Let's get real. Email is a necessity in your practice.
Not sure about that?
Is there anything else that allows you to press a single button and deliver thousands of personalized messages to someone which stimulate referrals, build trust/rapport, and increase retention?
Didn't think so.
Most chiropractors attempting to market their practice
To use email to market your practice effectively there are three campaigns or sequences that you need to have in your practice.
You may already be thinking- these tools are complex.
Do I use MailChimp or Constant Contact? (spoiler alert: NEITHER)
What's automation?
How do I create the content?
These exact questions are the stumbling blocks for a lot of chiropractors (so you’re not alone). Historically, email tools and systems are somewhat complicated. If you don't come from a tech/entrepreneur or marketing background, email software can seem confusing.
I understand where you're coming from. By spending tons of time and money at conferences around the world, I was able to discover how to make the tools simple and adapt it perfectly for a chiropractic practice like yours.
Over the past eight years, I've sent millions (literally) of emails between The Smart Chiropractor, ChiroEmails, The Evidence Based Chiropractor, and my private practice.
After sending all those email's, I have discovered and learned a predictable and great way to build a business.
To get started, let’s take a look at the anatomy of a successful email campaign because regardless if you’re using email for on-boarding, re-activation, or events there are a few critical elements you should be aware of. While some of these elements may seem obvious, they are routinely not executed on which can results in low open rates, click through rates and poor engagement.
3 Keys of a Successful Chiropractic Email Campaign
Have a super compelling subject/headline
Deliver engagement, entertainment, and education
Craft a solid call to action
#1- Have a super compelling headline
A compelling headline doesn’t (and shouldn’t) be sensational or cheesy. But, it does need to speak to the pain points or interest of your reader. For instance, an example of a great headline would be, “How to Find Lasting Relief from Disc Herniations”...
That's pretty compelling! Your reader probably doesn’t want short term relief right. They want lasting relief. And that intrigue, the potential benefit, will make it much more likely they will open the email then if the headline just said, “Disc Herniations.”
The goal of these subject line or the headline is straightforward. The singular goal is to get the person to open the email.
#2: Deliver engagement, entertainment, and education
Key point number is direct addresses the “copy” or body of your email. Your goal is to deliver engaging, entertaining, and educational information.
The body of your email is an excellent place to showcase the science of what you do as a chiropractor. It's a unique opportunity to showcase all the benefits that they may receive by coming into your practice.
You may choose to have a short paragraph as with do with The Smart Chiropractor content powered by ChiroEmails which explains the bottom line, why it matters, and the next steps they can take. A great email usually isn’t more than 250-500 words- this is NOT the place to start composing the next great American novel. And, if you happen to have an in-depth topic, you can always ‘tease” it with a few hundred words in the email and then link back to the whole long-form piece on your website which drives additional traffic and helps with SEO.
#3: Craft a solid call to action
The third key of a successful email campaign is your call to action. In marketing, a “call to action” means the next steps you would like the reader to take. A call to action does NOT need to be a coupon code or deep discount of your services. Having a sale or discounting your care is not the same as having a call to action. Remember, your emails should constantly be proving education, engagement, and entertainment. By creating a situation where your reader knows, trusts, and likes you-you will be in a position to offer your services without having to resort to deep discount and coupons. Your goal is to create such an experience that they are ready and will to take the next step.
So what are some examples of an excellent call to action for a chiropractic email?
Your call to action could be as simple as asking your reader to connect with you on Facebook for daily health tips. If you’ve just started a Youtube Channel, you could also encourage them to subscribe to the channel to never miss your weekly Research That Matters TV episode highlighting the latest healthcare research and why it matters to them. Just because your call to action may be subtle does not mean it won’t be effective.
As you can see, your call to action is an excellent opportunity to drive your readers to other platforms and increase your engagement there. But don’t be afraid to ask for a call either. You may use something like, “if you’ve suffered from (condition outlined in email) then give us a call today to get on the road to relief.” A solid call to action can ignite patient re-activations, stimulate engagement, and help people feel closer to your office.
