in your email marketing, providing multichannel opportunities for your audience to connect with your services.

Examples That Will Inspire Your Next Healthcare Email Marketing Campaign

With that in mind, it’s time to look at some examples!

I’ve pulled some of the best healthcare email marketing ideas from across the web and compiled them into this blog post. Together, we’ll dissect each sample and break it into its most basic form. As you read ahead, look for each email’s at-a-glance stats:

• The audience is what it says on the box. This is the target audience for the email campaign. Notably, email campaigns can have more than one target. For example, a pharmacy might target young women and older women in the same campaign.
• The business type is the sender’s place within the healthcare industry.
• The email type is a general categorization of the campaign. Different emails have different functions, after all!
• Finally, the highlights are the raison d‘être for each entry. Think of these as the “what to learn” sections of each example.

Got all of that?

Great!

It’s time to break out the magnifying glass and take a close look at some amazing examples of healthcare email marketing!

1. The ABCs of Promotional Emails

Every email is an opportunity to create a positive experience. Your patients’ inboxes are, after all, one of the fastest and most convenient ways to deliver educational content and reminders. Think of them as on-the-go pagers.

In fact, many consumers now prefer SMS and email communication. Both options are superior in every way to telephone calls, offering two-way convenience and privacy. You don’t need to find a private room to answer an email, and you can send responses at your leisure. (And the same can be said of SMS marketing!)

So, it’s only reasonable to make your move in a patient’s inbox.

You’re about to see the dictionary definition of an effective promotional email campaign. It’s the sort of thing you’d expect after attending your first visit with a new doctor, yet it packs enough punch to offer a tantalizing value proposition to the recipient.

But first, take a look at this campaign’s at-a-glance stats:

• Audience: General (None)
• Business Type: Pharmacy
• Email Type: Informative, Promotional
• Highlights: Controlling the narrative, Tackling legal requirements

Are you ready?

How to Deliver a Clear Value Proposition

Yes, our first example is from none other than Amazon Pharmacy! But what can this economic behemoth teach us about email marketing tactics?

Let’s start with the narrative.

Think of your email campaigns as stories. They should hook the recipient from the beginning and end with a satisfying conclusion. Otherwise, you’re wasting everyone’s time — including your own!

In this example, the story is simple: Once upon a time, a customer (hopefully, the recipient of this email campaign) switched to Amazon Pharmacy. That’s the beginning.

And, for the ending? The customer saved lots of money!

Bravo!

However, it’s the meat of the story that matters. In this tale, the customer faces many challenges with their current prescription model. Fortunately, Amazon provides compelling evidence to suggest that a simple switch can vanquish these foes:

• Amazon Pharmacy’s “24/7 pharmacist support” combats the reader’s confusion.
• When the reader is in a tight spot, Amazon promises to help them save money.
• When the reader is weary, Amazon promises that their medications will be delivered to their door.

All three points build this email to its thrilling conclusion, making the campaign a worthwhile addition to patient emails.

Staying Squeaky Clean (Legally Speaking!)

Of course, not everything is as thrilling as writing a good email marketing campaign.

Both email marketing professionals and email providers must compose messages that enthrall audiences while remaining true to the many legal requirements for digital marketing. Like many senders, Amazon Pharmacy takes a savvy, stylish approach:

Instead of cluttering the body of the email with links and legal jargon, Amazon Pharmacy tucks this information away in the footer. However, it’s far from hidden. Simply scrolling down is enough to show off these disclaimers.

Many brands opt to place this information in their footers, and it’s a well-established standard for modern email marketing campaigns. You don’t have to follow this model, but you must still abide by the law!

While I don’t have enough time to break down the intricacies of the CCPA, CAN-SPAM Act, CASL, and GDPR in this blog post, I want to highlight the specifics of Amazon Pharmacy’s informational inclusions:

• A physical address is required on a near-global basis.
• As an additional precaution, a “Help Center” link offers subscribers another way to contact the company.
• The unsubscribe link is prominently placed. Like the address, this is required by all jurisdictions.

Notably, these emails also required a verified opt-in form, which isn’t shown here. Otherwise, they’d be landing in spam folders! In particularly egregious instances, unauthorized medical advertising could even earn the sender some hefty fees.

Summarily, you do not want to mess with consent when you’re managing healthcare emails.

2. The Perfect Welcome Email

Next up is another all-purpose promotional email. However, this campaign aims to educate newcomers and new patients!

Yes, you can make that seemingly superfluous welcome email a functional part of your marketing strategy. Just ask Sesame, a convenience prescription service.

