8 Tips for Creating Emails Physicians Will Open

2. Be goal-oriented.

Something that can help you be more succinct is creating a single goal — 1 objective you want to achieve within the email. This will help your message be delivered in a more clear and focused manner.

While your goal is certainly important, simply providing promotional information will likely limit your readership and negatively impact open rates. Make an effort to treat emails as an educational resource and build the content around information that will add value to them, their practice, or their patients.

3. Be simple & succinct.

In my experience, writing email copy is similar to creating website content. That means it’s important to keep your paragraphs short and conversational. I typically recommend that you include 3-5 sentences and bullet points or subheadings to make your emails scannable and easy to digest.

When doctors check email over the course of the day, there’s a good chance they are doing so on a smartphone or tablet. MobiHealthNews noted that around 80% of doctors use their mobile devices for professional purposes. Consider your email format and length when viewed on these devices to better understand if you are sending mobile-friendly messages. 

4. Image matters.

Research also shows that if emails feature large images or fonts that are hard to make out, they are less likely to be read and may get stuck in the physician’s SPAM filter. Any landing pages you link to should also be easily displayed on a smartphone or you might miss out on valuable opportunities for deeper engagement.

5. Consider a call to action.

The purpose of any email outreach is to create an opportunity to interact with your audience. If you and your team are using an email marketing platform, you will be able to see your open rates, click-through rates, and bounces to better understand your reach. Others using Outlook or a similar email client may be able to assess engagement by including actionable links like ‘Read More’ or ‘Respond Now’ and track engagement that way.

6. Create a captivating subject line.

This is one of the most important physician email marketing tips we often overlook. Physicians are time-strapped and receive numerous recruitment offers daily. Whether they scan their inbox on a desktop or mobile device, the sender and subject line directly impact whether they open or delete the email. Therefore, send emails from an individual, such as their assigned liaison, rather than a generic organization email.

Research shows that subject lines with 5-10 words, including important keywords at the beginning, drive stronger open rates. Since subject lines can get cut off, prioritize key information early. Additionally, emails with higher open rates use WIIFM (what’s in it for me) to offer compelling, brief reasons for physicians to open them.

7. Watch your timing.

An important consideration when establishing any email marketing initiative is deciding how often to reach out and when. It can be a delicate balance between seeming pesky versus being out of sight, out of mind. Most of our clients aim for one message a week depending on the provider’s specialty or market. Typically, sometime around 10 AM or 4 PM midweek can yield the strongest engagement. If you have email marketing analytics, utilize these to begin testing days and times to understand when your open rate is the strongest.