Now that you know the three keys to attract more new patients with email let's break down a little bit of the technical stuff and make it easy for you to get started.
What exactly is a campaign or automation?
A campaign or automation is when you upload the patient's email address one time, and then a series of emails go out over time- automatically. It could be a specific series of condition-based emails, an onboarding sequence, or a long term nurture campaign — either way, the system does all the heavy lifting. You set the email once- and place it on cruise control after that! In theory, you could have a patient get hundreds, or even thousands of emails over the years with you only having to press a single button. Now, that's the kind of efficiency I can get behind!
Let's dive into the three campaigns that are crucial for your practice.
I’m going to open up the ChiroEmails playbook for you.
The first email campaign mirrors the first step a patient takes in your office- onboarding.
The 3 Chiropractic Email Campaigns You Need in Your Practice Now!
The On-Boarding Chiropractic Email Sequence
An engaging onboarding campaign will contain 5-7 emails over the first 10-14 days after the first visit a patient has in your practice. This is THE most crucial time to reduce friction, establish trust, and start getting results.
You probably do a great job getting results, but most docs struggle with establishing trust and reducing friction.
Here are a few of the key topics we focus on with our ChiroEmails onboarding sequence that has been super successful.
• Welcome to the practice
• Addressing frequently asked questions
• Reinforcing your care plan
• Providing Social proof and testimonials
• Obtaining referrals and testimonials
• and more…
Essentially the goal of the onboarding campaign is to reduce friction. Friction and confusion during the first week or two of a patients time in your practice is the top reason for patient noncompliance, no shows, and dropouts.
You need to be proactive in helping people understand why they're in your practice and how can you help them. An excellent onboarding sequence accomplishes, and that is what we build out a complete onboarding sequence in ChiroEmails, and I'd suggest you do the same.
#2. The Reactivation (aka Newsletter) Chiropractic Email Sequence
The second sequence that you have to have is a reactivation, drip, or nurture campaign.
Is your head spinning?
Let’s break it down and make it easy.
So what do I mean by that I mean long term drip or nurture?
A reactivation, drip or nurture sequence all mean the same thing to me. They are all examples of an email sequence that reaches out to your patient list one time per week. For example, one week your subject may be, “Is the pain in my arm coming from my neck?”, the next one might be “How to find lasting relief from a disc herniation.”
By sending weekly emails with educational, engaging, and entertaining content, you will be able to stay top of mind with your patient base which is critical when building a pipeline of consistent reactivations from the people who already know, trust, and like you.
Our members of ChiroEmails have been hugely successful in stimulating reactivations using this approach. And the real beauty is that we build it all out for you. We write all the content. We build all the automation. We’ve seen docs with a list as small as 400 inactive patients get four to six reactivation per week based upon our carefully crafted Research That Matters reactivation campaign.
#3. The Chiropractic Event Email Sequence (Online/Offline)
The third automation you should have is based upon driving people to your online and offline events.
Every event you hold should have an invite sequence reaching out to your patients and inviting them to attend. We recommend a four email sequence- request (1 week before the event), reminder (2 days before the event), day of reminder (day of the event), and replay/follow up (the day after the event).
And don’t forget that your email list can help drive more people to engage with you on social media.
If your Facebook page isn't exactly rocking, and your engagement is low, you can encourage people from your email list to follow and engage.
Or perhaps 2,000 past patients and only 200 fans on Facebook. Something isn’t adding up! I’d be willing to bet 90% of those people had a great result in your practice. Email enables you to connect, engage, and rekindle your relationship with those people while helping boost your social media numbers (for example- by sending an excellent email that inspires them to like your Facebook pages based on your great call to action :) )
I hope that this blog post has shown you how important your email list. In my opinion, it’s your most valuable asset.
If you have any questions- shoot me a message here.
If you want to have a full service, done for your email system with a killer onboarding sequence, all of the weekly Research That Matters content build for you, and an event sequence that will drive more people to your online and offline events become a member of ChiroEmails here.