Pets may not read emails—but you bet their human owners can, making emails a potential marketing channel for getting more customers for your vet clinic. If you’re new to email marketing, check out this veterinary email marketing guide we’ve compiled to help you get your email efforts off the ground.
In this guide, you’ll also find examples of other vet clinics putting these tips into action for themselves. Because if your competitors can execute such email tactics, so can you!
1. Offer an incentive for users to join your email list
Of all the veterinary marketing ideas out there for growing your email list, don’t skip this one.
That’s because unless customers really love your vet clinic and are dying to stay in touch with your latest news and happenings, you’ll most likely need to incentivize them to subscribe.
The solution is to dangle a small freebie that your customers value, so they’ll sign up to get it—and join your email list at the same time.
This freebie is officially known as a “lead magnet” in email marketing terminology. In the context of marketing a vet clinic, examples of lead magnets you could offer include:
- A one-page summary of parrot feeding guidelines
- A short video tutorial teaching cat owners how to groom their cat
- A checklist of annual health appointments for dogs
You could even offer discounts on vet visits, like what Valley Glen Veterinary Hospital has done here:
2. Use an attractive email template
A well-designed email template will go a long way in communicating your business’ professionalism, and entice your subscribers to continue reading.
That’s why we really like this email sent by Pawp. Its email template is sleek and gorgeous, and makes us want to keep scrolling!
Don’t worry if you aren’t a graphic design expert, because you won’t have to design your emails from scratch. PosterMyWall offers a wide variety of email templates for business—all you have to do is pick your favorite, then customize it in a user-friendly design editor.
Here are some email templates you can use to create an email campaign!
Learn more about sending beautiful emails with PosterMyWall here.
3. Include discount coupons in your emails
Getting a customer to subscribe to your email list is a good start, but effective marketing for veterinary practices involves more than that. You’ll need to regularly send them emails they’ll be interested in, too.
Otherwise, they might unsubscribe and you’ll have lost one channel for marketing to them.
There are various methods of providing value in your emails, such as including helpful content on pet care. But one of our favorite techniques is to include discount coupons and codes in your emails.
For example, this email by Banfield Pet Hospital gives subscribers $15 off almost any service they bring their pet in for during their next visit.
This tip works because people love paying less for a product or service whenever they can help it. Occasionally hand out these discount coupons in your emails, and some customers will stay subscribed just so they can snag one for their pet’s next visit to your clinic!
(We say “occasionally,” because you can’t always be discounting your services. That’ll only cheapen them and make customers less willing to pay full price.)
4. Highlight the benefits of being a customer of your vet clinic
When you get a new subscriber, this is your opportunity to pitch your services and persuade them to patronize your clinic. So of all the vet clinics they could visit, why should they take their beloved fur baby to yours?
Examples of benefits to highlight include:
- Your staff’s expertise
- The affordable price points of your services
- Exclusive offers and packages that customers may not find elsewhere, such as complimentary deworming during their pets’ vaccination appointments
- The comfortable and stress-free experience your pet will enjoy while under your care
For instance, take a look at how this email by Small Door Veterinary neatly lays out the perks that its customers (and their furry friends) enjoy:
Apart from sprinkling your pitches throughout your emails, we’d also strongly recommend adding them to your welcome emails.
Being sent soon after a person subscribes, these emails introduce the subscriber to your brand—making them a great place for sharing more about your vet clinic’s services.
5. Promote your referral program
One last tip to round off our guide to veterinary hospital marketing ideas!
If you have a referral program, promote it in your emails too. Satisfied customers who learn about your referral program may be more than happy to tell fellow pet owners about your vet clinic in exchange for a reward.
Then if the referral is successful, you’ll gain a new customer. (Who may then also go on to refer their friends, bringing even more customers to your clinic. And so on, and so forth…!)
In this email, we have Drake Center publicizing its referral program to its subscribers:
To encourage more referrals, state the rewards subscribers can receive if they send new customers your way!
It’s just like what we said above about lead magnets: you need to incentivize people into taking action.
Successful vet email marketing starts here
As you undertake veterinary email marketing, don’t feel discouraged if your email list contains only a handful of subscribers. What’s more important than your email list size is your emails’ ability to turn subscribers into paying customers.
We’ve shortlisted tips #2 to #5 above for their effectiveness in compelling subscribers to patronize your clinic and recommending their friends to do the same. Execute them well and you could experience an increase in business sooner than you expect!
Then all you have to do is to use tip #1 to get more subscribers to join your email list, and you’ll have a nice marketing channel for bringing in more customers on autopilot.For more tips and resources like these for improving your email marketing, be sure to check out our Gradient blog!
