Healthcare Direct Mail Marketing: Best Practices for Medical Mailing Services

The total healthcare expenditure in the US is more than $4.1 trillion. This figure is expected to rise to $6.2 trillion by the end of 2028. As a result, the US healthcare industry is flourishing and making a significant contribution to the US economy.

Hence, not surprisingly, the healthcare direct mail industry is also booming as more people understand the importance of offline mailing.

Today, you can employ medical mailing services and start a campaign using solution providers like PostGrid. Such services help you communicate with your existing and prospective patients on a one-to-one level.

Before we get into it, let’s see which types of businesses can benefit from medical direct mail:

• Nursing homes
• Healthcare plans
• Maternity clinics
• Rehabilitation facilities
• Home care businesses
• Urgent care centers
• Drugstores
• Testing and diagnostic centers, etc.

If you own or run one of these businesses, you probably wonder about the best way to market your company. Though there are several digital marketing options, direct mail is your best and most effective option.

Direct mail marketing for Healthcare allows people to take a break from social media and other online channels and connect with your business personally. In addition, it is a tangible and physical reminder that they can always avail themselves of medical services when they need them.

You can communicate about your services with your prospective patients and tell them how to connect with you. Today, patients have plenty of healthcare options, and you can persuade them to choose you by sending mail.

Here, we will discuss the best mail healthcare practices to help you improve your ROI even more.

Businesses, charities and nonprofits, political campaigns, and other organizations utilize and consider direct mail marketing as a form of direct marketing. Direct Mail includes countless marketing materials, like

• Letters
• Brochures
• Flyers
• Postcards
• Newsletters, and more.

….Oookay- Thank you, Google, that was quite helpful. But, why is direct mail marketing important for the healthcare industry?

Well, direct mail marketing is a strategy used by several healthcare marketers to connect with prospects and customers. A printed mailing can be in many different forms, from simple postcards to heavy or high-dimensional packages to corporate swag, and a lot more.

 As a whole, Direct Mail Marketing is a great way to connect meaningfully with prospects, leads, clients, and stakeholders.

Now that you know what direct mail is, let us now look at some of the statistics of the same:

Figures & Facts Related to Direct Mail

• The volume for First-Class Mail was around 52.6 Billion pieces in the year 2020
• The marketing mail volume in 2020 was 64.1 Billion pieces
• Approximately 1.5 million new delivery points were added to the USPS network in 2020, adding to its current network of 161.4 million
• Revenue for the printing industry is expected to reach $78.9 billion in 2022, increasing by 1.6%

Adding a few more:

• Around 77% of customers like sorting through their direct mail as soon as they receive it. 
• According to CompuMail, Up to 90% of direct mail is opened
• A study from Fundera highlights that 70% of customers feel that physical mail pieces are more personal when compared to digital interactions
• Around 75% of millennials like receiving direct mail because it makes them feel special
• Direct mail is used by 89% of professionals in the financial and health insurance sector

Snail Mail? Isn’t digital marketing more result-oriented and applicable in the year 2021?

Now, that is a valid question.

Is direct mail a deserving opponent for digital marketing in the world today?

Marketers have questioned whether mass emails are a better marketing strategy since bulk emails were first introduced to customers. Many people anticipated that Direct Mail Marketing would eventually disappear due to the convenience and speed of Digital Marketing.

While one can argue that direct mail marketing or digital marketing which one is more effective, digital marketing is simply accessible. Customers today continuously use their smartphones and are somehow logged in and connected more than before. As a result, customers spend six to seven hours a day alone.

Heck! Yes… Most of us tend to check our smartphones even before getting out of our beds in the morning.

Given this, marketers in the healthcare industry have pushed a huge surge in Digital Marketing and online efforts to expand outreach. However, this profuse amount of online content increased in digital to dominate the patience, customers, and stakeholders. 

More than three-quarters of consumers report feeling overwhelmed by email advertising. In a survey conducted in 2020, 47% of Americans said they used ad blocking software on their computer; 29% said they were using it on their smartphone. In essence, Americans despise junk mail. The constant streaming of digital ads through email overwhelms them, fills up our inboxes, and they wish to be free from it.

Currently, healthcare marketers find themselves in fierce competition to grab the attention of their prospective and loyal customers. Today, it is more difficult than ever to attract customers, much less earn their trust and loyalty. Many smart healthcare marketers are now responding to this dilemma by sending their messages directly to the mailbox, where they can be heard. 

