How to increase message open rates and patient engagement
What’s the secret to effective practice marketing and patient engagement? Email marketing and patient outreach strategies. There are 4 billion daily email users, and 64% of small businesses use email marketing to reach customers. Email has a higher return on investment (ROI) than any other marketing channel. And during the pandemic, this only grew — email open rates and engagement have seen an uptick since 2020.
The most effective strategies for patient outreach campaigns are subscriber segmentation (78%), message personalization (72%), and email automation campaigns (71%), according to 2021 HubSpot research. Below, we’ll look at three outreach strategies that can help practices attract and engage more patients throughout their care journey.
Welcome messages
Reaching out to your patients before they come into your practice is a great idea, and not just for appointment reminders. Statistics show that more than 8 out of 10 people will open a welcome email, generating four times as many opens as other email types.
More than 8 out of 10 people will open a welcome email, 4x as many opens as other types of email.
Sending new patients a welcome message with a few videos they can watch before they come in, along with any intake forms they can fill out in advance, not only saves time later, but also engages and educates patients before they’ve even stepped through your door. Check out this appointment reminder example that includes videos for patients to watch before their upcoming appointment:
As we mentioned above, message personalization is an effective strategy for patient engagement, so it’s a good idea to include each patient’s first name in messages to them. And recognizing a sender is the most important factor in deciding to open a message from your practice, so be sure to brand the message with your practice name and logo.
Patient education messages
Subscriber segmentation simply means sending different types of messages based on recipients’ interests or needs. It doesn’t make sense to send all your patients information about contact lenses or pediatric services, right? However, it does make sense to send dry eye patients emails about new treatment options, and new patients messages tailored to preparing for their first visit.
Rendia helps practices with subscriber segmentation. Playlists and customized audio and subtitles allow you to email certain groups of patients content that’s relevant to them.
Rendia allows users to organize their video content by folder or playlist. Create a playlist specific to cataract surgery patients, for example, that includes videos educating them on what happens before, during, and after surgery. Take it one step further by sharing that playlist in emails you only send to those types of patients.
You can also segment your email subscribers by language. Rendia has a new feature that allows our customers to send videos with customized audio and subtitles to make your content more accessible to more patients. If you have patients who speak Spanish, you can now send them Rendia videos in Spanish, and send the same video to your English-speaking patients in English. The feature works the same with captions.
Patient feedback
Gathering feedback is critical for ensuring that patients are satisfied. Happy patients are more likely to refer your practice to others. You can send emails asking patients to write a positive review of your practice.
Online patient reviews and testimonials became even more important during COVID-19, since safety and protocols were changing rapidly and more people were turning to the internet for up-to-date information and reassurance. Patients who delayed care or who were dissatisfied with their previous doctors may be researching new doctors online.
Positive patient reviews in emails can increase clickthrough rates by 25%.
If you don’t have a robust email list, you can still communicate digitally by posting QR codes in your office or in paper handouts that link to patient education videos or social media pages where patients can leave reviews.
Good reviews serve as social proof that can help attract prospective patients. You can also include reviews from your existing patients in your emails. The presence of reviews can increase click-through rates by 25%, according to Practice Builders, a healthcare marketing agency.
Practices can save time with their email marketing efforts by creating templates for welcome emails, patient education emails for specific conditions or populations, and patient feedback emails. Rendia has a new feature coming soon that will allow you to create and save email templates for quick and easy sending.
Get started today by downloading our eBook, Taking Action on Patient Satisfaction!