With so many different channels to engage customers in order to build new relationships and strengthen existing ones, including a myriad of digital methods, it can be difficult to figure out where to focus an organization’s efforts. There are a few tried and true methods though that should not be forgotten amidst all the new technologies and media. Newsletters, both print and digital, are a well-known way to engage customers. But in many industries they have been virtually swallowed up by other forms of communication such as email, blogs, social media pages and other digital mediums. Digital newsletters however, continue to be highly effective for certain industries, particularly for the healthcare and insurance industries with an open rate of 32.2% and 43.7% respectively according to MailChimp, a leading email service provider.
The Benefits of Personalized Newsletters
The idea of digital personalized newsletters may be generally associated with the advertising and marketing days of the past, but there are many ways to reinvent this medium to benefit healthcare and insurance providers as they engage the demand generation consumers. The consumer’s appetite for relevant and real-time health information is insatiable as proven by searches for health information on Google. This “old” idea can be reinvented in many new and engaging ways to deliver personalized, relevant health content. Just think about some of the current advantages personalized newsletter can provide:
- Can position your organization as a trusted advisor and dispenser of dynamic, one-of-a-kind personalized health information offering transparency to your knowledge bases
- Has the potential to show customers that an organization cares about their customers and has the customer’s best interests at heart
- Helps build trust with customers by maintaining a top-of-mind presence
- Helps to remind customers of the positive value an organization can bring to them
Why Personalized Newsletters are Ideal for Healthcare Members in 2014
Digital personalized newsletters compared to their printed counterpart are particularly appropriate for healthcare and insurance payers in 2014. The digital communication piece offers an ideal way to build relationships and engagement with healthcare customers regardless of changes in the landscape of the industry. Healthcare payers have a great deal of incredibly useful health-related data that they can use to create personalized newsletters to form a deeper relationship with each individual. Here are just a few of the ways healthcare payers might use this format to engage with their customers:
- Include personal health tips specific to the needs of that customer
- Provide healthy recipes based on that customer’s health information
- Create different informative health-related articles based on the different segments of the healthcare market
- Utilize graphics and other custom touches based on demographics, ethnicity, and other factors
- Include upcoming appointment reminders to healthcare customers in their newsletters, along with click-to-call functionality connecting the customer with their physician
- Remind customers of their health benefits when entering into a health event, such as pregnancy as well as special programs to keep you healthy during that time
The Importance of Segmentation and Personalization of Newsletters
The fact of the matter is that there are few promotional tools that can do as much to promote a brand for as little money as newsletters. There is a world of ways to reinvent the medium for very modern results. Health food stores and other businesses in niche markets understand how important newsletters can be in building and maintaining personalized relationships with their customers, and the same can be said for healthcare. The key is segmentation, personalization and relevancy. When talking about personalization, we are not referring to only changing the recipient’s name, but including specific health-related information that pertains to each customer individually. No two newsletters are the same. Sending the same newsletter to every healthcare customer would be highly impersonal and for most it would be useless. By changing the format with relevant content based on the needs of the specific customer, healthcare payers can truly personalize and build their relationships with customers like never before. This entail would provide a great deal of value by improving public perception and implementing a personal presence in the lives of healthcare members.
In case you’re still not convinced, consider a few more of the possibilities of personalized newsletters to engage your healthcare members:
- They allow an organization to market new services and products immediately to those who would be most interested in them
- They allow an organization to describe the benefits of their programs in a detailed manner, considering the needs of each target audience
- They allow an organization to reemphasize the value of their services in a friendly, conversational format
- Newsletters may be the only comprehensive opportunity for positive interaction between the customer and the organization
- They allow the customer to obtain health information and reminders because no one has the time to sift through Google and customers can’t remember all the do’s and don’ts in their busy world
Many experts agree that personalized newsletters are going to be a strong and effective tool to engage healthcare customers in 2014. As long as healthcare payers remember to personalize with relevant content, there are many contemporary possibilities.