Email metrics for effective healthcare email marketing campaigns

HIPAA compliant email marketing is essential for healthcare organizations to engage their patients and deliver valuable information. By analyzing various metrics, healthcare marketers can better understand the performance of their email campaigns, optimize their efforts, and ensure compliance with privacy regulations. There are five key email metrics in healthcare marketing, and each denotes specific improvement steps.

Healthcare email marketing benchmarks

Despite not appearing to sign a BAA and thus may not be HIPAA compliant, Campaign Monitor has some available healthcare email marketing benchmarks. While personalization leads to better results in email marketing, these benchmarks can serve as a reference for the below metrics. 

It's important to note that benchmarks are not absolute and may vary depending on the campaign's goals, audience, and content. Continuously monitor and optimize email campaigns to improve performance. Healthcare marketers can achieve better email marketing outcomes and provide better patient experiences by testing and analyzing different strategies and tactics.

Related: Healthcare email marketing use cases that contain PHI

Open: The gateway to effective communication

The "Open" metric measures the number of recipients who opened an email, indicating the effectiveness of your subject line and reputation. A high open rate suggests that your email has piqued recipients' interest. In contrast, a low open rate might indicate that the subject line is not compelling enough or that your previous emails have been somewhat unpopular.

Next steps:

• Test various subject lines to determine which ones resonate best with your audience.
• Aim to provide valuable information in your emails so recipients expect useful, helpful content.
• Maintain a strong sender reputation by following best practices for email deliverability and avoiding spammy behavior.
• Segment your audience based on demographics, interests, and behavior to create personalized subject lines that encourage recipients to open your emails.
• Include personalization in the subject which is possible only with HIPAA compliant email marketing tools.

Benchmark: 23.7% open rate for healthcare marketing

Click through rate: Acting on your content

The "click through rate (CTR)" is the ratio of recipients who clicked on a link within the email to the total number of recipients who opened the email. A high CTR signifies that your email campaign is resonating with recipients and driving them to take action. A low CTR might indicate that while your subject line is effective in getting recipients to open the email, your content or CTAs are not motivating them to click through.

Next steps:

• Create relevant, engaging, and valuable content that addresses the needs and interests of your audience.
• Incorporate clear and strong CTAs to guide recipients toward taking the desired action.
• Experiment with different content formats, CTAs, and layouts to identify the most effective combination for your audience.
• Keep your CTAs in the top third of your email to make sure everyone who opens the email sees the link or button.
• Incorporate rich media, such as images, videos, or interactive elements, to boost engagement and improve CTR.

Benchmark: 3% click through rate for healthcare marketing

Bounced: Email deliverability challenges

The "Bounced" metric tracks the number of emails that failed to deliver, due to either a temporary issue (soft bounce) or a permanent problem with the recipient's email address (hard bounce). A high bounce rate can negatively impact your sender reputation and email deliverability, affecting the success of your email campaigns.

Next steps:

• Regularly clean and update your email list to remove invalid or inactive addresses, reducing hard bounces.
• Investigate and resolve issues related to email deliverability to minimize soft bounces.
• If significant bounce rate issues persist, implement double opt-in processes and re-engagement campaigns to maintain a high-quality email list.

Benchmark: 2% bounce rate for healthcare marketing

Unsubscribed: Addressing discontent

The "Unsubscribed" metric shows the number of recipients who opted out of your email campaigns. A high unsubscribe rate can indicate that recipients are dissatisfied with your content or, rarely, email frequency. 

Next steps:

• Assess your email frequency and content to ensure that it aligns with your audience's preferences and provides value.
• Conduct surveys or gather feedback from recipients to better understand their reasons for unsubscribing and make necessary adjustments to your campaigns.
• Implement re-engagement strategies, such as win-back campaigns or targeted, personalized offers, to minimize the loss of subscribers and maintain a healthy email list.

Benchmark: 0.3% unsubscribe rate for healthcare marketing

Always improving

In healthcare marketing, understanding and leveraging email metrics is essential for optimizing campaign performance and ensuring compliance with privacy regulations. Healthcare organizations can create more effective and engaging email marketing campaigns that resonate with their audience by monitoring and acting upon the insights gained from email metrics. 

Additionally, maintaining compliance with HIPAA and other privacy regulations is crucial; always ensure your email marketing platform is HIPAA compliant, and encrypt and secure all PHI. 

Related: