7 Mistakes You're Making in Your Sales Emails to Physicians

You may be baffled at why sales emails to physicians don’t get better click-through rates. Consider this possibility: You aren’t making it clear what the physician should click.
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The centerpiece of sales emails to physicians needs to be clear calls to action (CTA). Devising email CTAs that get results for your MedTech company, however, is a skill you need to develop — and novice email marketers are prone to making some common mistakes. 

The Top CTA Mistakes in Sales Emails to Physicians

1. Assuming

​Physicians are extremely intelligent people, and probably don’t need you to explain how to take advantage of an offer. But they are also busy people who appreciate professional interactions designed to respect their time. Whether the purpose of your email is to get the physician to take advantage of a limited time offer, download an asset or tool, or register for a demonstration, devise a CTA that quickly directs them where to go and what to do. Basically, an email that doesn’t clearly show how physicians should take the next step is doomed to be less effective than one that does.

2. Throwing Everything at the Wall and Hoping Something Sticks

If you are limited to sending a finite number of emails in a month, you may be tempted to try to put everything into one email. You may be sending emails that involve scheduling time for meetings with physicians at an industry event, teasing a MedTech product that’s about to be released, offering special pricing, and showing how your solution addresses a hot topic all at once. 

But more isn’t better. Physicians reading the email may not know what responding to the CTA will do — or how to take next steps for the one thing in the email that they’re interested in. 

​Stay focused on one goal for each email — exactly what you want the physician to do (e.g., download an asset, submit contact information, etc.) — and build your email around that CTA. The email message should support and lead up to the CTA, so when readers reach it, they’re ready to click.

3. Requiring Too Much Information

Calls to action need to be clear and to the point. Convenient CTAs in sales and marketing emails to physicians are designed for them to respond by only clicking a button — you can then pull their contact information from your database. 
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If you need the physician to click a link, perhaps to download an asset, use simple forms that require only basic information. If, in an attempt to qualify leads, you quiz physicians on things like patient volume, revenue, or facility size, they may abandon the form out of concern that it will take too long to fill in. They may also be averse to providing detailed information if they aren’t familiar with your company. Only ask for the information you need to establish contact in the future — when you can get those other questions answered.

Once you have the physician's email, you can use a sales acceleration platform like Carevoyance to fill in the blanks with data on every physician, ASC, hospital, and health system in the United States. Click the button below to start making every sales meeting count!

4. Being Vague About Scheduling

​CTAs aimed at scheduling appointments or requests for demos can be very effective, but if you’re asking for time, let physicians immediately choose a time that works. Sales emails to physicians can include a link to a calendar or appointment scheduler that shows when you’re free and invites them to choose times that are convenient for them — and it assures them that appointments will be limited to the hour or half-hour that they select.

5. Not Addressing Objections

Collaborate with your marketing and sales teams to anticipate objections that physicians may have to the offer in the email. Are they loyal to a competitive MedTech system? Is price a common sticking point? Do people consider your system untried?

Consider using a “P.S.” at the end of the email (literal or not) that demonstrates you are aware of those objections and briefly address them. Then direct your reader back to the CTA. 

6. Sending the Same Email to Your Entire List

When you focus on one specific CTA in an email, it’s possible that it won’t apply to all customers and prospects in your database. Whether you are targeting physicians that work in a certain type of hospital, have a specific type of practice — or even just those scheduled to attend an upcoming MedTech conference, sort and segment your list so the email will be relevant to the recipients. Don’t allow yourself to develop a reputation for sending “spam” or irrelevant emails, which can prevent people from opening them in the future.

7. Not Monitoring Results

The last mistake markets make occurs after you’ve sent the sales email to physicians: forgetting to evaluate performance. Analyze emails that perform well to understand what your audience will respond to — and take note of what doesn’t work so you can focus your time and resources elsewhere.

​Data from your email sends will give you the insights you need to home in on the best ways to build emails, the most effective CTAs, and, ultimately, the best way to build your business.

About the Author

Carevoyance contributor Bernadette Wilson of B Wilson Marketing Communications is an experienced journalist, writer, editor, and B2B marketer, specializing in content for technology companies.