When creating a solid marketing plan for your practice, including emails as part of your communication strategy is essential. An email list gives you a direct line to your patients and clients v, allowing you to keep your email subscribers informed about your practice, offers, and services.
A leading email service provider, Constant Contact, has the data to back it up – email offers the highest and most measurable ROI (return on investment) of all types of marketing. However, not everyone realizes how essential email marketing is, and the benefits health professionals can get from it – it’s so much more than just sending a newsletter to your email list!
Email marketing remains the primary communication channel for businesses and customers today. It’s a vital tool for growing your business and creating a loyal fan base that feels connected to you.
Email marketing can turn prospects into customers and boost your bottom line!
The Power of Email Marketing for Health Professionals
Email marketing is crucial for health professionals online because it helps build connections and long-lasting client relationships. Health and wellness topics are highly personal and require trust between the practitioner and the client.
With email marketing, health professionals like yourself can provide value to subscribers with informative and educational content, which establishes your authority in your niche. This also builds trust with your subscribers, who are more likely to become repeat customers, further helping to grow your business.
Another benefit is that email marketing allows you to personalize your communications, making it easier to tailor your messaging to your subscribers’ specific needs and interests. This is especially important in healthcare, where individualized and customized care is critical.
Lastly, email marketing is cost-effective and easily measurable, making it ideal for online health professionals who need to maximize their budget and track their ROI.
Using email marketing’s power, you can strengthen relationships with your audience and grow your business.
Starting from Zero: 6 Steps to Build Your Email List from Scratch
1. Create a Landing Page With an Opt-In Form
Do visitors love your website and want more? Don’t make it hard for them to find your opt-in form. After building a landing page, add it to your navigation bar or menu.
Always add value to this offer and make it as painless as possible to opt in and join your list. Embed your signup forms on your page so it’s a one-stop for visitors to become future clients, and they won’t have to click through to act.
Your opt-in form should be short and easy to fill out. You only want to focus on capturing names and email addresses at this stage. While you can get more than just your visitor’s email address (most software allows you to ask for an address, phone number, and more), you’ll get better results if you keep it short and simple!
Most major email service providers like ConvertKit or Active Campaign make collecting email addresses with pre-designed landing pages and signup forms that you can easily customize and add to your website – even if you’re not tech-savvy.
2. Unlock the Power of Lead Magnets
Lead magnets are a powerful tool for growing your email list of ideal clients and prospects. By providing valuable content to potential clients, you can entice them to join your list and establish a relationship with them
As a health professional in private practice, creating a lead magnet can be incredibly impactful. You can establish authority and build trust with your audience by offering educational content related to your niche, such as a free ebook on healthy eating, tips to improve gut health, or a guide to managing stress.
Some other ideas for lead magnets are:
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- Free reports
- Templates
- Meal Plans
- Checklists
- Videos
- Free Webinars
How do you create a compelling lead magnet that will drive sign-ups?
First, focus on providing real value to your audience. Ensure your lead magnet is relevant to your target market’s interests and needs and offers practical solutions or insights.
Next, create visually appealing and professional-looking content that reflects your brand and expertise. Canva is an excellent tool for this! It’s easy to use, and the templates are perfect for creating ebook covers, infographics, and other types of visuals. To appeal to different learning styles and preferences, offer your lead magnet in multiple formats, such as a downloadable PDF, video, or webinar.
Finally, make it easy for visitors to opt-in to receive your lead magnet by prominently featuring your opt-in form on your website, social media channels, and other marketing materials. Don’t forget to follow up with your new subscribers, providing additional value and opportunities for engagement.
After you create your lead magnet, you can build a dedicated landing page (an opt-in page). On the landing page, tease the information your subscriber will learn from your lead magnet. Embed a form for visitors to sign up and access it.
Next, create a confirmation email in your email marketing software. Thanks to marketing automation tools, this email is sent automatically to the visitors who opt-in, gives them a link to download or access your lead magnet, and welcomes your new email subscriber to your list.
RELATED: Business Growth Resources: Get the resources you need to begin the process of building your wellness private practice.
3. Optimize Your Website for Email Subscribers
A website is the best way to create a home base for your online business and attract new leads into your private practice. If you want more people to sign up, start by optimizing your website’s design and layout.
