How We Generated $6,000 With One Healthcare Email Newsletter

Creating Smiles, a dental practice with locations in St. Petersburg and Clearwater that specializes in dentures, emergency dental work, and Invisalign for adults, has been an inbound marketing client with Big Sea for six years. We’ve managed the production and content of their practice’s email newsletter for most of that time.

In traditional inbound content marketing models, newsletters fall somewhere between Attract and Convert. You are either nurturing leads with your newsletter, or you are convincing them to pull the trigger — that is, pick up the phone and schedule an appointment.

Six thousand dollars, from one monthly newsletter.

The newsletters we send for Creating Smiles are sent to an audience of existing patients, so the purpose was not to convert a lead but to create evangelists and encourage them to make their next appointment. Solidly in the Delight column of the buyer’s journey. And while considered a successful tactic, generating revenue each month, it was typically less than $1,000 monthly.

By tweaking the newsletter strategy to better align the audience, we now average $2,000 monthly, and with some months generating over $6,000.

Six thousand dollars, from one monthly newsletter. Here’s how we did it:

We aligned our content strategy across platforms.

Our regular check-ins with the client kept us informed in advance of their upcoming Invisalign promotion. That made it easy to develop a content campaign that supported the positioning that Invisalign is a great alternative for adults who need braces.

We created a halo effect around the topic — Invisalign for adults — by updating and expanding the Invisalign page with keyword rich content and videos. We wrote complementary blog content and shared supporting content on social.

The content in the newsletter was audience-focused. We did our keyword research to know the most common questions asked about Invisalign. Aligning our content across channels meant we already had much of this content on a variety of pillar pages.

We shared more … and less.

The traditional newsletter had several content modules with very short snippets of actual copy and links driving to the website. This is a standard strategy for newsletters — something for everyone, and lots of click measurement.

We turned this strategy on its head, with fewer content modules and long-form copy around the key topic (Invisalign) right there in the newsletter. The result was a more focused and purposeful newsletter that offered valuable content, and asked for the one click that mattered.

We structured the ask.

The only call-to-action that got a shiny button encouraging users to click was for the Invisalign promotion. The hypothesis was simple and effective. Offer users enough content in the newsletter before the CTA, so when they get there they are prepared to click.

After reading answers to the most commonly asked questions about Invisalign, the user was offered a special, limited-time promotion for Invisalign with a dentist they already trusted.

We ended on a high note.

For those users who didn’t immediately click that button and exit the newsletter, we reinforced the brand relationship by sharing an engaging five-star review. We gave the review a graphic treatment to make it really stand out. These five-star review graphics are also great for social media content.

We wrote the subject line last.

The email marketing platform we work with forced us to do this, and I think it’s secretly brilliant.  Rather than focusing on “nailing” the subject line, I focused on the topic: Invisalign. I thought about the journey I expected the user to take:

  • Read the newsletter content.
  • Visit the Invisalign promotion page.
  • Schedule an appointment.

Working backward from that goal, we were able to come to the subject line organically. The content is about straightening and improving your smile. The promotion is only available through the summer.

Summer is the season for smiles. Is yours ready?

The results definitely created a few smiles.

  • 26% open rate
  • 9 appointments scheduled
  • $687.89 average spend
  • $6,191 revenue earned

What’s your newsletter strategy? If you think your newsletter could be doing more for your healthcare practice, drop us a line! We’d love to show you how you and your patients can get more from email marketing.