Providing high-quality dental care isn’t just about having the latest equipment or maintaining hygiene standards, but it should also include sending out newsletters to your patients each month and keeping them engaged.
In this digital era, sending newsletters is one of the best ways to build a deep-rooted, profitable relationship with your patients.
If there aren’t any newsletters coming in to your patients’ inbox from you, it’s time you get started!
However, for your emails to be truly effective, your recipients should open and engage with them.
So, how can you make sure that your patients will read your newsletters and that they won’t mark them as spam?
That’s what you’ll be finding out in this article.
But before that, let’s first discuss what dentists newsletters are.
Newsletters are emails that contain updates about brands and the products or services they offer, or any industry-related topics that their subscribers might be interested in. They can be mailed monthly, bimonthly, or as often as needed.
They are a valuable part of your email marketing campaign because they allow your audience to gain a better understanding of what you do, what you have to offer, as well as your values and belief as a brand.
Providing content that attracts your patient’s interest can also boost your conversion rates.
Newsletters are an essential marketing tool, but for them to be truly effective and successful, your recipients should notice, open, and interact with them.
Here are tips on how to get your recipients to perform those actions:
To be able to send out newsletters, build a relationship with your recipients, and start converting them into lifelong patients, you need to have an active list of email subscribers first. But, how can you get people to give you their emails and sign up for your newsletter? You should give them a reason to opt-in.
Offer them something they can’t resist, like subscribe-worthy incentives or “subscribers only” incentives. Include a message that describes the value your newsletters bring if they sign up - perhaps something like, First-time email subscribers will get a 25% off to any dental service offered in our clinic.” Such a good deal will definitely get them to subscribe in an instant.
That’s not all, though. You’ll also want to tell peoplethatt they’ll get exclusive access to offers, deals, coupons, how-tos, updates, and more.
Here’s what else you can do to convince people to subscribe:
The first step to making your newsletter more effective is that you need to know what it is that you want them to accomplish. Is it to drive sales? Increase social media presence? Drive traffic to a landing page? Or promote a new product or service? Whatever it may be, be sure to pick only one and focus on that. See to it that you communicate it consistently in your email newsletters through your calls to action.
Trying to get your subscribers to do so many things - like following your social media accounts,goingo to a landing page, and getting them to buy your products at the same time - can be confusing, leading your newsletter to lose its effectiveness.
What we love about this newsletter is that it’s straightforward. The family dental clinic is asking their patients to give them a review with a message that revolves around customer satisfaction, which makes it pretty effective.
Did you know that the average email open rate for the dental industry is 21.72%? That’s actually a tad bit higher compared to the average open rate for all industries, which is 21.33% - according to MailChimp. However, you still need to increase your email open rate. A proven and tested method to do this is to make them as personal and interesting as possible. One way of doing that is to use your name as your “from” line.
Why’s that so? Well, wouldn’t it be nicer to receive an email from your dentist whom you know personally than seeing business name? And, wouldn’t it be more compelling to open their emails, knowing that you trust the person, you like hearing from them, and you know that their emails provide something of value? Yes, yes, and yes!
Your email subject lines play a major role in convincing your patients to open your newsletter. They also determine whether or not your emails get reported as spam. Emails with personalized subject lines and ones that use emojis experience a higher open rate. That’s why you should aim to create email subject lines that are highly relevant and engaging to your recipients.
You may want to segment your email list based on the kind of dental procedure they’ve undergone in your clinic or are interested in knowing and create newsletters that revolve around it. For instance, you can send a newsletter with a title, “5 Things to Avoid After Your Dental Implant Surgery” to patients who recently underwent the procedure. A subject line like “7 Signs Your Implant Might Be Failing” sounds more relevant and captivating to those who haven’t had a follow-up check up in a while.
These email subject lines can compel your recipients to open them:
Basically, email subject lines that are personalized, spark curiosity, communicate urgency, involves pop culture, and those that offer freebies are sure to generate clicks. In order to know what works best for you, use different email subject lines and experiment to see what type your recipients are most responsive to.
The first line of your email is just as important as your “from” address and subject line. So, you want it to be as compelling as possible to further attract your recipients to open and engage with your newsletter. You don’t have to fully open an email to know what’s inside. For recipients, this is very convenient, but for your practice, it could mean a lower email open rate and lower conversions.
So, what should you write in your opening line to convince people to open and engage with your newsletter? Follow these best practices:
After convincing your recipients to open your newsletter, you may proceed to capture them the moment your newsletter appears by using stunning visuals or graphics. Uberflip found that the average subscriber only spends about 51 seconds or less reading a newsletter. This means people will most likely just skim through your content, so you have to make it as effective as possible.
According to GMass, emails that contain video tend to get 5.6% higher open rates and 96.38% higher click through rate compared to those that don’t. Aside from adding video, what other aspects of a newsletter or practices can boost its effectiveness? Find out below:
Placing calls-to-action (CTA) is the way to get your recipients to do exactly what you want them to do, so it’s crucial to make them as compelling and as creative as possible. According to WordStream, emails with a single CTA can boost clicks up to 371% and sales up to 1617%.
Effective calls to action are those that use words or phrases that cue:
You can use these for inspiration:
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Use the tips above to guide you in making dental newsletters that are truly effective in helping you achieve your business goals!
At Digital Resource, we can help you create newsletters that are bound to generate results and achieve what you want it to accomplish for your businesses - whether it’s to boost brand awareness, increase sales, or build a lasting relationship with your patients.
Contact us today to know how we’ve helped other dental clinics through newsletters!