Email is still one of the most cost-effective ways for a practice to stay in touch with patients. Done well, it fills appointment gaps and brings back patients who haven’t visited in a while. Done carelessly, it ends up in spam or creates compliance problems.
What to send
- Recall reminders: annual checkups, cleanings, follow-up visits.
- Seasonal campaigns: flu shots, back-to-school physicals, summer skin checks.
- Practice news: new services, new providers, online booking, new locations.
- Educational newsletters: short, physician-reviewed articles that answer common questions.
- Reactivation: a friendly message to patients you haven’t seen in a long time.
Start with consent and the basics of the law
Only email people who agreed to hear from you. Under the CAN-SPAM Act, every marketing email must include your physical mailing address and a clear way to unsubscribe, and you must honor unsubscribe requests within 10 business days. Subject lines must not be misleading.
Healthcare adds another layer. HIPAA has specific rules about what counts as marketing and when you need a patient’s written authorization, and you should avoid putting details about a patient’s condition into marketing emails or marketing tools. Review your campaigns with your compliance advisor.
Make sure your emails reach the inbox
Since February 2024, Gmail and Yahoo have required bulk senders to meet stricter standards. Even if you send less, following them protects your reputation:
- Authenticate your domain with SPF, DKIM and DMARC.
- Offer one-click unsubscribe in every marketing email.
- Keep spam complaints very low by only emailing people who expect to hear from you.
Keep your list clean
Old lists are full of addresses that no longer work. Sending to them increases bounces and hurts your sender reputation. Verify your list before a campaign, remove bounced addresses right away, and stop emailing contacts who haven’t opened anything in a long time.
Measure bookings, not just opens
Open rates have become less reliable since Apple introduced Mail Privacy Protection, which can register an email as opened even when the patient never read it. Focus on clicks, appointment requests and calls that follow each campaign.
This article is general information, not legal advice.
Related service: Email marketing
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