How to Choose an Email Campaign Platform for Cash Based PT Clinics

Like so many things in business, choosing an email campaign platform can be confusing and overwhelming. And, like so many things, the “best” platform depends on what you want it to do, how you like to do your work, and who makes up your audience.

Regardless of your platforms there are a few things we want you to hear loud and clear;

📢 Your patient/client list and marketing email list are NOT THE SAME.

📢 You should ABSOLUTELY have a marketing email list.

Okay, now on to some features/definitions that you may (or may not) know the meaning of, but you should if you are going to create a successful email campaign.

✉️ Email campaign-An email campaign is a series of emails that you send out, hopefully in an automated fashion. This can be to;

everyone at one time (like a monthly newsletter),

or a series of emails one person gets after signing up (like at the start of a sales funnel when they download a PDF from your website or workshop)

or a series of emails to a specific group of people (like past clients who haven’t been into the clinic in 3 months and who have ALSO SIGNED UP FOR YOUR MARKETING EMAIL LIST 😉)

If you are going to create email marketing campaigns, we recommend you separate it from your work email (ie don’t just schedule send emails from your Google Workspace). It is important people in your email marketing campaigns always have the option to UNSUBSCRIBE…and it can get cluttered and messy to be dealing with that in your regular email account.

Here’s where an email campaign platform comes into play.

✉️ Email Platform- An email platform is software that helps companies organize, create, and track email marketing campaigns to their MARKETING LIST. (NOT your patient list). There are loads, but think of companies like MailChimp, MailerLite, and Convertkit.

Cool. How do I know what features I need?

It depends on what you want to do. Perhaps you are just dipping your toe in the water and want to start with a monthly newsletter. Great! But anytime you make a business decision, take just a minute to think about your growth plan.

Here are a few automation features to understand before you get started:

1️⃣ Automated email sequences- These are automated emails (ie pre-written) that follow a series of rules. For example, email one gets sent asking someone to book an appointment using a call now button. Then another email gets sent 7 days later asking them again if they would like to book an appointment. But if someone used the call now button from the first email to book an appointment, you definitely don’t want them to get the second email! Soo…

2️⃣ Journey points/triggers/automation steps: Different platforms may have slightly different names, but this is what makes the automation start/stop/or change direction. If someone has clicked “yes” to buy/book/download, you want to make sure they don’t get any more emails asking them to buy/book/download.

3️⃣ Audiences/tags: In order to get the most out of automated email campaigns and provide the best experience for your clients, you need to be able to separate people into groups. (And for most cash based clinics, I don’t mean diagnosis groups. Your pool of people is probably too small to make diagnosis groups a good use of your time). Think of it more like, people who have never been seen in the clinic, people who you saw and you want to see again, and ONE very specific diagnosis/treatment group that is directly related to a sales funnel you have created (like 3 Things you can do to help your jaw pain).

🚨 Limiting the number of audiences often changes the price for email platforms. We recommend having the ability to have at least 3 audiences.

4️⃣ Multiple automation triggers: This gets a little more into the nitty gritty, but this means there are multiple ways for people to start the email sequence. For example, the email sequence could start with someone filling out an online form, being added to an audience manually, or clicking a button inside an email.

🚨 Limiting the number of automation triggers often changes the price for email platforms. However, if you are brand new to email sequences, chances are you are going to keep it simple, so this one feels less important. You can almost always upgrade your plan once you get the hang of it.

5️⃣ Monthly email sends/contacts: Make sure to check both and think about how you are using email automation. Usually for cash PT clinics, our email list isn’t huge…let’s say 100. But if the platform limits you to 1,000 sends, that means only 100 emails per month. That may sound like a lot (and maybe it’s enough for you) but if you have 5 emails in a sequence, now your list of 100 can only be put into an email sequence twice in one month.

🚨 Do the math for your situation. Different email platforms handle overuse differently. Some might require you upgrade, and some might charge you an extra fee.

6️⃣ Paying to remove the branding: Technically this is not automation, but I just think it’s tacky. If you own and run a cash based PT clinic, please don’t use a plan that has the email platform logo/branding on it. It looks really unprofessional.

7️⃣ Chat support: Again, not really an automation feature, just a personal preference. But chances are at some point you are going to have questions. Your time is valuable. In general, I usually think it’s a good use of money to access a plan with 24/7 chat support so when you are working on these campaigns and have a “quick question” you don’t have to spend hours scouring the internet for the answer.

We hope this information brings you more clarity rather than anxiety!

If you feel excited and are someone who learns by doing, I encourage you to sign-up for the free trials of Mail Chimp, MailerLite, and Convertkit and play around before deciding which paid subscription to settle on. We have no affiliation with any of these, they are just pretty common platforms that have a reputation of being user friendly.

If you feel completely anxious, but know you want to start learning more about marketing, messaging, and email automation as it pertains to cash based physical therapy clinics, reach out to us! Email drdawson@ptmomboss.com or click here to book a free phone consultation to talk about your unique business needs!

But no matter how you are feeling, always remember this quote from one of the kings of automation, Greg Jenkins from Monkeypod and Keap;

“Prioritize what is necessary over what is possible. Sound simplicity beats sexy complexity.”