5 email marketing strategies for dentists

It’s easy to think of email as the hand-crank drill of the marketing world: outdated and irrelevant in today’s world. But nothing could be farther from the truth! In fact, email marketing has one of the highest returns on investment of any digital marketing platform, with an average $36 earned from every $1 spent. If you want to earn some of that 3,600% ROI, here are five tips for how to use email marketing to promote your dentist’s clinic.

Send weekly email blasts

It might be surprising for a dentist, but most people don’t think about their teeth all that much. They just brush twice per day and go about their business. That’s why one of the best email marketing strategies for dentists is to send regular weekly email blasts to keep your practice top-of-mind for your patients. And since you’re busy practicing dentistry, simplify email design by using free email templates from a platform like PosterMyWall.

You can find hundreds of free templates online to make email creation a breeze. Simply browse through the available emails, choose the one that best fits your dentist’s clinic, update the information, and you’re ready to send! You can also customize a dentistry design template and add it to your email. The entire process takes only a few minutes, so you can enjoy professional-level email designs without needing professional-level design skills (or time).

Remind patients when they’re due for a cleaning

Most people like to get their teeth cleaned every six months. Or if they don’t listen to their dentist, once per year. That leaves a lot of time for life to get in the way and your patients to forget to schedule their six-month appointment. Why not use email marketing to remind them!?

Send an email to patients about five months after their last cleaning, reminding them that it’s time to schedule their next appointment. This is a great way to jog their memory and encourage them to come for a visit. You can also send follow-up emails until they finally call you to schedule their appointment. People are forgetful, so it’s always nice to remind them to keep up with their dental health.

Include a call-to-action link

Everything on the internet is designed to be easy, and that should include your email marketing. It’s not enough to simply tell patients to come in for a visit. Make it easy for them to take the next step of the process with a call to action.

A call to action (CTA) is simply a final push at the end of your email, telling patients what to do next. In most cases, it’ll be a large button that says something like, “schedule your appointment.” The button should then link back to your website’s scheduling feature or a contact form to reach out.

The easier you make it for your email readers to take the next step, the more likely they’ll be to convert into a sale (appointment).

Grow your contact list

When it comes to email contacts, the more the merrier! The larger your email contact list, the more people you can send your emails to, and the more likely your campaigns will be a success. A key part of any email marketing campaign is to continuously grow your contact base.

There are plenty of ways to collect email addresses. Here are just a few of the most popular:

• Ask for emails as a part of the new patient process
• Use emailed receipts for cleanings and dental procedures
• Add a contact form on your website
• Just ask!

Whenever you see an opportunity to get an email address, take it! Luckily, most people are more than happy to provide their email to healthcare professionals, especially if insurance is involved. Once you get a patient’s email address, just remember to add it to your email marketing list — with permission, of course.

Send appointment reminders

Missed appointments hurt everyone. They force your patients to reschedule, and you lose a slot in your day — which means you lose money. While it might not be a marketing tactic, per se, sending appointment reminders through your email platform is a great way to reduce the number of missed appointments and make the most of your valuable time.

Whenever a patient schedules an appointment, set it up in your email marketing platform to send a reminder email one week and/or one day before their appointment date. That way, your patients will be less likely to forget their appointment, meaning you can keep your schedule full and your clinic operating at maximum efficiency — and isn’t that essentially the goal of any marketing strategy?

Promote your dentist’s clinic with the power of email

Just like a good teeth cleaning is to your hygiene, email is an essential part of any marketing strategy. If you want your dentist clinic to grow, remember to use free email templates to create professional designs, send reminders for appointments, include a CTA link, and always keep growing your contact list. With a bit of email marketing, you’ll be able to see more smiling faces in your dental chair than ever before.