Mastering Engaging Healthcare Email Subject Lines

You’ve written the best healthcare email/newsletter in the history of the healthcare industry. It’s informative, educational, and even a little bit witty. You just know that it is going to be an awesome way to connect with patients, educate them about wellness topics and preventive care, send appointment reminders, and customize it for their specific needs to keep that schedule full.

You shoot out the email marketing campaign, feeling a little giddy inside. As the week goes by, however, that feeling starts to sink. 9%? Seriously? You achieved an email open rate of a measly 9%?!? Your brilliant writing was seen by hardly anyone.

This is an extremely common scenario. Thousands upon thousands of great emails from healthcare professionals are lost to the world because no one ever sees them. Why? Your subject line and email content.

How can you write well-crafted subject lines that people actually open?

Rule #1: Keep It Simple.

We all want to be clever. But the truth is that your subject line doesn’t always have to be. Curiosity doesn’t open emails. A clever, creative subject line does not necessarily mean anything. Instead, keep your subject line straightforward. Let people know what they should expect from your email.

As a topic that has been studied multiple times, experts have discovered this: a subject line should be just that- a subject line. Just a basic summary of your email’s subject. I know. That’s lame. Boring. But still true. So, keep it simple.

Rule #2: Avoid the Spam Folder:

We’ve all experienced it. Your totally legit email gets sent straight to spam, never to see the light of day. How do you avoid such a trap? Start by staying away from ALL CAPS and lots of !!!!!!! There are also some words that frequently trigger the spam filter. Try to avoid these words (and words like these) at all costs:

100% (or any % over 100)
Opportunity
Free
Act Now
$$$

Rule #3: Go Short and Sweet.

Studies have shown that short email subject lines have much higher open rates than longer ones. For this reason, try to have a subject line with less than 50 characters. When trying to cut back a long subject line, look for any extra words that you can cut (they’re nearly always there!).

Rule #4: Try some A/B testing.

You should always A/B test subject lines wherever possible. Send the same email out but with two different subject lines. You will quickly see what types of subject lines your audience responds to, pay attention to the metrics, and continue tweaking from there.

Rule #5: Personalize.

Many patient batch messaging solutions today allow you to send group emails while still personalizing the subject line for your target audience. Putting a patient’s name into the subject line significantly increases the chance that they will open the email.

Need some help? Here are a few subject line examples to get those juices flowing: