A well-crafted marketing email can cut through the noise and meet your potential patients where they’re at. But if your email misses the mark, it could easily get lost in the shuffle. That’s why it’s so important to understand what makes a marketing email great.

Here are some of the elements that make your healthcare marketing emails stand out to patients:

Craft a Clear Subject Line

Subject lines can make or break your marketing email. The subject line is precious real estate, and you need to craft it well. The best way to do that is to understand exactly who you’re talking to, and what their needs are.

It’s tempting to go with cutesy or exciting subject lines, but above all, your subject line should be clear. It should describe what the recipient is going to get out of the email when they click on it. If it’s confusing or wordy, they might skip over it entirely.

Your subject line should also be actionable, meaning it gives the recipient some kind of direction. What’s in it for them? What will they get out of opening your email? The subject might say, “Do these five things to be healthier this winter,” or “Annual free skin cancer screening - Reserve your spot now!” These action-based subject lines invite the reader to take action, and they’re more likely to engage with your email.

Get to the Point

A scroll-stopping subject line is important, but it needs to be followed up by a quality email. You know that inboxes can be a hotbed of distraction, so keeping your email short, sweet and engaging is key.

Take the free skin cancer screening email example from above. You could start that email off with statistics about skin cancer and why screenings are so important. Or, you could start it off right away with a sentence about how spots are filling up quickly, and if the reader wants to reserve their spot, they can follow these steps to do so. Getting right to the point helps to keep readers on task, and if they’re in a rush, it shows them exactly what to do next. 

Write to One Person

Before you ever send a marketing email, make sure you know who you’re talking to. This would be considered your ideal client, or the ideal person you want reading your emails. That’s where ideal client avatars come in handy. You take the general characteristics and circumstances of who you want to work with and boil them down into one person, or a series of people. Once you’ve got that, then you can address each email as if you’re talking to that avatar directly.

Not only does this help you stick to a clear goal for each email, but it also helps your tone come across as more friendly and personal. After all, you may have sent your email off to hundreds or thousands of people, but each of those people will experience your email as if you’re talking directly to them. So make sure you write like you are.

Showcase Your Personal Side

The personal nature of email lends itself to a friendlier, less formal tone. So much in the healthcare industry is very serious, so your marketing emails are a good opportunity to showcase your brand personality. Give more insight into the care providers in your practice, share a joke, infuse some fun. This is one area where you can be creative and delight your readers, so don’t feel like it has to be formal and buttoned up all the time.

The goal of healthcare email marketing is to allow potential patients to get to know you better, and to show that you can be trusted with their healthcare needs. Consistent, well-crafted emails will keep you top-of-mind and allow you to engage with patients (or potential patients) in between visits.