Email Marketing for Doctors: The Complete Guide

Healthcare providers (HCPs) have a lot on their plates: seeing around 10-20 patients, spending 4.5 hours on electronic health records (EHRs), and squeezing in some time for a reading diet (because their profession demands it). And their to-do list does not stop there. They also meet with medical representatives (MedReps) and go through promotional emails. And those emails are not just from your brand. They are coming from your competitors, too.  

That’s a lot to handle. And if you understand this and can empathize with the workflow, you’ll be able to ensure your email marketing for doctors is both efficient and genuinely helpful. In this article, the Viseven team will break down how to create emails that HCPs will appreciate and be happy to engage with. 

What are the Email Marketing Benefits? 

Doctors are busy with patient visits, which makes in-person communication and phone calls a challenge. While pharma companies expand to other marketing channels to cater to the HCPs’ evolving preferences, good old email remains the top choice according to research.  

Recent evidence shows that brands using email marketing and omnichannel strategies boost brand awareness by 30% in less than a year. Yet only 16% of MedTech companies leverage this approach to strengthen their bond with medical professionals. As a result, brands can be left guessing what email to send and when, wasting resources and opportunities and frustrating providers with off-mark messages. 

Let’s not forget the return on investment (ROI). For every dollar spent on email marketing efforts, you get 36$ in return. This makes emails a proven way to keep your sales flywheel in motion. 

Email Marketing Trends You Can’t Afford to Miss 

Several of these trends offer practical solutions to our discussed challenges. Without further ado, let’s explore them in more detail: 

Personalization and dynamic content 

HCPs are a tough marketing audience. They are short on time, highly educated, and skeptical of promotional messages. They need relevant, reliable, and valuable information to share with their existing patients.  

Your email marketing campaigns need to deliver value from the first touchpoint. As you do not have many chances, it is better to avoid long, irrelevant intros, vague subject lines, and impersonalized content. Your message should say, “I am speaking directly to you.”  

Doctors’ interests vary widely based on their needs and practices. Recent research by Avant Healthcare, which surveyed 401 U.S. physicians, confirms that content preferences differ by specialty.  

For example, dermatologists prefer self-guided learning modules, while immunologists lean toward virtual programs led by key opinion leaders (KOLs). Prime learning time also varies. For oncologists and neurologists, it’s Wednesday evening, while for dermatologists, it’s Monday night. 

If you are ready to go the extra mile, dynamic content is worth considering. It means understanding what HCPs care about in real time and delivering exactly that. With AI-powered analytics, you can track their online behavior and send emails that consistently hit the mark. And by storing this data in your CRM, you’ll be better equipped to plan future email marketing campaigns or support your next MedRep visit. 

Using dynamic content pays off. Brands earn $42 for every $1 spent, while those shying away from this trend make only $21. 

Emails for mobile-first 

Smartphones make it easy to browse content on the go, and data backs this up. Users spend more than four hours using their phones on average, and HCPs are no exception. 

By tracking impressions, marketers can identify which devices HCPs use most. Unsurprisingly, almost half of the impressions come from mobile devices.  

HCPs typically discover products on their mobile devices, but when they are ready to take the next step, they tend to switch to desktops. Data shows that PCs are more commonly used at the conversion stage, as they make it easier to fill out forms and dive deeper into research. 

That’s why it’s essential to optimize your emails for mobile. Use clear call-to-actions, fast-loading images, and readable fonts. Well-designed emails can significantly increase open and click-through rates, driving more active engagement. 

Thought leadership 

If there’s one thing providers appreciate in the AI-driven era, it’s thought leadership. It is grounded in fresh perspectives, hard-won insights, and compelling stories. It brings raw creativity, unique angles, and lived experience — the kind no AI model, no matter how advanced, can replicate. 

Here are the main ways to do it right: 

• Storytelling. People are hardwired to engage with convincing stories. Sharing personal stories (what lessons you’ve learned, what made you/your brand the way it is today) helps you to connect with your audience on a deeper level and gain their trust.  
• Counter-narrative ideas. This type of thought leadership breaks through the noise by challenging the conventional way of doing things (popular approaches, competitors’ claims, or widely held assumptions). 
• Industry analysis. Thought leadership can stem from observations of industry trends, disruptions, and news. The key is to add your unique perspective, highlighting what works and what doesn’t, based on your own experience in the field. 
• Proprietary data analysis. Data can be a strong foundation for thought leadership, especially when it is gathered by your own company. Unique data allows you to form original perspectives and offer standout content like “We Analyzed X to Uncover the Secrets to Y.” 

Best Practices in Email Marketing 

When running email campaigns, you will need a clear roadmap from A to Z to ensure smooth execution. Drawing on over a decade of experience, we’ve gathered some tips that helped pharma clients, including the top 10 companies, to boost engagement. Here are X observations that move a needle.  