And I didn’t forget my promise! Here’s that at-a-glance breakdown of this campaign:

• Audience: General (None)
• Business: Pharmacy
• Email Type: Informative welcome email
• Highlights: Accessibility, Tone

Master the Art of a Clever Headline

I’ll start with the tone and content of this email campaign.

Email marketing is all about the audience and timing. Think of it as a stand-up skit. You need to know what makes your audience laugh, and you need to deliver the punchline at the perfect time. Fortunately, this SesameRx campaign is an excellent example of how healthcare organizations can use email marketing to educate and delight current and future patients.

Just look at that headline: “Ditch your monthly pharmacy routine. Try SesameRx.”

That’s the sort of attention-grabbing content you want in an email. It’s an extension of an engaging subject line and a promise to deliver relevant content.

And I can’t ignore that call-to-action link! Sure, “Book Appointment” seems like a drab way to encourage click-throughs, but it’s straightforward and honest. Remember, everyone sees your healthcare newsletter. That includes senior citizens and those who may not be as tech-savvy as you. Writing clear, concise call-to-action text ensures everyone benefits from your content without confusion.

SesameRx doesn’t end with that captivating first paragraph, either. It continues, providing a handy list of reduced prescription costs and another handy CTA link.

Offer Support and Guidance

I also want to point out this little bit at the end of the email:

These links may seem trivial, but they greatly impact your email results.

Everyone is concerned about their health status. We all want to feel our best and stay active. However, far too many healthcare email campaigns overcomplicate things. While some of this may be legally or medically necessary, the unprecedented excess of information quickly becomes overwhelming. Thus, professional support links are vital to ensuring clear and open communication.

For patients, these links represent a sense of security. They’re assured that their health matters and know they can easily reach out to speak about your content.

For healthcare providers, these links dramatically reduce miscommunication and confusion. Outside of promotional email campaigns, these interactive opportunities allow patients to communicate on their own terms. They’re also helpful inclusions in appointment reminders!

3. Perfecting an Educational Marketing Strategy

My last example is from Loma Lima University Health. This California healthcare practice puts an educational spin on its email marketing strategy, delivering educational content alongside its usual appointment check-ins and personalized emails.

This example has a clear target audience and purpose, both of which are essential to optimizing your campaign results.

So, what can you expect from this campaign? Here’s the last at-a-glance breakdown for today’s blog post:

• Audience: Older adults, Seniors
• Business: Healthcare provider
• Email Type: Healthcare newsletter
• Highlights: Audience, Cross-channel marketing strategy

Optimize Your Subscribers’ Segmentation

The campaign’s audience is evident. The pictures tell readers everything they need to know.

This email is for older adults and senior citizens. Sure, it might benefit younger audiences, but it’s definitely aimed at a much older demographic. And it’s for patients with heart disease.

How do I know this?

Well, let’s scroll a little bit further in the email.

Let’s break down each link:

• “How does COVID-19 impact women’s heart health?” This first link is a general overview of a topic, but it’s a handy inclusion in this audience’s content. It’s a relevant topic with plenty of weight, making it the perfect introduction to this email.
• “5 Simple Ways to Teach Your Kids to Take Care of Their Hearts” is a more telling nod to this campaign’s relevant group. Older adults often have children; that’s just a fact!
• Similarly, the final header, “Heart Rhythm 101,” benefits patients with arrhythmia and similar disorders, which often plague older populations.

Note that while the header and text note that the campaign coincides with heart health awareness, it’s a handy campaign to keep on file. With a few minor tweaks, this email becomes an informational packet for new patients.

The Multimedia Element

All those links I just mentioned lead to Loma Lima Health’s webpage.

This multichannel approach helps individuals stay informed without overloading every patients’ email inbox with multi-page email campaigns. Aside from condensing content into more palatable, bite-sized bits, this multifaceted marketing strategy can reduce your customer acquisition costs and boost your brand’s standing.

The email also includes links to videos, which are more engaging than long walls of text.

Is all of this production necessary? Not exactly! However, investing in your digital presence can amplify the impact of your healthcare email marketing strategy. Building out your digital offerings will also keep your marketing efforts internal, as you can link to internal blog posts and documentation as your site’s reputation grows.

Engage With Your Patients

Of course, these are examples. You don’t want to copy these emails, nor do you want to parrot everything you see online. You need original, engaging information to back that shiny email automation.

More importantly, you need a team of email marketing experts! Fortunately, The Email Marketers is your one-stop shop for digital marketing woes. My hand-picked team of specialists can conquer your needs and deliver the content your customers crave. We’ll also keep your content looking and sounding great, ensuring it’s free of pesky spelling errors.

If that sounds interesting to you — and I’m sure it does! — schedule a free strategy session today! We’ll discuss your needs and look at a customized plan to fit your marketing efforts.