Make sure your website features attractive visuals and an easy-to-use layout. Include compelling copy and a solid call to action (CTA) that explains the value of signing up with you.
Another key is to place multiple subscription or opt-in forms on your website so it can’t be missed. Every website visitor will look for your subscription form in a different place; it’s best to optimize your entire website for subscribers.
Start on the homepage with an opt-in offer. Another place is a banner at the top of your blog or the main content. When someone visits your blog from a link used in your social media posts, they can’t miss the form.
Another great place is a floating subscription form in the sidebar. This form stays visible even as visitors scroll down the page. If they don’t subscribe at the top of the page, they can join here without scrolling back up.
Finally, don’t forget website pop-up forms. While no one “likes” seeing a pop-up, studies show that a pop-up form converts website visitors into subscribers more than six times better than any other type of opt-in form.
Your pop-up acts like a “mini landing page” and can include a headline, copy, images, and a call-to-action. Once you create the pop-up form, you’ll want to test it on different devices so it looks good everywhere.
Remember, you can add pop-up forms to specific blog posts; you can make them site-wide, meaning they appear on each page, or you can time them to show up after a certain amount of time.
You can also add an exit intent pop-up that will trigger when a visitor is about to leave the page. This pop-up gives visitors one last chance to subscribe before they go.
If done right, pop-up forms are an effective way to grow your email list. Again, no one “likes” website pop-ups. No one likes billboards either, but they work.
Optimizing your website so your sign-up forms stand out is the most important thing. Make it easy for visitors to join your email list and give them a compelling reason. Ultimately, your main goal is to reach more people and grow your private practice.
Create Compelling Copy
Are you tired of struggling to write copy that attracts and retains subscribers? As an online health professional, you know that your website copy needs to be compelling to stand out from the crowd. That’s why I’ve created a game-changing course just for you: “Create Website Copy That Makes You Money.”
In this course, you’ll learn how to write website copy that speaks directly to your target audience and positions you as an authority in your field. You’ll discover the secrets to crafting persuasive messaging that highlights the benefits of your services and sets you apart from the competition.
With the skills you’ll learn in this course, you’ll be able to write website copy that not only informs and engages but also drives revenue for your private practice. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to transform your website and attract more clients. Enroll now in “Create Website Copy That Makes You Money” and start seeing results today!
4. Convert Social Media Followers to Email Subscribers
Social media is a powerful tool to build relationships with your target audience and establish yourself as an expert in your field. You can use it to attract more signups by introducing content that resonates with your potential clients, such as video tutorials, blog snippets, live Q&A sessions, or ebooks.
To convert social media followers into email subscribers, have separate social media accounts for your business. For most social media platforms, it’s against the terms of service to promote your business on your personal account. Online businesses that use personal social media accounts for promotions are in danger of being blocked and banned, so the best practice is to create separate accounts for your business.
Since you can’t include your email signup forms in your social media posts, take advantage of third-party tools for social media like LinkTree. Another option is to add a page to your website exclusively for your social media links. Personally, I prefer to host my “links page” on my own website instead of using a third-party tool. You can see exactly how I do this for my own business here. If you want to drive all of your social media traffic to one sign-up form, then you would only want to link to your landing page and collect email addresses there.
5. Leverage Giveaways for Your Email List Growth
Your email marketing efforts don’t have to be boring! Add giveaways and contests to your list-building strategy to have fun and reward your subscribers. People are more likely to join an email list when you make it fun and give them something in return. This strategy appeals to peoples’ desire for instant gratification too!
If you’re just getting started with giveaways, you can use a free platform like Rafflecopter to run your list-building giveaway. It’s simple to set up and manage and allows your new subscribers to enter the contest via social media channels or by subscribing to your email list.
It’s good practice to offer multiple entry options for giveaways, such as signing up for a newsletter, sharing a Facebook post, or tagging on Instagram. Ensure the giveaway resonates with your target audience to grow your list with relevant subscribers. Additionally, make sure the giveaway is short enough that it won’t take too much time away from running your business.
Some fun ideas to gamify your list building with giveaways are:
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- One-on-one consulting sessions (15 minutes)
- Gift cards to Amazon or another popular store
- Free coffee at Starbucks
- Digital products like an ebook or online course
The key takeaway is that when growing your email list, don’t limit yourself. Try different tactics and see what resonates with your target audience. You can quickly develop an active email list with some strategy and creativity and enjoy doing it.
