Email marketing is perhaps the most tried and true digital marketing method. Email is not just about acquiring customers, but it is about continually interacting with them and building and nurturing relationships with both potential clients and current clients alike. For massage therapy businesses, which rely on a regular flow of recurring clients, it is important to be both competitive and sustainable with their marketing efforts.
When learning how to start a massage therapy business, email marketing is an important part of your marketing toolkit that is not to be overlooked. For one, email is a lot more effective than social media in reaching the clients that you want it to reach. In fact, it is estimated that the open rate for a welcome email for a typical small business is 80%, which is much higher than similar messages on social media.
Email itself in the healthcare field has an average open rate of 26.88%. This gives email a competitive advantage beyond other client outreach channels. Furthermore, email can be personalized and customized, and you can segment different lists depending on how you acquired a client or potential client’s email address. For example, if you had a client come in for a massage, then you can segment them into a separate list and offer them incentives to come back in and sign up for a recurring massage. These emails can be sent separately to those who have expressed interest in your massage services but have not yet come in and tried them out.
Email customization can also be used to create personalized subject lines with a client’s name in them. According to a recent study by Campaign Monitor, emails with subject lines written in this way are 26% more likely to be opened. This can help when segmenting your email list and trying to get those who tried out a massage to come back and sign up for recurring massage therapy.
The great thing about email is that unlike social media, you also own the platform. You are not beholden to the whims of social media algorithms or other things that you do not control. Once you have legitimately acquired a client’s email address, it can then be directly marketed to them in any way that you choose. While you, of course, want to avoid spammy email tactics, a nascent massage therapy business needs all of the help it can get and should be sending out regular email blasts to both its prospective clients and its current clients.
A good way to get more emails for your lists is by offering downloadable eBooks and other resources related to massage therapy, you can also get a healthy stream of new signups, and you can even use paid ads to target these email lead magnets to your local area.
By prioritizing email marketing, and sending out various types of emails, including recall emails, availability campaigns, customer appreciation emails such as birthday emails, and promotional offers, you’ll be able to keep your clients engaged and wanting to come back in for more and more massages. This strategy of personalized engagement can work to build trust – and ultimately win you repeat business for your budding massage therapy practice.
