Do you know how important it is to send out the right email? Writing a weekly email can be a great way to remind your customers about you and inform them about your current offers and treatments. But how do you start your regular email blast and then keep it going on a weekly basis? There are so many tips out there for writing marketing emails but what are the top tips you should be following for your PT website? Here is a guide to the top things you should think about when beginning an email marketing plan.

What is an email blast?

An email blast is a weekly (or regular) email sent out to your clients and those signed up to your email to receive information. This can be a newsletter or whatever type of information you think is relevant to your physical therapy clients. The point is to remind your customers of the value of your brand and what you have to offer.

It is a way to interact with your customers and prospective clients. You can build relationships, and improve repeat bookings by connecting with people in this way. Things that are included in email blasts are things such as useful tips, providing exclusive discounts, or the opportunity to share their feedback.

1. Create the right email design

The design of your email is really important. It draws people in and makes it look interesting. It also reflects who you are as a brand so it is important to convey a message of professionalism. You should be consistent too. You want your clients to recognise an email from you when they see it amongst all the others that land in their inbox.

 So, what is the email design all about?

• Choose the right colour scheme. Think about your brand and what you want to show. You need to ensure the text and content is complimented by the colour scheme and it is easy to read. Choose colours that are not too bright or bold and keep it professional.
• Font size and style. It can make a big difference to the way a text is read, as some fonts are trickier than others to understand. You also need to make sure the fonts are recognised in all browsers or you might be sending out an unreadable email.
• Dynamic content. This is the use of advertising style changeable images or text which can really make your customers spend more time reading your email. Preventing them moving on before reading everything. Make this clickable too for increased conversion to your site.
• Highlight the purpose. Whether this is in the subject or within the body of the email. Make sure the purpose of the email is highlighted in such a way that makes it stand out. Be that by image, colour or text whatever suits your clinics style.
• Use images or pictures in your design. Another way of drawing attention and keeping your customers interested is to use image and pictures that compliment the content. Just check the size and load time of any images you choose to ensure they don’t slow the loading of your email.

When sending a weekly email, you will probably want the format to be the same or similar each week. Using a design template that fits your physical therapy brand is a good idea promoting a look of professional service and trust in your brand. Consistency is something that you need to keep in mind when thinking about your overall email design.

2. Choose a great subject line and content

An attention-grabbing subject line makes a massive difference to the email opening rate. It is one of the most important factors to turn your sent email into an open email. But how do you come up with an engaging subject line each and every week?

• Make it personal. A subject line that speaks to the individual on a personal level will mean much more than a line that appears to be more generic or even spam like. Even using the name of the addressee can improve the recipients change of wanting to open your email.
• Avoid overuse of caps lock and punctuation. It can look like spam and not genuine, making people pass your email by without opening it. Use the functions correctly to enhance your subject line without making it look like you are trying too hard.
• Keep it simple but not too short. Make it a sentence that is worth reading, taking into account the difference in peoples email browsers and the devices they are using. If it is too short you won’t be able to state the purpose or entice them to read on. Too long and they will just get bored.
• Consider emojis. Although they are not a good idea in every email subject line, they can draw attention in a scroll of unread emails. There’s a time and a place for them. Such as a sun for summer deals or a heart for valentines’ day. Choose the right time and emojis for your brand.
• Preheaders are also a good idea to consider in your design. They add valuable context to your subject line and can also help your open rate. They entice readers to open the email and read on especially when they want to know the end of a sentence.

What about content?

Your content is just as important, what is the point in sending an email if you have nothing valuable to say? Your customers will stop reading your emails if you are sharing the same thing each week so your content must pop. The type of emails you send must have valuable information interesting to your reader. This may include new treatments, special offers or good news stories about past clients. Keep your content full of quality and consistency and your readers will keep opening those emails.

Stick to a marketing plan and monitor

When you start writing your weekly email blast, you need to have a marketing plan to ensure you are consistent and engaging and also to measure your success. Decide what the reason for your weekly emails are. What are you trying to achieve? Do you want visitors to your website, bookings or enquiries? Knowing what your targets are can help you to begin to devise your marketing plan.  So, what should be in your marketing strategy?

• Times, days and frequency of emails. Decide when and how often you will send out your emails and stick to it. Regular and reliable emails will give your customers trust in your brand. Sporadic emails can make it seem like you are spamming your clients inbox.
•  Include interactive links. Make sure you have a call to action in every email you send. As well as providing valuable information, you ultimately want your clients to visit your website or make a call to book in with your clinic. Make that opportunity clear and easy to do.
• Have a clear target. As mentioned above you need to know why you are sending out these emails. Set a target and keep that in mind with every email you are creating and sending making sure it is focussed on achieving that mark.
• Set a time frame. You know what you want to monitor, next you need to decide over what period of time you will be working with. Make it enough time so you can analyse a good set of results but not too long as you will be missing out on making any positive changes.
• Only send valuable information. It is clear that content is key whether that be on the emails you send out or what you include on your website. Making sure the content is valuable and of quality will keep your clients clicking into your email and reading.

How to monitor effectively

There are certain things you will want to monitor to make sure your marketing strategy is working. First of all, it is the email opening rate you should review. Looking at how many emails you send are opened by those who received them will help you to understand if the subject lines and preheaders are working. Next you need to monitor the clicks and call for action that comes from your emails. Review your weekly call to action responses and you will see what makes your clients interested.

You can use the results to make positive adjustments and ensure the weekly emails you send create the best results for your physical therapy clinic. You can choose to do this yourself or use one of the many different software out there to do it for you.

Need some help devising and implementing your email blast?

Still don’t know where to start when it comes to sending out your email blast? It can be hard when starting out or even revamping your email marketing strategy. But don’t worry if you need some help or guidance. Patient sites can help to devise an email marketing strategy and also send out emails that are relevant to your PT business. So, if you are struggling or just want to know more, check here and see what we can do for you. 

Do you need some help with your physical therapy website and marketing? Download our Free Evergreen Marketing Blueprint for Physical Therapists and start creating long-term assets that generate new patient bookings for years to come.