There are a number of dental marketing trends converging to make e-newsletter marketing more popular and effective than ever. I’ll share some of the data behind those trends and give you five reasons, from my decades of experience in dental newsletter marketing, why every dentist should have an e-newsletter.
Email marketing is being used more broadly than ever before. Let’s give that some context. According to McKinsey’s research, email is nearly 40 times better than Facebook and Twitter for acquiring new patients. This should come as no surprise, as 91% of US consumers use email every day. McKinsey found that emails prompt purchases at a rate at least three times greater than social media. To put an even finer point on it, the average order value of purchases generated by email marketing is 17% higher than those generated by social media marketing.
A recent study of 300 unique demographic target markets across the United States found that e-newsletters generate a higher response rate than postcards. On average, e-newsletters drive 17 calls for every 10 generated from a postcard, giving them a 70% higher response rate.
Every dentist can build a more profitable practice with an e-newsletter. If you’re not using one to stay top-of-mind with your patients, you should be. If you’re using dental e-newsletter marketing but not getting these results, it’s time to reevaluate your strategy and execution.
Why are e-newsletters such powerful tools for making dental practices more profitable? Here are the top five reasons:
1.Stay top-of-mind
E-newsletter marketing will help keep your name in front of patients. By sending your patients a relevant and educational newsletter every month, you’ll continually remind them of all the ways you can help. Also, and this is critical in today’s climate, you’ll keep them coming to you for treatment instead of going elsewhere. Your patients have options, and you can never afford to underestimate the importance of building and maintaining patient loyalty. E-newsletters help accomplish this while providing valuable information.
2.Reinforce your credibility as an authority
All patients want the best for themselves and their families, and this also applies to their dental care. With dental practice e-newsletters, you’ll show readers that your practice is on the leading edge of dentistry and provides the most effective treatment options. You’ll do it consistently and meaningfully with a quality newsletter that contains relevant articles. Even if patients don’t read every line of every article, each issue further elevates you as an authority on oral health.
3.Educate your patients
Some dentists use e-newsletter marketing because they’re committed to providing their patients with quality educational content. That’s outstanding! But there’s another reason why many dentists want to educate readers. They realize that their best-educated patients are their most lucrative. These patients value what they learn in trusted resources such as dental practice newsletters, and they use that knowledge to work with their dentist to improve their oral health. Education-minded patients also share what they learn with others. This reflects positively on the practice that sent the dental e-newsletter.
4.Maximize case compliance
By educating your patients, you increase the likelihood that they will comply with your treatment recommendations. Educational e-newsletter article topics can range from choosing the optimal cosmetic solutions, fighting gum disease, and treating bruxism, to treatment for patients with diabetes, denture care, maintaining oral health during pregnancy, and more. Articles such as these serve as reinforcements for what patients learn from you in your office. They also reinforce your credibility as an authority, which is critical for improving case compliance.
5. Encourage referrals, especially with family and friends
E-newsletters have great pass-along value. Patients share them with family and friends who may be looking for a dentist or who are experiencing a dental problem. The most successful e-newsletters generate referrals from family and friends and are easy to share via email and social media. The dentists who receive the most referrals are the ones who make sharing referrals easy.
For these reasons and more, e-newsletters are valuable tools in building profitable dental practices.
