“I don’t want to be pushy/rude/salesey/spammy!”

“I’d feel too awkward sending a newsletter!”

“I have no idea what I’d put in an email!?”

If these things run through your head when you hear about email marketing, this blog it for you!

Email marketing is a no-brainer for aesthetic practitioners.

It doesn’t matter if you have 5 patients or 5000, email marketing has a ton of benefits.

1. It’s cost-effective - compared to traditional offline marketing (print, radio, events) and paid for online marketing, for most aesthetic practitioners, sending marketing emails is FREE.

2. It’s direct - when you post on social media or appear on Google, your presence and message is diluted. Email marketing allows you to craft messages bespoke to your audience and deliver them DIRECTLY to that audience.

3. It keeps you front of mind - by regularly appearing in someone’s inbox, every month, you become front of mind. It means that when they are ready to book, whether it’s a maintenance treatment or they have an event coming up…you’ll be top of the list.

4. It builds relationships - the more authentic you are in any marketing, including email marketing, the easier it is for your patients to feel like they know you. Familiarity breeds trust and trust increases bookings.

5. It’s measurable - unlike social media marketing, you can see how well different subject lines do, you can experiment with tone of voice, you can track click through rates of particular emails.

6. It doesn’t take too long - once you’ve set it up, actually writing and sending an email really doesn’t take that long…about as long as it takes for you to decide what to post on Instagram, make the post and post it!

And don’t just take my word for it! The stats back it up too!

• 99% of consumers check their email daily, and some check it as many as 20 times a day!

• 59% of people say that marketing emails influence their purchase decisions

• Email marketing has consistently shown one of the highest ROI among digital marketing channels - average ROI through email marketing is 7 times higher than other digital marketing activities.

OK…I need to do email marketing…how do I even start?

It’s pretty easy.

1. Set up an account with an email marketing platform. There are loads to choose from: MailChimp, FloDesk, Moosend, Brevo.

I’ve tried MailChimp and FloDesk - I recently moved over to FloDesk, but the deliverability of my emails was hammered…so I’m in the process of moving back to mailchimp.

If you have built your website using SquareSpace, Square, GoDaddy or Wix, you’ll probably find that there are built in email marketing tools and newsletter signup forms, so you won’t need additional email marketing software.

2. Upload your patient list - be mindful of the rules, check out the ICO for more information, but essentially, you can’t just bombard people with marketing emails. You can send emails to people if they have specifically consented to electronic mail from you; or they are an existing customer who bought a similar service from you in the past, and you continually give them a simple way to opt out.

3. Write and send an email, making sure that you make it easy for people to opt out.

What should I put in my emails?

Anything you think will be helpful or valuable to your patients!

Like all marketing, it’s not about what you want to sell. It is about providing value and helping solve your patients problems.

Other than information about how you can treat concerns they may have - ideally by linking to blogs you’ve written that are published on your website - you can also share information about offers, new treatments you’re bringing to clinic and other updates/clinic news.

So I just write?!

Yes and no.

There are a few “best practices” you should heed when crafting your email.

• Be concise…when you’re sending consumer emails, they need to be short, sharp and to the point. This is not a novel. It’s a bitesized chunk of information about something that benefits them and how they can get that benefit.

• Personalise - ideally, personalise the subject line and add the recipients name in the greeting.

• Keep your subject line short - 5 - 7 words, make too enticing not to click! Use an emoji if appropriate, as this helps your email stand out in their inbox.

• Optimise for mobile - most people open emails on their phones, so your email has to look good and be legible on phone screens. Your email marketing platform will have the ability to preview what the email looks like on mobile AND you can (and should) send test emails before sending to your mailing list.

• Lead with the key message - make it clear what the email is about and to encourage to read the next sentence, and the next, and the next. It’s on you to make sure that the reader wants to keep reading, so pack a punch here!

• Include a CTA - add a call to action button (or few) to your email. Make it clear what you want the reader to do. BOOK NOW, READ HERE, GET IN TOUCH, FIND OUT MORE, FOLLOW ME etc.

• Include photos/images - adding in professional photos of you/your clinic/treatments/products breaks up big blocks of text and helps engender familiarity.

• Brand it - don’t miss the opportunity to improve brand awareness. You should use you brand colours throughout your emails, and include your logo, fonts as close to your brand fonts as possible and your brand voice to cement your brand in your readers mind. When they click through any links in your email, it should all look and feel like a cohesive experience.

What’s a decent, basic format for an email?

You could consider following this basic structure.

• Header with your logo/clinic photo

• Personalised greeting

• Short, concise info, with links to your blog/website

• Photos/Images to break up text

• CTA Button

• Branded email signature with your contact details, booking link)

• Footer with Opt out and links to social profiles and website

Finding an email format that works for you not only makes it quicker to draft and send an email, but it also helps build familiarity. And we know that familiarity breeds trust.

How often should I send an email?

You HAVE to get over worrying about being pushy, rude, salesey, spammy…Really. GET. OVER. IT.

It’s an email. You’re not knocking down their door, wielding a needle at them. I bought something from the Inkey List 3 years ago and have been sent an email every 2/3 days since then. Do I get annoyed? No. If I did, could I unsubscribe? Yes!

Rather than wasting time fretting, worrying and procrastinating about sending an email, spend that time learning about your patients problems. Be intentional about how you craft your marketing messages to appeal to them. Then, you’ll be able to send emails that are not only entertaining, but also deliver incredible value to them AND drive bookings or skincare sales for you.

You should aim to send a general marketing email once a month.  Remember, if your patients are booking in with you, they will also be receiving transactional emails, so you don’t want to be spammy.

What about if I’m launching a new product, treatment or offer?

Well, that’s a bit different!

If you’re launching a new treatment, product or offer, you should increase the cadence of email sends - over a four week period, you should send at least an email a week.

Tease the problem in the first email…how would you feel if…you no longer had to hold your tummy in in your favourite dress? You didn’t have to worry about smiling in photos? You could retire your roster of turtlenecks? You didn’t have to hide your bald spot with a cap?

A couple of days later send another that positions what life is like once the problem is solved. Use testimonials. Photos. Before and afters.

A few days before the launch really drill down the benefits the solution you have brings. Make it personal. Include video/photo content where possible.

On the day of the launch, give them a summary of the benefits, details of the product/treatment, the “offer” and time limit to redeem AND the CTA to access the offer.

In summary, email marketing is a no-brainer for aesthetic practitioners. In the time it takes for you to faff about creating a reel, you could have crafted and sent an email to re-engage, build trust, share an offer or educate. It’s no/low cost. All it requires is for you to know your patients and be able to type…which, I hope, is standard!