Is Email Dead?

Judging from your own bursting email inbox you may be tempted to say that nobody reads email anymore.  But you would be wrong–they do.  In fact, according to many marketing research reports including Ascend2’s 2019 Digital Marketing Strategies Survey Summary Report, email is still one of the most effective ways to reach new customers.  Here are a couple more statistics:

• For every $1 spent, $38 is the average return on email marketing investments, according to the Direct Marketing Association.
• A Marketing Sherpa survey revealed that 91% of all U.S. adults like to receive promotional emails from companies they do business with.
• According to the Data and Marketing Association, email remains the highest driver of ROI.

And not to be wisenheimers, but if you’re reading this, you’ve likely found it through our email newsletter!  If you found this article directly on our website blog, you’re seeing one of the hidden benefits of having a regular email newsletter schedule—it forces you to write and add quality content to your website!  And quality content boosts your search engine optimization. 

More Benefits of Email Marketing for Your Chiropractic Practice: 

It’s cost-effective:  You write your email once and send it to your entire list.  The cost of an online email campaign service like Mail Chimp or Constant Contact ranges from free to $40 per month or more, depending on the number of emails in your list.  This is inexpensive marketing!

It’s profitable:  You’re not going to see every patient every month, so an email can keep all your patients up to date on your new products and services.  We all know that providing more services to each patient is more profitable than spending money to attract new patients.

It’s a marketing “best practice”:  A good marketing plan uses several channels, including face-to-face, your ChiroTV Network system, your website, in-office events, social media, etc.  Email marketing helps reinforce your message and reach people who may not see all your other marketing channels!

It helps fuel referrals:  Your email newsletter can remind your patients of everything you offer, so it’s easy for them to refer you to that friend or relative who mentions a new ailment.  All they have to do is forward your email!

It builds a valuable asset:  Your email is going to people who have opted in, which means they WANT to hear from you!  Your list is YOURS and you don’t have to spend money buying one (which is never recommended AND can violate the CAN-SPAM law).  Marketing gurus are fond of saying, “The money is in the list.”  There’s a reason for that!  Having a willing audience of people who want to hear from you and are most likely to buy from you is a valuable asset to nurture!

5 Steps to Stellar Emails for Your Chiropractic Office 

1. Write a click-worthy subject line:  You want your subscriber to be intrigued enough to open your email in the first place.  There are lots of interesting ways to write good subject lines.  For example, asking a question often creates a compelling subject line.  Our brains are “wired” to seek the answer to the question, a temptation difficult to overcome when all we have to do to satisfy our curiosity is…click!  Here is a resource for constructing some great subject lines!

Note: short and medium-length subject lines have higher open rates than long ones.  Also, subject lines are often shortened depending on the device or email provider, so limit them to 50 characters or fewer.

2. Attractive formatting:  You want your email to be clear and guide the reader’s eyes through till the end.  Here are some special touches that will set your newsletter apart:

• Images should be neither too big, dominating the page, nor too small.
• Paragraphs should not be crammed together.  Leave enough “white space”–it’s easier on the eyes.
• Use bulleted lists to set apart information and make reading easier.
• Different sections of the newsletter should be clearly labeled and also have enough space between them.
• Colors should match.  Your webmaster or graphic designer will give you the Hex Color Codes (codes for the internet) for your logo colors.  Double-check that the colors you’re using in your newsletter match those on your website.  You want people to know right away that this email is coming from your business.  This strengthens your brand.
• Make sure your email looks great on any device.  Email campaign services usually allow you to preview your drafts for both desktop and mobile before you send them out.

3. Relevant information:  Write on topics that are important to your ideal patient: their needs and their wants.  Learn their pain points and address them.  Show your readers you’ve taken the time to really get to know them.  This is how you attract and keep profitable patients!  If you’re stuck for topics, take a gander at your ChiroTV Network system and steal some ideas from there!  (As our regular readers know, we can’t let even ONE article go without a shameless plug!)  Remember the important 80/20 rule: 80% of your email should be about providing useful information to your readers and only 20% of it should be about selling something!

4. Call to action:  A “call to action” is marketing lingo for “what you want your readers to do next.”  Do you want them to click to read an article in your blog?  Call your office?  Place an order for a detox program?  Distinguish your call to action through color, placement and text treatment.  Readers will then quickly understand the purpose of your email.  More importantly, this will make it easier to act on it.  Don’t try to cram too many activities into one email.  One call to action is strongest, so if you really want to get your readers to take a particular action (like RSVP for an office event) you’re probably better off sending a separate email announcing the event.  However, if you format attractively (see tip #2) you can get away with multiple calls to action to appeal to different readers.

5. Offer to connect:  Make sure your physical address, office hours, phone number, website address and email address are always included.  Most email campaign templates will auto-fill that information near the bottom.  Also offer to connect through social media by providing your links for readers to click on.

Email is certainly NOT dead!  It is an easy and effective way to stay top-of-mind with prospects and patients alike!  We hope these tips help you create fantastic email campaigns for your chiropractic office. 

ChiroTV Network is a family-run business built exclusively by chiropractors, for chiropractors. Our patient education system helps chiropractors seamlessly market and sell more of their services and products to patients while they wait. For a demo and a free 30-day trial, call Steve Madnick at 888-480-1350 or go to www.ChiroTVNetwork.com