Optometry Marketing and Email – How To Use Links

Using links in your optometry marketing email campaigns is an excellent way of demonstrating your good intentions and essential to getting the most out of this powerful and inexpensive marketing tool.
Your patients like to know what you recommend or find interesting.

Not only are giving them valuable information, but the link is also perceived as an added benefit and testament to your sincerity.
This fits with good optometry marketing ethics, plus you have the unique ability to test and measure the effectiveness of your broadcast(s) and links.

Here are a few guidelines on how to incorporate links into your weekly or monthly broadcasts:

• Plan to distribute the link once or twice in the body of the message.
• Only use trustworthy sources – especially when citing news content.
• The ‘PS’ should repeat the main link, but also include a link to your appointment scheduler, blog, and an email link to you or staff for questions.

For specials, have a link to a ‘landing page that goes into more detail’ and finally, make sure to describe the link or at least make it work with the rest of the email context.

Here’s an article you might find helpful for your optometry marketing email endeavors.

http://www.tlcpracticebuilder.com/archives/AnOptometristsGuidetoEmailMarketing.pdf

Eyecare Marketing and Email: What Do Your Patients Want to Know About?

Whether you’ve been broadcasting to your patient base for years or just getting started, figuring out what information to share with your patients can pose an interesting challenge.

As professionals, we spend a lot of energy on describing conditions and treatment plans in layman’s terms – for a live audience who generally need to know what we have to say – in the moment.
But what do you talk with your patient about when they are away? In other words, what do they want to hear?

Here are a few ways of ‘re-focusing’ on what people want to hear about from you…

1. Forums – Do a google search on ‘eye care forums’ and see what comes up. (Warning: Try not to get caught up in the debates you’ll invariably find regarding fees, policies, etc.)

2. Do a general google search on ‘eye problems’ – the most popular are a reflection of the most traffic…

3. Brainstorm/Reflect on the most common general questions people have for you or ask your staff what they often hear people ask…

4. Try the google ‘adwords’ tool below. Type in the name of a condition or simply, type ‘eye problems’ and see what comes up. Pay special to average monthly search volume.

Here’s the link:

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal (Estimates total searches and AdWords clicks & CPC)

Once you’ve found a topic that you like, remember that effective eye care marketing and email starts with the ‘conversation’.

Optometric Marketing and Email: Flex Spending Reminders

Even at this time of year, its a good idea to remind folks of their flex spending dollars. Email is a great way to spread this valuable information.

As part of our normal email newsletter, we use the P.S. as an announcement forum…most people skip/scan down to this part anyway…

So, in other words, we use a “PS. Don’t forget about your flex dollars”.

Its also important to have your web designer build a landing page with more information detailing how flex money works…The page will give more details about how flex spending or HSA accounts work and (as any good optometric marketing program should) prompt patients to explore your website and call/make an appointment.

Click this link for more information about effective optometric marketing.

Eye Care Marketing and Snail Mail: To Be or Not To Be

We’ve practically eliminated all post card or snail-mail marketing.
Response rates (we measured) on post card campaigns were in the 1-2% range. Of course, you get very little feedback or metrics.

In essence, I now think of snail mail as a back-up for recalls (we send reminders by email) and a way to purge the snail-mail database (i.e., usually with an end of year flex spending reminder – which of course also gets mention in the email).

Email is the absolute way to go. You need about 1000 to be really effective, but any number is a good start and enough to create a conversation. I send out approximately 1 email/broadcast/newsletter per week- information mainly.

Just pick a topic or ask in the email what people want to know more about.

Most software programs ($10-$20) per month give you a ton of metrics (who opened, clicked, etc). You can segment the list to test different offers or wording, identify your big fans…etc… And most importantly, you can set up multiple emails in an autoresponder series that go out automatically at an interval you specify.

(We use icontact, but there are many others out there.
Basically, I can count on at least 35% will open and read any note I send. This is very high (in the world of email marketing) and reflects the unique opportunity for a list people have opted in a setting such as ours.

We did a trunk show last June that was the most successful that we’ve ever done. In fact, it was better than the last two combined.

This time I used email (and my website) as the only method of promotion. It frees up money and therefore options in terms of what you can offer by way of promotion.

Their are challenges. You must keep it real, simple, short, and personal. Sounds easy, but it takes practice. Some people will opt-out or use it as an opportunity to ask about their glasses, but basically its a home run.

And by the way, you absolutely do not need fancy graphics or technology.

Hope this helps and good luck!
Jeff Lewis

An Optometric Marketing Approach to Birthday Post Cards

My predecessor always sent out a monthly birthday post-card mailing.
He swore by it, yet we dropped it as part of our optometric marketing strategy.

I think the reason had more to do with staff time in processing the monthly mailings and the fact that it was difficult to determine the effectiveness.

Then came email and we learned how to broadcast practically anything – as long as you have a good reason. (Sometimes, you don’t even need a good reason). Birthdays are a great reason and again, another way to touch your patient base.

« Previous Page