Most practices pride themselves on the warm, friendly experience they give their patients.
You’ve probably trained your front desk staff to greet people by name and make small talk…
There’s a lovely atmosphere in your waiting room, with magazines to browse and people to chat to…
Maybe you offer your patients tea or cookies…
Your aesthetician walks them personally to the treatment room.
Those little touches add up, creating a bond between your client and your clinic. That warm and fuzzy feeling they get on your premises is critical to developing a loyal clientele who come back to you again and again.
But the safety measures you now have to implement make that a lot more difficult.
When you re-open, patients are going to have to be kept at an arm’s length.
Plenty of clinics are asking patients to wait in the car until you’re ready for them…
You may have eliminated your waiting room altogether, or if it’s big enough, marked out exactly where people can sit – far away from each other! (That doesn’t feel very warm, does it?)
Not only are patients no longer being offered complimentary candy, cookies or magazines, but they’re being reminded to sanitize their hands at every opportunity.
The patient experience is going from warm and intimate to cold(er) and clinical
They can’t even come through the doors without their temperature being taken!
And sadly, you might have had to reduce staffing levels, so there may not be anyone at your front desk who knows your patients or who can greet them personally.
If they’re there, they are going to be behind masks and even glass.
It’s a very different customer experience – going from warm and intimate to cold(er) and clinical.
So if you’re to maintain that bond with your patients, you need to compensate…
…And find new ways to build a sense of intimacy with your patients.
There are different ways to do that, but one of the easiest is to send your patient database a personal, authentic, meaningful email every week.
I’m not taking about the kinds of emails that most clinics send out, which are basically just graphics with offers attached. Those keep you top-of-mind and possibly bring in some sales…
…but they’re so generic and impersonal that they won’t build the closeness, familiarity and affection you need.
Write emails that show your patients empathy, understanding, care and support
I’m talking about emails written in your voice…
Sharing your authentic thoughts and experiences…
Offering enormous value to your patients…
Showing them empathy, understanding, care and support…
And getting them to engage with you so that it’s a dialogue, not a monologue.
(And yes, certainly selling to them as well – but instead of aggressive promotions, helping people see how your treatments can transform their lives. It’s actually much more effective!)
Don’t underestimate the power of this kind of communication….
“The responses from our patients are very heartfelt”
Take this email I received a couple of weeks ago from the owner of one of the clinics we work with, on the West Coast:
When was the last time you received a stream of “heartfelt” responses from your patients, in response to emails you sent them?
And what impact would it have on your clinic, during these hard times, to be able to nurture that kind of deep connection with your patient base?
If you’d like help writing those kinds of emails, drop me a line today.
We do this day in, day out for clinics all around the world – let’s discuss how we can help you, too.
Miriam Shaviv is creator of Inbox Express, the library of marketing emails for aesthetic clinics and med spas, designed to make your marketing effective and easy – and send the right messages to your patients as you re-open after Coronavirus! Find out more here.
She is Director of Content at Brainstorm Digital, which helps aesthetic clinics and med spas get patients through their doors again and again – without the headache of costly online advertising.
