How direct mail postcards and campaigns bring back patients

You can use direct mail postcards or campaigns to entice former patients to return to your practice in a variety of ways such as congratulatory cards, date recognitions

The internet offers increased convenience, accessibility, and reach when it comes to chiropractic advertising. However, before you commit a large portion of your time, energy, and monies on bolstering your digital marketing efforts, if your goal is to return inactive patients to their previously active status, direct mail postcards or campaigns might be worth pursuing instead.

Direct mail marketing statistics to consider

One major benefit of direct mail postcards or campaign marketing is that it has a high response rate. For example, open rates of direct mail can be as high as 90% according to data collected by Compu-Mail. Compare this to email open rates, which is closer to 21.72% for health care businesses, and it’s easy to see why some practitioners choose this more traditional marketing approach.

Compu-Mail adds that approximately one in four (74%) consumers say they prefer direct mail over digital correspondence and 59% enjoy receiving this type of mail. It also provides positive results if your goal is to find new patients too, with respondents having a 15% greater chance of responding if the mail you send is oversized – even if they’ve never treated with you before.

Using direct mail postcards or campaigns to grow

You can use direct mail postcards or campaigns to entice former patients to return to your practice in a variety of ways. One is to send congratulatory cards or postcards on important days in their lives, such as their birthday or wedding anniversary.

The mere act of remembering these dates shows that you care. It also adds a personal touch beyond the standard “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Thanksgiving” cards that many businesses send out each year.

Another option is to send sympathy, get well, or “thinking of you” mailings when you hear of a former patient who is going through a difficult time. When people face major struggles such as the loss of a loved one or an unexpected medical diagnosis, it is easy for them to feel alone. Letting them know that you’re there helps relieve this emotion. It also opens the door for their return.

In some cases, former patients want to come back but need a little nudge before picking up the phone to call and make an appointment. Life has been busy, so they haven’t taken the time or they keep putting it off because other tasks are a bigger priority. Sending a postcard that offers a discounted rate for returning patients or some other enticing reward may be just what they need to push them into action.

Tips for increasing direct mail campaign effectiveness

There are also a few things you can do to help your direct mail postcards or campaign garner better results, such as personalizing your direct mail. Print mailings that clearly state your former patient’s name or handwrite something on the mailing to show that you took time out of your day to make the note more meaningful.

Also, be creative and strive to make your mailings memorable. A good example of this is a direct mailing sent by Google which one recipient called “undoubtedly a very impressive mailer” as it was a package in which everything was purposefully placed, highlighting the attention the company was willing to pay to offer a stellar experience.

In this case, Google sent the mailing with an offer of a free Chromebook to use when speaking with them about creating a customized marketing plan.

Not that you have to go to this extent when doing a direct mailing for your chiropractic practice, but it may inspire some ideas as to how to make your notes or packages stand out. Maybe you send select patients some tickets to a local sporting event or a gift card to an area restaurant.

The Google recipient brought up another good point, which is how the receipt of the package was immediately followed by an email (which was triggered once she signed for the package). This created a sort of one-two punch in which the mailing elevated her awareness of the company’s offerings, followed directly by an email that cemented them in place.

Compu-Mail affirms that this is an effective approach as 60% of marketers report that combining digital and direct mail increased their return on investment. You can do the same without investing a lot of time and money by creating a marketing campaign in which an email is sent a few days after a direct mailing. This enables you to get the most out of both marketing efforts.