A lot of veterinary practices use emails to remind their followers about upcoming appointments, alert them about test results, and even send client satisfaction surveys.
But how many clinics are using emails to market their practices? We know that plenty of practices have amazing Facebook and Instagram accounts. You are nailing the social media marketing your practice, and that’s fantastic! But it would be a huge mistake to ignore email in favor of social media marketing.
Social media marketing is fun, visual, and produces visible engagement. As a result, it can sometimes overshadow its less glamorous, slightly older cousin, email. But email isn’t dead, or even dying. Email marketing still produces incredible results, and it’s a great way to connect with new and existing clients. Because email doesn’t have the same algorithms that social networks have, you’ll reach more people with a single email than you would with a post or tweet. And if you’re using the right tools, it can be a lot easier to track the success of an email, as compared to a social post.
Still not convinced? Consider the following statistics that might change your mind:
1. 72% of adults preferred communication with companies to happen over email.
By comparison, only 18% preferred social media. What does this statistic mean for your email marketing? It might seem like your clinic should discard social media in favor of email, but that would be like throwing out the baby with the bath water.
Instead, we think the main takeaway of this stat is that it’s a bad idea to ignore email marketing. That’s not to say you shouldn’t use social. The next time your clinic has a big promotion, definitely share it on Facebook and Twitter. But make sure you’re not forgetting to also send out an email, knowing that your clients appreciate receiving emails from your clinic.
2. Email has a 50-100x greater click-through rate than Facebook or Twitter.
The numbers don’t lie. Emails achieve greater click through than posts or tweets. There is likely because people who agree to subscribe to your email list are more interested in receiving content and links from you than social media followers, who may just be looking to see cute videos of your clinic cat. In addition, you have a lot more noise to compete with on a social media, with your link being presented within a timeline full of other links. By comparison, people only look at one email at a time, which means you have more of their attention, and a better chance to make your case for why they should click through.
Again, this is not to say that email is better than social media. It’s easier to reach new clients on social media, and raise awareness for your practice. By comparison, email is a better platform for people who are more aware of your practice, and more interested in receiving high quality content and promotional materials. The purpose of the two channels is arguably different.  This statistic simply highlights what a mistake it would be to ignore email marketing. altogether, when you can achieve such amazing results by using it.
3. 95% of people who subscribe to emails from brands find those emails somewhat or very useful.
When people subscribe to your email, they are agreeing to receive communications from you. In fact, they expect it, and they find those communications useful! Don’t feel like you’re intruding by sending marketing emails. As long as those emails are relevant to your email subscribers, they’ll actually be happy to receive them.
4. Email’s ROI is 28.5%, compared with 7% for direct mail.
Is your practice still Investing in direct mail marketing? This study shows that direct mail can actually be very effective, with a 3.4% response rate. However, direct mail responses have also fallen over the past 9 years by 25%, and continue to do so. In addition, email marketing has a far greater return on investment, making it much more affordable than direct marketing. So the next time you’re considering do a campaign on a budget, save money by hitting up your email list instead of mailing out information. You’ll find that you get more for your money with email!
5. Email marketing has an average ROI of $38 for every $1 spent.
Translated into percentages, this means that email marketing has an average ROI of 3800%. With returns like that, you can hardly afford not to invest in email marketing. But if you don’t have a budget for email markeintg, the good news is that you can do a lot of great email marketing completely for free. Check out email services like MailChimp to see how your practice can start sending beautiful marketing emails to clients, free of charge!
6. Marketers deem email the most effective digital marketing tactic for building awareness, acquisition, retention, and conversion.
With all the digital channels out there, it can be hard to know where to focus. But marketing teams agree that overall, email is the most effective tool for achieving goals. Start using email marketing to improve your practice’s marketing results and reach more new and current clients with practice news, pet health information, and promotions. The possibilities are endless!
