Consumers Overwhelmingly Prefer Email

Posted by Rachel Honoway

According to an April 2012 survey (by ExactTarget), consumers overwhelmingly prefer to receive marketing and transactional (like “thanks for your order”) messages via email.

77% of respondents said that they would rather get messages from businesses via email.

Only 9% chose postal mail and a mere 2% chose phone.

What Do You Prefer?

We often struggle to “get in the minds” of our patients and customers… what do they want?

But, you don’t have to struggle – you can simply ask yourself, “what would I want in the same situation?”

Think of the other healthcare professionals you visit as their patient. How would you want them to stay in contact with you, let you know what’s going on with their practice and inform you about services and products?

• A phone call? Probably not. Like most people, you probably consider phone calls from businesses intrusive. They interrupt whatever you might be doing and require you to have a conversation or make a decision to avoid the call.
• A piece of postal mail? Again, probably not. Like most Americans, your mailbox is full of catalogs, coupons, bank statements, privacy statements and (urrrg) bills. Sorting the postal mail is another “to-do” on your list, and the items that “need attention” are often the only items that get attention in this busy world.
• An email? Probably! Email sits waiting for you whenever you can get to it. It can be quickly scanned and within a few seconds, you can make a decision to save, delete or act upon.

 

Email Truly Reaches the Consumer

AND… by nature of how it operates, when someone receives an email message, they must go through the process of recognizing who it’s from, why it was sent and how it applies to them… that’s how we decide what to do with the message.

That means that if you send a message, your name, your brand and the “gist” of your message reaches every recipient on your list.

(Now… obviously you want that to be a positive experience for the recipient – so no spamming!)

 

Why Not?

Your patients want to receive your messages via email.

Email is far less expensive than other methods:

• We can reach your patient list 4 times a month for just $238/month.
• Just 1 postal message per month could cost nearly that much in postage alone.
• Phone calls? Reaching your patient database could take a full-time person a month (and a month’s pay) to reach.

So… why not implement an email outreach program?

Learn more about our Email Outeach Services.