Practice Growth Marketing Campaigns FAQ

General

How often should I send email marketing campaigns?

Practice Growth recommends sending at least one or two email campaigns per month. As a best practice, you should avoid sending four (or more) emails per month to the same patient list, since it can increase your unsubscribe rates.

What types of email marketing campaigns should I send?

You can build email marketing campaigns for the following communications: educational messaging (i.e., “Diet Tips”), promotional messaging (i.e., events or special offers), and seasonal messaging (“Happy Holidays”). You can also send monthly newsletter campaigns if you have multiple messages to communicate.

How many patients should I send campaigns to?

We recommend keeping all of your patients engaged with email marketing campaigns. Emails can be targeted, meaning that you can send multiple emails to patients based on patient type, appointment type, or email topic.

How do I update my contact lists?

In the “Marketing Campaigns” section under the “Patient Lists” tab, you can create a new patient list by 1) entering email addresses in the text box provided or 2) uploading a csv file from your EMR. Previously uploaded lists cannot be modified.

What email address are my marketing campaigns sent from?

Your practice email address, provided to Practice Growth during onboarding, will be the email sender. If patients reply to any marketing campaign, their message will be delivered straight to your practice inbox.

If a recipient appears more than once in a patient list, will he/she receive multiple emails?

No, our system automatically excludes duplicate email addresses.

Can we disable the verbiage in the footer, “This message was sent for marketing purposes”?

No, CAN-SPAM laws require that marketing emails clearly disclose their purposes.

Email content

Can I upload my own images?

Yes. In the Email Editor, refer to the “Featured Image” section which gives you the ability to upload images.

Can I upload my practice logo?

Your practice logo will be pulled directly from your website in the Practice Portal.

How do I make a copy of an email message?

Select an existing Email Message and click “Edit Message”, which opens the email message in the Email Editor. Customize your new message and click the “Save as New Email” button.  This will save the email as a new file; the original email will be unchanged.

What types of content should I include in my emails?

Patients respond well to relevant and compelling information or offers, so it helps to center your content around their wants and needs. Patients receive many emails, so to help yours stand out among the rest, we put together some helpful topics below:

• Topical Education
• Event Invitation
• National Health Observance Days
• General Services/FAQ
• Seasonal and Holidays
• Refer-a-Friend
• Promotion
• Unavailable/Office Closure
• New Staff Intro
• FSA Spend

Do you have any ideas for specialty-specific topics?

We have a list of ideas for your individual specialty.

• Bariatrics Marketing Campaign Topics
• Cardiology Marketing Campaign Topics
• Cosmetic Dentistry Marketing Campaign Topics
• Dental Marketing Campaign Topics
• Dermatology Marketing Campaign Topics
• MedSpa Marketing Campaign Topics
• Nephrology Marketing Campaign Topics
• OBGYN Marketing Campaign Topics
• Optometry Marketing Campaign Topics
• Podiatry Marketing Campaign Topics
• Urology Marketing Campaign Topics

Can I send a test email before sending the email to my patients?

Yes. On the “Create New Campaign” page, go to “Send Test Email” near the bottom of the page. Next, enter your practice email address to send a test email.

Can I use the same email template for future campaigns?

Yes. You may duplicate an email template within the Practice Portal for future email marketing campaigns.

What do I do if my email bounced?

Email delivery failure, or bounce, typically occurs when an email address is invalid. We recommend reaching out to the patient(s) to obtain a valid email address.

What is the most crucial part of any email campaign?

The quality control process is very important. Make sure you have all email elements reviewed and proofread before sending.

What are some best practices for marketing campaigns?

• Best times to send
  • Tuesdays at 10 a.m.
  • Wednesday at 2 p.m.
• Subject line
  •  Keep it short
  • Include practice name in the subject line
  • Avoid “Reminder” language in subject lines
• Buttons
  • Use call-to-action buttons that include “Book Online” or “Schedule Appointment”
• Email length
  • Short and sweet is best.

Email metrics

How do I know if my email campaigns are working? How do I measure the results?

You may monitor aggregated email delivery performance on the “Campaigns” dashboard in the Practice Portal, or click on an individual campaign to view campaign metrics.

How often do marketing campaign metrics update?

Campaign metrics are updated in real time. Simply reload the page to view metrics.

Is there a limit to how many contacts can receive an email?

The current contact limit is 10,000 email addresses.

Is there a limit to emails that I can send?

No, there is no limit on the number of email sends.

How do I avoid creating spam emails?

Avoid common spam words and phrases in your emails. Words such as “free promotion” or “try now” can hinder servers from sending emails and/or discourage patients from opening your emails.

Is there a character limitation on the body copy?

The character limit is 1,800 for the “body text” section in email templates.

Can I upload my own template for customization?

Not at the moment. Your practice can choose a template and customize it, with a good degree of flexibility for customization.  

Can I add URLs in the body of my email?

Not at the moment. Use the CTA button to link to any website URL of your choice.

What metrics should I monitor?

Email marketers typically monitor open rates and click-through rates. Industry standards for healthcare emails are 22% for open rates and 2% for click-through rates, according to MailChimp.

• Open rate (OR): % of unique recipients who opened the email
• Click-through rate (CTR): % of unique recipients who clicked a link in the email

Ongoing improvements

How can I improve my open rates?

• Make sure your subject line is relevant and interesting.
• Provide quality content in the body copy.
• Avoid spam words.

How can I improve my click-through rates?

• Make your link text clear and concise.
• Make sure the click-through goes to a site with relevant information.

What if my patients don’t want to receive emails anymore?

If a patient wants to stop receiving emails from your practice, they may unsubscribe from your practice emails. There is an “Unsubscribe” link featured at the bottom of every email that is sent. Patients may simply click the button and they will not receive future emails from your practice.

Can I use custom HTML code?

HTML code is not currently supported, although we intend to add the feature in the future.

Are emails optimized for mobile viewing?

Yes, all emails are mobile-responsive and optimized for the most popular web and mobile browsers.

Other features

Am I able to schedule campaigns to be sent in the future?

Yes, simply click the “Schedule Campaign” button when you are ready to send your email.

Am I able to send blog content in a marketing email?

Yes, sending original blog content to your patient base is a great way to engage your patients organically.

Can I answer emails from patients who were sent marketing emails?

Yes, you may reply to patients directly from your practice email.

Can I capture marketing information from the URL query string in the email?

We do not create forms other than the online booking form and the contact us form, and do not build custom hidden fields for customers. If you are using third party vendors, feel free to explore hidden elements and ensure they are honored in the iFrame codes embedded on your website.

Definitions

• Campaign
  • An email message that is sent to a Patient List.
• Patient List
  • A group of patients to which a campaign is sent.
• Opens
  • The number of recipients who opened the email in a campaign.
• Open Rate
  • The number of unique opens divided by the number of unique deliveries.
• Clicks
  • The number of recipients who opened the email from a campaign and clicked a link within an email.
• Click-Through Rate
  • The number of unique clicks divided by the number of unique deliveries.
• Attempted
  • The count of unique email addresses to which messages were attempted to be sent.
• Bounced
  • The count of emails that were undeliverable. Most common reasons for bounce are invalid email address, full inbox, or unavailable email server.
• Unsubscribed
  • The count of unique recipients who clicked the unsubscribe link in an email.
• Spam Reports
  • The count of unique recipients who reported an email as spam.