While digital marketing is all about the rage and will not be going anywhere soon- this makes direct mail even more appealing when talking about customers and patients.  Here are a few points to ponder:

• Direct mail gets opened 80-90% of the time, while advertising emails only get opened 20%-30% of the time, on a good day
• 70% of Americans say they feel more personal when they receive physical mail rather than emails
• Only 33% of advertising emails are opened and accessed by the customers; 66% of Direct Mail is opened and read
• There is strong evidence that Direct Mail leaves a high emotional impact on Digital Marketing, leading to a stronger recall of the message
• Direct Mail pieces have a response rate of 3.7%. Mobile is at 1.9%, email is at 1%, social media is at 1%, and internet displays are at .02%

We have already established that direct mail can help you achieve excellent results. But, it can be complicated and hectic to conduct direct mail campaigns. The entire process requires a lot of manual effort, time, and investment from your end. 

If you face similar issues, try using PostGrid’s healthcare marketing mailing services. They can assist you in launching successful campaigns efficiently and affordably. 

Below is the topmost direct mail for healthcare practices that you can implement with the help of PostGrid:

Showcase Your Expertise With Helpful Content

One of the best direct mail practices is to offer valuable content that your prospective patients might be interested in. Here are a few ideas that you may use as a reference for your mail healthcare campaigns:

• Tips to have a healthy lifestyle
• What to do if you get diabetes?
• Which exercises help the most in breathing control?
• Misconceptions about specific conditions
• Best home remedies for acne and other skin problems
• Clinical research reports, etc.

These are only a few examples of how you can excite your target audience around topics related to healthcare. Also, try sharing diagnosis and treatment stories that motivate thousands of other patients. 

The key concept is to share your knowledge using healthcare direct marketing mailers with your audience. You can print everything on your mailers or add links to your online blogs. 

Choose Appealing Direct Mail Formats

There are several types of direct secure mail healthcare formats that you can select for your marketing campaigns. You can choose a format that best suits your requirements and complements your messaging.

Remember, many people receive white envelopes regularly, so try using some unique designs and colors to spark interest among them. 

For example, you can mail embossed envelopes or add compelling texts on the outside to convince people to read your letter. 

Healthcare direct marketing mailers do not need to be plain and boring. Also, you can opt for other formats like postcards and flyers. Postcards are concise, personal, and cost-effective; they help you strengthen patient-company relationships. Flyers are also very affordable as compared to letters and can boost results.

However, sometimes, you may need to send notices, patient billing statements, Explanation of Benefits (EOB), etc. In such cases, you can select engaging templates offered by PostGrid’s medical mailing services to make your letters compelling.

Use Direct Mail For Healthcare Appointment Reminders

Hospitals, dental clinics, testing centers, etc., can send out appointment reminders to their patients from time to time. It ensures that they have a smooth flow of incoming patients and get enough repeat business. 

You don’t need to develop a creative reason to contact your existing patients constantly. However, sending appointment reminders as healthcare direct mail helps you stay connected with your patients and avoid losing them to your competitors. 

Also read: Dental Direct Mail. 

Stay Updated on Important Dates

Several industries target specific seasons and festivals to reach their audience; healthcare organizations can do the same. 

Use direct mail and healthcare marketing campaigns to contact your prospects right before their Flexible Savings Accounts expires at the end of the year. Usually, the funds in such accounts are supposed to be spent by the year on healthcare plans, medical equipment, etc. 

There’s another time when you can create urgency among people, like the end of annual enrollment periods for health insurance. 

During such phases, patients are actively looking to spend on medical services. Therefore, it is the perfect opportunity for you to talk to your prospects personally and encourage them to choose your brand. Perhaps, healthcare direct mail marketing programs can help you get there!

Help Patients Locate Your Business

Some businesses do not have a Google My Business (GMB) page and leave their customers searching for their addresses. It is one of the quickest ways to lose customers and negatively impact your conversion ratios. Thus, you must consider creating a GMB account and making it easy for customers to locate you. 

As a healthcare provider, you can use medical direct mail to promote your location and other contact details. For example, try adding a Google Maps link on every healthcare direct mailer so that patients can follow the map and reach you easily. 

Conduct Demographics-Centered Campaigns

It is no longer profitable to conduct generic campaigns. Instead, try using healthcare mailing services and targeting patients based on demographics, like age, gender, lifestyle habits, choices, health conditions, etc. 

