Email remains one of the most effective and budget-friendly methods for connecting with prospects in B2B healthcare. You rely on long sales cycles and are connecting with multiple stakeholders. You also need to build an ongoing relationship before a prospect will make a purchasing decision. That reality makes consistency more important than volume.
A recent poll of SaaS email marketers shed some light on how often you should be reaching out to your B2B healthcare prospects. As you’ll see, the answer depends on how new the prospect is, as well as how engaged they are. Here’s what you need to know.
How Often Should You Reach Out to B2B Healthcare Prospects?
According to the aforementioned poll, most experts agree that new prospects should be contacted at least two to three times per week, or as much as daily. For example, you might reach out three to four times in the first week, and then taper down to one to two times per week after that.
When it comes to contacting B2B prospects, marketers strive to balance the volume of communication so it’s “just right.” If you message too frequently, your audience members are going to get annoyed and unsubscribe. If you send messages too far apart, you could miss out on opportunities to make deals and get overshadowed by other emails coming through the pipeline.
How to Adjust Your Email Frequency for Different Stages of the Funnel
Healthcare buyers rarely make quick decisions. Hospital systems and physician groups evaluate multiple vendors over several months. During that time, you need to remain visible while continuing to provide value. The dance can sometimes feel like a frustrating balancing act.
If you send too few emails, there is a long period of silence that allows your competitors to gain attention. If you send too many emails, you’ll see an uptick in unsubscribe rates and reduced trust in your brand. You need to find a cadence that keeps conversations moving based on the audience’s level of interest.
A highly-interested prospect will be receptive to more messages without getting fatigued. A mildly to moderately interested prospect is more prone to losing interest or hitting that unsubscribe button.
To succeed, you need a consistent email schedule that tapers down based on an audience’s interest and place in the pipeline. When you have a repeatable formula, you can adjust it to the preferences of prospects.
Build Your Email Strategy Around Engagement
Here’s a simple, tiered approach that you can apply to your B2B email marketing strategy:
Highly Engaged Prospects
These contacts regularly open emails, click links, and download your content. They have demonstrated a genuine interest in your solution. You should be emailing them at least once a week after you’ve sent the initial new prospect email chain. Make sure that every message delivers real value that fuels their interest and pushes them deeper into the sales funnel.
Moderately Engaged Prospects
These prospects occasionally interact with your emails but have not taken meaningful buying actions. They remain interested but need additional motivation before moving forward. This group often benefits from one to two emails each week. A typical cadence includes one educational newsletter and one marketing email that highlights a resource or customer success story.
Disengaged Prospects
Some contacts stop opening your messages altogether. It happens despite your best efforts. However, it doesn’t always mean they have no interest. Priorities change, and healthcare organizations have to do their due diligence before making purchasing decisions.
Don’t give up on these prospects. Instead, reduce your communication to about once per month. Lead with educational content and go easy on the sales content unless they exhibit a sustained uptick in interest.
Existing Clients
Once you’ve won a new client, restart the tapering process. Target them with more frequent emails over the first few weeks to a few months. Focus on educational resources that help them unlock more value from the platform.
Then, settle into an easier pace of about one to two emails per month. When they are approaching a renewal period, increase the frequency to highlight new offers and products.
Match Your Content to Your Email Frequency
To succeed with B2B healthcare email marketing, you must be consistent and flexible all at once. Follow your tapering protocols based on where a prospect is in the funnel and how much interest they are showing. These simple changes will help you keep engagement high and convert more prospects into clients.
