Best Ways to Rev Up Your Email Response Rates

Ask the Expert, with Jay Schwedelson, founder of SubjectLine.com and CEO of Outcome Media

// By Jane Weber Brubaker //

Small tweaks to your email campaigns can add up to big gains.

Email has been around longer than most other forms of digital media. “Every company on the planet does it, but it’s sometimes a forgotten channel,” says email expert Jay Schwedelson. Email marketing has a lot of benefits, as we’ll see, but are healthcare marketers making the most of it? It doesn’t take a major overhaul of your strategy to make a difference. Here’s our Q&A with Schwedelson, with tips that can help you quickly earn bragging rights for improving your results, even if you’re wearing multiple hats and have limited time.

eHST: How does email compare to social media marketing, paid search, and other forms of online advertising?

Jay Schwedelson, founder of SubjectLine.com and CEO of Outcome Media

JS: You know, people always talk about email being dead or legacy, but it is not only in a renaissance, it’s being used more than ever, for several reasons.

One, it’s very responsive. Two, it’s expensive to run display ads online or to do paid search or social media campaigns. With email, there’s not much cost to sending out more email when budgets get tighter in difficult economies.

Another reason I think it is growing in importance is that you have the cookie disappearing, which makes targeting more difficult for online campaigns, and email becomes more attractive.

And then there’s the idea of owned vs. rented space. When you put social media posts up, you are restricted by whatever the algorithms do with your post, and that’s what I would consider rented space. Email is owned space. You decide, I want this email going out to this population of people at this time — you’re in control. This makes email a unique channel for marketers.

eHST: Where would you say healthcare is on the continuum of email expertise?

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