PostGrid’s direct mail services can help you build targeted healthcare mailing lists containing correct, deliverable addresses. 

Employ Direct Mail Healthcare Marketing to Win Patients’ Confidence

Most people are sketchy about seeing a doctor, especially when they suspect there’s something not right with them. There is a subtle fear among patients that prevents them from vocalizing their health problems. But, healthcare organizations can help remove this fear by communicating with patients regularly. 

You can send weekly or monthly mail items to patients normalizing talking about health issues and finding solutions. This way, you can win over their trust and generate high healthcare direct mail response rates. 

Customize Your Copy and Imagery

90% of the details processed by a human brain are visual. Though direct mail is already eye-catching and impressive, images can further enhance its appeal. Try adding images that resonate with your message and communicate your offer in the best way possible. 

Also, please pay attention to your medical direct mail copy as it can make a massive difference to your results. A compelling headline written in big, bold letters on the top can turn more heads than a simple line written in plain text. 

Divide your message into smaller segments that are easy to read and remember. For example, you may add bullet points, graphs, and illustrations to help readers understand what your healthcare direct mailer is about.

You can use PostGrid’s medical mailing services to design, print, and mail your items altogether if you want to skip the legwork. Plus, PostGrid helps you conduct A/B testing that enables you to understand which direct mail variation works best for your business. 

Include Patient Testimonials and Reviews

Did you know that 84% of patients rely on online reviews to select a physician? Hence, it is evident that patient reviews are very crucial in boosting appointment ratios. You can start by asking your existing, long-term patients to leave their feedback on your website. 

Try adding such reviews to your mail healthcare marketing items to increase patient loyalty and trust. Or, you can record videos of your patients and post them online on your social media pages. Then, add a link to these videos in your direct mail for healthcare to combine your offline and online efforts. 

Send Thank You Postcards

Though there is no after-sales service concept in the healthcare industry, you can try doing that for your patients. Write thank-you healthcare direct mail postcards with a genuine signature and send them to patients after their appointments. It offers a solid personal feel to your communications and leaves long-lasting impressions on patients.

Direct mail has long been used by healthcare industries to educate physicians, patients, and customers about the merits of their services or products. For something as vital as healthcare information, direct mail and print media, in general, have been excellent ways to drive engagement and deliver all the crucial details about their new services or products.

Below are a few reasons why healthcare marketers rely on customer mail more than any other form of communication:

1. Effective Across Ages

A direct mail campaign is effective for and liked more by the older, less tech-savvy generation. However, It is worth noting that even the younger generations also receive physical mail pieces- didn’t know that?!!- Well, now you know that!

According to a report by the USPS, around 88 percent of millennials like reading direct mail, 65%and  pay utmost attention to the advertisements via direct mail. And, 59 percent say that the information they receive through direct mail is more valuable than email.

It is essential to keep in mind that one-third of the millennials like using a digital ad blocker. Now, this reduces your chance to attract this generation by 33 percent. Getting in touch with doctors online is also becoming difficult. 

A study published by Manhattan Research found that 40% of healthcare experts unsubscribe from emails, and 90% opt to use ad blockers. Additionally, direct mail provides an effective physical touchpoint when online engagement is not possible.

2. It Adds Physical Pain Points

In 2020, healthcare companies were pushed to realign their strategies to boost sales without any face-to-face interaction with industry experts. Since then, healthcare direct mail communications are one of the few touchpoints available and companies began to rely more heavily on this performance-based marketing channel and reap the benefits.

3. Direct Mail Helps to Stay in Power

It creates the possibility for a more lasting impression when a physical item is read right away or reviewed at a later date. As an email is viewed quickly and disappears into the inbox. On the other hand, a physical mail item can be pinned to a refrigerator, bulletin board, or kept on a kitchen counter until it is required again. 

In addition to boosting top-of-mind awareness, “staying power” encourages patients to ask their physicians about your brand or product. Because they are already aware of the products and their benefits or simply their existence.

4. You can Personalize It For Better Impact

With digital printing and technology, physical mail items can be customized based on the information and target audience, such as age, location, clinical setting, previous interaction with your company, etc.

As a result, every individual receives a relevant message more likely to evoke a response and be recognized, making a more targeted yet effective brand experience.

5. Action-Driven Triggered Mail

An additional way to further personalize direct mail is to use trigger mail as a strategy, which leverages the timing and relevance of a campaign to drive response. Trigger mailings are sent when a physician or consumer takes a specific action or exhibits certain behavior. It may include aspects like passing some time or requesting more information.