6. Request Shares in Your Email Newsletters
Another way to grow your email list is by asking existing subscribers to share your emails with friends. You can add a simple “share this” button at the end of each of your newsletters and add details on how they can do so.
Have you ever read an email so good you just had to send it to your friend? That’s the kind of content you should aim for in your newsletters. If you provide real value and interesting stories, your subscribers will feel inclined to share them with someone they know. It’s also not a bad idea to incentivize subscribers to share or refer friends. For example, you can offer exclusive content to those who do.
You can also include a specific call-to-action that makes it easy for people to share your newsletters. For example, you can ask subscribers to share your latest blog post or a recent article that may be helpful to their friends and colleagues.
Another simple option is to ask your subscribers to invite their friends. Please do this in your postscript and include share buttons to make it easy.
Related: Proven Lead Generation Strategies for Your Practice
The Top Four Benefits of Using Email Marketing:
Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to build relationships with your target audience and grow your business. It’s also an easy way to automate parts of your private practice and save time.
1. Keeps Your Brand Top of Mind
Whether it’s existing clients or potential new clients, email marketing reminds your subscribers that you’re still around and ready to help. The more often people think of your brand, the more likely they are to contact you or become clients.
Consistency is critical when it comes to the schedule for your emails. Decide on a day of the week or month when you’ll send out your newsletters, and stick to that schedule for consistency. This way, your subscribers aren’t overwhelmed and know when to expect your emails.
Newsletters could be sent weekly, monthly, or quarterly, depending on what works best for your business and marketing strategy.
2. It’s Efficient and Has a Large Reach
Once you build an email list, you can reach hundreds, if not thousands, of people with one email. This makes spreading the word about any new products or services you offer more accessible.
Email marketing is cost-effective and allows you to measure your success easily. You can quickly track results like open rates, click-through rates, and total subscribers.
With most email service providers, you can send newsletters to a specific contacts list if the message is not meant for everyone. For example, you could set up a list for “Current Customers” and one for “Potential Customers” to tailor the content to the reader.
3. Easy-to-Measure Results for Successful Email Marketing Campaigns
Most email service providers will provide you with more than an email sign-up form to collect email addresses.
Typically, you’ll have a dashboard to measure metrics like your:
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- Open rate (percentage of people who opened your emails)
- Click-through rate (how many clicks each email you sent received)
- Unsubscribe rate (how many people opted out of your emails)
- Revenue generated (how much money each email campaign brought in)
By tracking these metrics, you can determine which type of emails and campaigns are performing the best and focus your efforts there. Email campaigns don’t have to be complicated; even a simple announcement or update can provide valuable insights.
4. Boost Engagement with Your Audience
Building a loyal customer base is every entreprneur’s dream, and email marketing can help make it a reality. By delivering customized and relevant content to each subscriber, you can establish a personal and direct connection, creating a sense of familiarity and trust that translates into a more engaged and loyal customer base.
Whether it’s providing helpful information, exclusive offers, or simply checking in to keep customers up-to-date with recent news and updates, email allows businesses of all sizes to create meaningful connections with their subscribers, driving engagement and ultimately leading to more conversions and revenue.
From Clicks to Clients: Build an Email List from Scratch
Email marketing is a great way to build relationships with your website visitors, increase engagement, improve customer retention, and boost sales and conversions. By building an email list and understanding the key benefits of email marketing – keeping your brand top-of-mind, efficient reach, easy-to-measure results, and boosting engagement – you can make sure that your new subscribers lead to paying customers.
Not sure where to start? If you want to supercharge your list-building strategy and get more subscribers on autopilot, click here for 7 free lead gen tools exclusively for health professionals.
More than pop-ups, this collection of marketing tools created for health professionals in private practice includes:
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- List building strategies
- 10 Overlooked Client Hotspots
- How to Create a Referral Program
- Professional Organizations and Databases
- and 10 Surefire Strategies to Get Referrals Now!
If you’re looking for more personalized help growing your email list from scratch to a full-fledged subscriber base and want to streamline and automate your private practice, schedule a free discovery call with me here.
I can’t wait to hear about your goals and help you make them a reality.
Happy List Building!
