Four powerful reasons to personalize HIPAA email marketing

Email is proven to be valuable and cost-effective for healthcare. The average open rate for healthcare emails is 21%, with a whopping  8.94% click-through rate.  On average, email drives an ROI of $36  for every dollar spent, higher than any other channel.

But sometimes, it's hard to know where to get started when it comes to HIPAA and email. Whether it's concerns about staying HIPAA compliant or wanting to avoid frustrating patient portals that bottleneck communications, our quick guide can get you started to better patient relationships.

If you're unsure where to begin, check out these four powerful reasons to personalize HIPAA email marketing to patients. Personalized email marketing is a powerful way for healthcare providers to  improve patient outcomes, be healthcare leaders, and grow positive awareness and revenue. 

Four powerful reasons to personalize HIPAA email marketing to patients

• Improve patient outcomes

• Be a healthcare leader

• Grow positive awareness

• Increase your revenue

• Conclusion

1. Improve patient outcomes with HIPAA compliant email marketing

Use HIPAA compliant marketing to activate your patients, motivating them to play an active role in their healthcare, rather than relying solely on medical directives. Here is a list of meaningful ways to reach your patient population for more personal connections when you use HIPAA compliant email for personalized messaging. 

Follow up after a procedure

• Too often healthcare providers do not communicate with patients after a procedure because they do not have a way to securely email them.  They can call or send a letter, but this is time consuming and expensive.  Besides, nine out of 10 internet users in the US rely on email, and many people prefer receiving communication via email.
• Sending people an email marketing message after receiving treatment is a fast and secure way to check in with them about how they are doing.  This gives them the opportunity to provide feedback on how quickly they are healing, ask any lingering questions, and schedule another appointment as needed.

Ask for feedback

• Following up with patients also provides an opportunity for them to let you know how their experience at your facility was.
• The Paubox team relies heavily on customer feedback when improving our products and services; it provides invaluable insight into what our customers are looking for and how we can improve.  You can do the same.  

Provide test results

• You can use Paubox Marketing to distribute test results to patients quickly and easily.  Some of our customers have chosen to use the platform to bulk-send negative test results in a HIPAA compliant manner while still using the phone to contact patients individually if there is a positive result, for example.

Remind patients to come in for blood work or screenings

• People don't always remember when it's time for another tetanus shot or blood glucose test.  When someone comes due for a screening, you can remind them about it with HIPAA email marketing that's secure.
• You can also remind people that when they turn a certain age, they should start receiving additional tests, such as having a colonoscopy every 10 years after age 50, or a mammogram every year after 40.

Remind patients to get their annual flu shot

• Flu shots are even more important during the coronavirus pandemic; experts worry an influx of influenza patients and COVID-19 patients could hit hospitals at the same time.  Send patients a HIPAA compliant marketing email when you have the vaccine in stock, reminding them about the importance of obtaining this vital prophylactic.

Share anonymized patient stories

• When it comes to health-related issues, there can be a lot of different emotions at play that affects people’s decision making about what procedure to get and from which doctor.
• An authentic way to address these types of sensitive matters is to use real (anonymized) patient stories. Hearing about similar health experiences lets others know that they are not alone.

Communicate securely with colleagues

• Some of our customers use Paubox Marketing to communicate not only with patients, but with colleagues as well.  They have shared information about support groups they are hosting (such as therapists coming together to discuss how clients have been effected by stay-at-home orders), federal policy updates (such as FEMA increasing reimbursements for communication around COVID-19), or internal policy changes.

2. Be a leader in your field

You are a wealth of knowledge, and you care deeply about your patients and your business. Sending email newsletters and personalized email is one of the most powerful tools at your disposal to define yourself as a leader to your patient population and the medical community.

Now that there are solutions to keep your personalized emails and newsletters HIPAA compliant, there's no stopping you!

Here are just a few ideas that you and your healthcare can do when it comes to HIPAA email and marketing.

Educate people about new healthcare developments

• Medicine is always evolving.  New treatments are developed, we gain understanding about diseases, and new trends emerge.  As a healthcare leader, you probably stay on top of the news that is relevant to your practice.  You can use Paubox Marketing to distill this information into relevant insights for your patients and colleagues.

Share your blog posts

• If you maintain a medical blog, you want to make sure your patients know when you post new content.  A great way to spread the word is with an email newsletter containing a roundup of recent stories or articles you have published.

Advertise your webinars

• Just like your blog, if you host webinars, you're always looking for more engagement.  One of the ways that Paubox advertises our own webinars is with Paubox Marketing, and you can do the same.

3. Boost your brand

Ask patients to review your practice on Yelp

• Yelp claims that 84% of consumers use review sites to find a new doctor. It can be a powerful platform to grow your business, and how many reviews you have on your profile makes a huge difference to people shopping for a new provider.  You can send an email campaign asking your patients to leave you one.
• Learn how to use Yelp in a HIPAA compliant manner here.

Share social media handles

• When you use the same messaging on your social profiles and your HIPAA compliant email campaigns, you'll get a huge boost as both channels give you an opportunity for to present a cohesive, holistic message that is personalized to your population.
• If you've got a Facebook or LinkedIn company page, or an Instagram or Twitter handle, you're always looking for more followers.  Use email marketing to let people know where they can follow you on social media.

4. Increase your revenue

Share information about changes to your practice

• If you've purchased a new medical machine, started to offer additional types of treatment, or have expanded your hours, you want to make sure people know about it.
• Sending an email campaign with updates to your practice will keep you top of mind when someone is looking for treatment, and it will also let people know everything you have to offer.

Send appointment reminders and pre-op procedure requirements

• HIPAA compliant and personalized email  is an easy way to send reminders. For example, send email about pre-operative procedures, such as fasting before a test or not eating certain foods. You can also use the product to send appointment reminders to make sure people remember to come in. Both of these practices will reduce cancellations and therefore increase your revenue.

Share promotional offers

• Small businesses estimate that nearly 18% of their total business will be generated over the next year by acquiring new customers via promotions, and 91% of buyers who redeem coupons say they will revisit the same shop.
• These statistics are for retailers, but the principle holds for medical providers. Since Paubox Marketing allows you to personalize your emails. For example, you can send people a personal coupon code, which will offer a discount for both them and their recipient if the coupon is redeemed. This type of offer works best for elective procedures or healthcare that insurance does not cover.

Collect payments

• Medical debt is a big problem in the United States. Seventy-nine million Americans have medical bill problems or are paying off debt related to healthcare treatment. Between 26%-62% of bankruptcies include significant medical debt.
• Defaulted payments have a substantial impact on revenue.
• You can use email marketing to communicate with people about their unpaid bills. This can be done in various ways, starting with simple email reminders and then escalating if payment is not received. Perhaps you will be able to negotiate a payment plan with your clients or reduce a bill instead of receiving none of it.

Conclusion

Implementing a  HIPAA compliant email marketing strategy  can improve patient outcomes, set you up as a leader in your field, boost your brand, and grow your business. Our customers have seen open rates between 77% and  91%  for their email campaigns and click-through rates of up to  12%  

If you're still not convinced, you can start with a  Paubox Marketing freemium plan and send an unlimited number of marketing emails to up to 100 contacts stored on the platform. Hopefully, these four powerful reasons to personalize HIPAA email marketing to patients will get you started.

Grow your healthcare business today with the most effective channel available to you.  Now is the time to join the digital transformation in healthcare with healthcare email marketing. Don't let the outdated tech of portal and passcodes stop you. You can send powerful and personalized patient email that's HIPAA compliant. 

Try Paubox Marketing for free and make your email marketing HIPAA compliant today. Start for free.