These can be integrated with various digital marketing efforts or the CRM systems of the company. For example, sales-related follow-ups to meetings with medics. The most beneficial aspect of triggered mail is that you can measure, alter, and enhance to drive high outcomes.

Choosing to partner with a print and mail agency does a lot more than just avoiding costly issues. By integrating or using print-mail API, you can add to the growth of your business and improve patient communication. In addition, enhanced data protection and services help you to avail the following benefits:

• High Savings: A high-volume communication campaign requires expensive printing and mailing equipment. So, by outsourcing print and mailing services, you can save on equipment and technology costs, along with maintenance and operation costs.
• Quality & Efficiency: You can trust a print and mail partner to provide the best output for your customer communications. The credit here goes to the latest technology, equipment, and expertise. With advanced technology, Restful API,  and resources, critical messages will be delivered faster and on time. Ultimately, this enhances your business communication process by boosting its overall efficiency. 
• Access to Latest Technology: The outsourcing partner is more likely to help you with updated equipment, technology, and innovation because it is their business. It allows you to have the best print and mail APIs, tech, and resources in just a few clicks. 
• Disaster Recovery & Backup: Working with a print and mail service provider reduces the risks of data loss and project downtimes caused by unforeseen disasters. It is ideal to choose an outsourcing partner having secure facilities along with a solid disaster recovery plan. 
• A Sense of Transparency: Outsourcing may seem like releasing control, but you have more control over customer communication when you work with one. You will gain the resources to increase customer engagement by creating high-quality printouts and low-cost postal rates. You can also track workflows and mailpieces to get an insight into how each job is completed.
• Accounting & Reporting: Your outsourcing partner not only helps you with the best prices for all your mailing requirements but also ensures compliance and regulations. Precise accounting and reporting will provide auditable proof that all your print & mail jobs are finished.

If you have decided to outsource print and mail but do not know what to expect from your partner? Below are the steps that you are most likely to encounter along the way:

• Onboarding: Once you have selected a print & mail outsourcer partner to work with, you are likely to be assigned with a dedicated account manager for onboarding and related processes. Your account manager will help you with various print & mail processes. One such role and responsibility is to introduce you to a conversion team for your specific customer mailing and communications requirements.
• Conversion: An organized and well-planned conversion process will ensure a seamless and painless conversion of your print and mail processes. All you need is a service provider with expertise in securely transitioning sensitive data and creating the print and mail output for the best outcomes.
• Data Mapping: A comprehensive data mapping guarantees you authenticity, which means that your customers will not receive any inaccurate messaging or information. Umm… Yes, it gets crucial when dealing with super-sensitive data like personal details, account numbers, etc. Also, it should include the details of the technical experts and data providers of your company. 
• Documents Layouts: With a print & mail outsourcing partner, document redesign will likely be part of your conversion process. It is to upgrade current document layouts to improve customer engagement. You will also have access to design libraries to choose from to speed up the development process.

Choosing the right team will make the onboarding and conversion process quick and hassle-free. While the process of every company will differ in terms of ease and length, partnering with them will make it seamless. 

PostGrid will take in all your data to check its authenticity for print and mail or delivery. We have worked with industry leaders who are well-versed in the conversion process. And, we have worked with clients who are highly dependent on us for establishing their business communications. 

At PostGrid, we believe that the smoothest conversions occur when there is a collaborative bond between customers and their Print & Mail Outsourcing partners. We help save your time and money so that you can grow through business communications. Be it print & mail API to the address validation & accuracy, we are always at your back to help you from start to finish. Here’s what we offer:

• Confirm & protect your patient identity for HIPAA requirements
• Process distribution of prescription medicines by sharing the details through direct mail items
• Customer onboarding and flexibility to register patients remotely
• Reduce the risk of wrong transfer, release, or updating of medical records
• Leading-edge and high-quality print & mail communications
• Trusted by more than 245 partners nationwide
• Dedicated quality control
• Triggered mail with workflow tracking and management system
• SOC 2 certified and HIPAA compliant

We specialize in creating, managing, and mailing customized direct mailers for healthcare corporations to showcase their trustworthiness by helping them highlight aspects that make them different from others.

With years of expertise in providing healthcare direct mail automation, we ensure that your every campaign is well-established and result-oriented.