Create an engaging subject line 

The subject line is the first thing HCPs notice. And often, it is your only chance to grab their attention. If it doesn’t spark interest, your email may never be opened. While there’s no universal formula that fits every brand or campaign, a few proven best practices can help guide your approach: 

• Keep your subject line short and sharp. Your subject line should give a condensed overview of what’s inside. Aim for around 60 characters is ideal.  
• Do not try to hype and use clickbait phrases. Sure, exaggerated subject lines might boost open rates but they rarely lead to conversions. Instead, they frustrate readers and damage trust. Steer clear of excessive punctuation (!!!) and ALL-CAPS. These can land your email straight in the dusty junk folder. 
• Run A/B tests to see what resonates with each HCP segment. This helps you fine-tune your messaging based on real insights. Use the “so what?” technique. Keep asking “so what?” until you get to the core of why your customers care, from surface-level reasons to unmet needs. 

Use the MedRep’s name 

MedReps activity is all about building relationships with HCPs and other medical professionals. In many ways, the field force is the face of your brand. That’s why using their names as the sender instead of the company name can significantly increase email open rates.  

It feels more personal and trustworthy. Use this approach for your most important email communications, especially when timing or engagement really matters. Also, it is important to make it easy for HCPs to see the unsubscribe link.

 Ensure good email list hygiene 

An accurate, up-to-date list helps you avoid high bounce rates, low engagement, and the dreaded spam folder. Here are a few basics to keep your list nice and neat:  

• Don’t forget to regularly clean your marketing email list. HCP data isn’t static. Doctors change locations, specialties, and contact details. Review and update your list every couple of months to stay on track. 
• If a message is rejected by the mail server, don’t ignore it. Leaving bounced addresses in your list can hurt your sender reputation and make you look like a spammer. Regularly scrub your list and run spam checks to keep your deliverability high. 
• Get rid of inactive email subscribers. Inactive users can drag down your engagement rates but don’t rush to delete them. First, try a re-engagement email. They might just be dormant, not disinterested. 

Find the optimal send-time 

Emailing a surgeon first thing in the morning, right before a packed schedule of surgeries, is unlikely to drive engagement. That’s why it’s essential to use data analytics to understand when your audience is most receptive and meet them there.  

At Viseven, we rely on the email marketing program called Salesforce Send Time Optimization, which analyzes 90 days of behavior to pinpoint the best time to send each message. Its machine learning models assess over 20 variables, like open history, time of day, and message volume, to predict future engagement. 

Use AI-powered solutions 

Email creation in pharma is time-consuming, and legal reviews add further delays. AI-powered tools offer a faster, compliant approach. Take our content experience platform, eWizard. Its AI assistant eVa supports content teams by generating layouts, copy, visuals, and modules aligned with brand and compliance standards. It pulls from DAMs or generates new content, always with clear labels so you can no longer fear AI black box and trust the model. 

Email automation saves serious time delivering a full email draft with subject line, body, and CTA in just 10 minutes, compared to 2 hours of manual work. AI also refines the message to match specific audiences and campaign goals. In the end, you get compliant, personalized content faster — two birds with one stone. 

Omnichannel engagement 

Everyone’s been talking about the shift to omnichannel for a while, so it might sound like a broken record by now. But the principle still holds true, especially in email marketing. Emails to HCPs shouldn’t exist in a vacuum. They need to align with your broader marketing strategies.  

Even MedRep visits can benefit from email analytics. If a doctor shows interest in specific health-related topics, that insight can shape the next email and vice versa. And when email engagement starts to dip, it’s a sign to prioritize face-to-face interaction. 

Challenges in Email Marketing for Doctors

You’ve collected the HCPs’ data, and now it’s time to kick off your email campaigns. But several things can go wrong, disrupting all your marketing efforts: 

• Email graveyard. Just because contact information is available online doesn’t mean you’re allowed to use it for promotional emails. Without proper consent, your messages could easily trigger spam filters.  
• High costs. Attending offline conferences to collect data can be expensive and time-consuming. 
• Strict regulations. Promotional content should comply with various regulations, which might limit your content scope. 
• Deliverability risks. The information you collect may no longer be valid, leading to delivery issues. Too many bounced emails can damage your sender reputation, and email providers may start blocking your future messages altogether.  
• Low engagement. Even when emails are delivered, HCPs may not open them or worse, ignore them entirely. 

Deliver Emails that HCPs Would Love to Read 

Email marketing in the healthcare industry is no easy task. Strict regulations, limited access to accurate data, and time-strapped HCPs who rarely engage with communications — the challenges are many. The best practices and trends we’ve shared can certainly make life easier for your marketing team. But if you still need support, Viseven is here to help with everything from email marketing strategy development to tech enablement and cost-effective content creation.  

With over 15 years of experience in the industry, deep expertise in email marketing for doctors and omnichannel strategy, and AI-powered solutions to craft and analyze emails, we’ll help you deliver real value and connect with your audience.