Texting is a powerful marketing tool that has the ability to drive more patients to book appointments with you, increase referrals, and boost revenue. Particularly when combined with other marketing strategies — such as social media, blogging, and email marketing — texting lifts your communications to a new level.
Once you understand the HIPAA nuances of texting in the healthcare space, these five SMS marketing tips will help you nurture patient relationships, and establish a stronger presence for your practice so you can ultimately drive growth and efficiency.
1. Text special offers and promotions on popular services.
Your existing patients already know and trust you, and they’re more likely to take you up on an offer. So text them about a general service they could benefit from, such as a physical exam or a cholesterol test.
Those patients also might not know that you offer a certain service. In fact, they probably don’t. But they would be open to booking another appointment if they knew more about what you offer. So tell them, perhaps with a monthly text campaign.
It’s also a best practice to text previous patients about ongoing promotions or seasonally relevant services, such as a free health screening, blood work, or flu shots. This will encourage them to not only come back into your practice, but to take charge of their health at a discount.
Reaching out to existing patients increases value and boosts patient loyalty in the long run. After all, it costs less to retain existing patients than to find new ones.
2. Send general announcements and news about your practice with mass texting.
Text to reach all of your patients within seconds, and ignite one-on-one conversations. If your practice’s hours change, perhaps due to inclement weather or a holiday, send a text.
You’ll also want to share updates about a new doctor, new equipment, new services, or plans for renovation. These are exciting things that your patients want to hear about — so tell them!
Mass texting works like BCC email, so no one sees who else is in the group, and patients can reply back to your practice directly with any questions they might have, such as:
- “Do you offer [x] treatment?”
- “Do you validate parking?”
- “Will you be taking appointments on Christmas Eve?”
- I live in [Town]. What’s your closest location to me?
When you make general communications accessible for patients, you create room to build closer relationships with them. It takes less time to respond to a text than it does to answer a phone call, so you’ll see increased patient satisfaction and more referrals. That all equals more revenue for your practice.
3. Send an SMS newsletter with weekly health tips to keep your clinic top of mind.
Text tips are a quick way to engage and build trust with your patients. An SMS newsletter is easy to start, easy to run, and highly effective at keeping patients engaged, but it needs to be helpful, not promotional.
Send reminders about general health tips, such as:
- What to eat and diets to try (or avoid)
- Myths that do more harm than good
- How to avoid infections
- How to heal on your own
Patients will see these alerts firsthand, and be able to take precautionary steps straight from the source. More importantly, these interactions are also creating an ever-tighter relationship between you and your patients.
4. Promote blog content for your practice via text.
Maintaining a blog is an opportunity to rank for keywords that your practice specializes in, and establishes you as a thought leader within the healthcare industry. It’s also an easy way to stand out from competitors, because few local doctors in particular are willing to put in the extra time for it.
If you’ve already got an active blog, you definitely need to text as part of your distribution plan.
Some relatable health topics to touch on:
- Common procedures and what to expect before, during, and after
- Break down common misconceptions about a procedure
- Address commonly asked questions
- Patient case studies
- Your patients can request topics, too!
An SMS campaign with a link to your website is a quick way to let people know that your latest blog post is live.
On top of educating your audience, you also have the opportunity to capture leads from those who take the time to read your blog. Include links to convert readers, such as a link to a pricing page or a link to book an appointment. Additionally, you’ll direct more traffic to your website, which is helpful to your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts in the long run.
By creating content, you’re providing potential patients with valuable, relevant information that will encourage them to work with you.
5. Use texting in conjunction with your social media platforms.
Social media is a great way to put a face to your practice and show patients what you’re up to. It gives you a platform to connect with your audience on a personal level, and with texting, you open up room to engage even further.
Encourage patients to like or comment on your post by texting them a link to it. These posts can be of before and after pictures, a newborn baby and mother, a feature of a doctor, a team photo, and more.
Turn your posts into a raffle, telling patients to subscribe to your text line for a chance to win a prize. Winners can be chosen at random, or by the order they’ve subscribed to you.
Your social media posts can say something like,
“Opt in to our texts for a chance to win a free [service]! Text “SMILE” to [number].”
Or.
“Share a photo of a healthy meal! The yummiest dish wins. Text your photos to [number], and we’ll feature the winners on our page. Best of luck!”
The more inclusive you are of your patients, the more they’ll feel acknowledged and appreciated. That all leads to more word-of-mouth marketing and increased foot traffic to your practice. Social media algorithms will also love you for it. The more organic engagement you get from your existing audience, the more the algorithms will promote your post to new people.
Nurture your patient relationships with texting
Growing your medical practice starts with the way you communicate with patients, so it’s important to give them multiple ways to contact you.
Texting has the power to help you build relationships, especially since it fits into most peoples’ schedules, and takes almost no effort to read and respond to. The next step is just to find a business texting solution that’s right for your practice.