Leave a lasting impression and boost your organization’s reputation with high-quality graphic design and informative content in your mailers and PostGrid. A few of our features include:

• Automating & Sending Documents in a reliable, secure, confidential, and timely manner
• The ease of integration with any CRM and automation tool
• Enterprise Level Security, Secure Logs & Compliant Partnership
• Personalized messaging
• … And a lot more

PostGrid’s direct mail API has several more features to fuel your campaigns, apart from printing and mailing your marketing items. We have listed some of them below:

HIPAA Compliant Print and Mail

PostGrid’s direct mail healthcare marketing solutions are HIPAA compliant, prioritizing data confidentiality and security. 

You don’t need to worry about breaching any laws while sending medical correspondence in the form of patient bills, lab invoices, Explanation of Coverage (EOC), etc. PostGrid helps you remain compliant and mail without any potential issues.

Click here to view the complete guide to sending HIPAA-compliant direct mail. 

2-Business Day SLA

Sometimes, you may need to urgently send patient statements, test reports, and other similar medical documents. In such cases, PostGrid can help you out as it helps you draft and print items in only two working days. 

Healthcare Direct Mail Campaign Insights

Launching a campaign requires a tremendous amount of time and effort, making it even more significant to know the results. PostGrid helps you access periodic reports and analytics, which you can use to improve your upcoming mail healthcare campaigns accordingly. 

Print and Mail Fulfillment

Our direct mail services ensure that your items are printed in high-quality and reach their destination on time. All you have to do is integrate our API into your CRM and make a few clicks to launch an effective healthcare direct mail marketing campaign.

You may also be interested in PostGrid and HubSpot. 

Some of our other benefits include:

• Per-piece tracking
• Dedicated support
• Hassle-free signup and payments
• Bulk mailing
• Address validation
• Unified API operations, etc.

If you are interested in improving your ROI by conducting effective medical direct mail programs, request a demo now!

To help you better understand direct mail for healthcare, we listed together with some common questions we get asked fairly regularly. We will do our best to help you if you have a question that you can not find an answer to!

What Services Do you Offer?

At PostGrid, we offer a top-to-tail service for all your print & mail needs. Here, we mean that our services include:

• Mail sorting data
• Access to postal discounts & incentives
• Data services
• Data acquisition
• Free data health check
• Partially addressed mail
• Print & Mail 
• Artwork design
• Print and mailing review
• Digital Printing
• Personalized Printing
• Web to print portals
• Print management
• Mail Fulfillment
• Return Handling
• Multi-Channel Marketing

Is everything related to Print & mail done in-house? 

Yes, we always strive to keep everything in-house where possible. We also understand that there are times when we need to outsource parts due to time constraints, for example, our partnerships with the global printing networks. Additionally., To ensure consistently high quality throughout every aspect of the project, we only partner with reputable, tried, and tested partners.

Do you invest in the latest innovation & technology?

We do so throughout the whole company.

Our global printing partners keep upgrading them by investing in the latest innovations and technology to stand up to your printing standards. 

Talking about PostGrid- With more enclosing machines, training, and staff, we have increased our ability to meet quick turnarounds in the future. 

You will get a complete direct mail solution at PostGrid. Additionally, we provide an FSC-certified paper as an eco-friendly alternative to poly wrap.

Why use PostGrid for Healthcare Direct Mail Automation?

The power of direct mail is undeniable. Below are a few reasons why you should integrate PostGrid for healthcare direct mail automation. Here’s why:

•  Direct Mail automation is a useful tool for businesses that want to stand out when compared to online marketing
•  A strategically created direct mail can be a great way to reach your customers
• A large impact is more likely to be remembered and seen by many people
•  Your customers will perceive your business as more credible, valuable, and trustworthy if you use our print & mail API
• Increases & boosts brand awareness

Can I mail some of my letters or postcards and have the rest shipped to me?

Yes. We can mail the letters or postcards you would like to your targeted list and ship the rest of them directly to you. All you need to do is enter a valid mailing address when creating a campaign using PostGrid, or you can even ask your team where you want the mail items to be shipped. And our professionals can stagger the same by sending out portions or bulk of them at different times.

What all Items Can I Send using PostGrid?

With PostGrid you can send countless industry or customer-centric items to your employees, stakeholders, customers, and more. They are:

• Patient letters and notices 
• Hospital and lab invoice
• Appointment reminders 
• Medical statement inserts 
• Patient or physician mailers
• And more