Why You Should Consider Direct Mail for Healthcare Industry

The digitization buzz is all around. With new technologies and strategies being developed and implemented on a regular basis, we’ve seen and heard the tremendous digitization buzz in the healthcare industry over the past two years, but one trend stands out amidst all this buzz: direct mail.

Direct mail, considered a less effective marketing channel, is making a strong comeback as a critical demand-generation tool for companies looking to establish a tangible connection with their consumers. In fact, research shows one in three consumers is engaging more with direct mail advertisements now than before the pandemic.

As healthcare direct mail marketing has become an increasingly popular marketing channel, healthcare providers and organisations have been leveraging this tool to reach potential and existing customers in both traditional and innovative ways. They are looking to successfully reach their audience while still enjoying the testing, targeting, and analytics that are used with digital channels.

But what are the keys to capturing the potential of this new direct mail strategy? And what are the reasons that leading healthcare marketers are looking for as they seek print vendor partners to help them bring this potential to life?

Digital Mail Cutting the Digital Noise

Undoubtedly, the last two decades saw a decline in direct mail communications from health plan providers. Consumers increasingly choose digital channels for the e-delivery of documents and our clients followed that trend – also enjoying the cost efficiencies of digital delivery. Many believed the pandemic would be the predicted “death of direct mail”. And indeed, we saw print volumes deduction rate by half from 2019 to 2020.

But something intriguing happened over the last two years: Print bounced back – in a big way. Consumer choice for digital communications overwhelmed their email inboxes, driving open rates, and engagement down. But their physical mailboxes are often empty. So, we are seeing more and more innovative companies using direct mail as a core channel for demand generation and member engagement – beyond meeting regulatory requirements.

Healthcare service providers are increasingly leveraging direct mail to drive omni-channel campaigns for their services, alerting recipients that an email is coming soon or directing them to a microsite for a more interactive digital experience. We are also seeing our healthcare brands using more premium-quality printing capabilities.

Research by AdAge backs up this omnichannel approach. Consumers that receive a direct mail message complimenting a digital message, are more likely to remember and revert to the message. More to the point, nearly half of the consumers say the healthcare direct mail message convinced them to go online to seek more information – the exact flow of action that insurers want to see from their audiences.

Reasons to Consider Direct Mail for Healthcare Industry

Healthcare marketing experts are turning to technology for many benefits related to sending direct mailers. These direct mail pieces allow marketers to take advantage of the scale, speed, and measurability of modern marketing strategies. In fact, direct mail is considered as the original data-driven marketing channel. That’s why marketers are looking to successfully reach their audiences while still enjoying the testing, targeting, and analytics with digital channels.

Some key benefits of using direct mail for healthcare marketing include:

Consumers trust Direct Mail

Consumers trust direct mail the most. Even though digital media has made the process of getting information faster and easier, consumers do not always use digital marketing thanks to security issues on the web.

Millennials, who are a very digital-savvy group, view print advertisements are more trustworthy than messages and materials sent through digital marketing. In addition, direct mail marketing is considered to be less invasive when it comes to delivering a message. The recipient won’t have to worry anymore about someone stealing their private information when they give mail a read.

When it comes to healthcare direct marketing, healthcare providers have the mandate to protect the privacy of any information related to their patients. With a direct mail strategy in place, patients can relax as they will not have to deal with hackers trying to leak their information online.

Direct Mail Targets Audiences Better

Because of the specificity it requires, direct mail targets an audience better than you can think. Direct mail marketing uses a great amount of data-driven demographic information to identify a target market along with the specific audience needs. A targeted marketing strategy allows healthcare organisations to reach their ideal clients using the database marketing and segmentation techniques they prefer.

The four areas that can be used to better identify potential target markets include:

●      Demographics

●      Geographic Location

●      Behaviour

●      Psychographic (Attitudes and Aspirations of the audience).

These four areas allow medical providers to reach their target audience, create awareness of their medical services, and influence people likely to take advantage of the products and services they offer.

Direct Mail Allows Personalised Communication

When it comes to medical mailing services, keep in mind that personalization is key to success. Personalised ads have a big impact on how consumers perceive and interact with the brand. Customers like receiving mail that is personalised with their name on the materials and something that’s targeting their pain points. This also applies to personalised print ads and messages, Direct mail marketing gives brands the power to deliver a customised message to their target audience.

Businesses can promote multiple products and services at the same time without making it difficult for the recipient to understand the overall brand message. The personal touch creates a strong bond between the public and the brand.

Final Thoughts

As we continue to assess the permanent impact of the pandemic, it’s clear that through this industry surge, direct mail marketing has gained value as an essential tool for making meaningful connections with audiences. It’s also clear that capturing that attention requires a completely new level of personalization – which itself presents demands around security, privacy, accuracy, and opt solutions to the problem they are dealing with.

Whether it’s streamlining your marketing communications or diving into print-powered demand gen strategies, there are many healthcare direct marketing firms that can help you achieve your goals to drive success in this “new normal”. They have all the technologies, security, and processes in place that can support your needs and meet modern demands. But more importantly, they have the people-powered expertise and ideas to help you optimise, simplify, and do more with your marketing communications.