According to Statista, “E-mail is one of the most widely used tools for communication, organization, and marketing. Every minute, over 251 million e-mails are exchanged among global users, approximately five times more than the number of instant messages exchanged during the same time at the end of 2024. In August 2025, the United States was the market with the highest volume of e-mails exchanged, with 9.8 billion daily e-mails sent on average.” Additionally, the return on investment (ROI) for email marketing is currently $42 for every dollar spent. It, therefore, is necessary for the medical field to jump on the email marketing bandwagon. In this article, we will explain the benefits you will get from personalized email marketing, how you can write an effective healthcare email newsletter, and why you should use Paubox Marketing to do it.
See also: HIPAA Definition of Marketing Explained
Healthcare is a competitive industry. As a modern healthcare provider, recognizing the growing importance of HIPAA compliant email in the patient journey helps improve your patient outreach. According to the study Direct marketing in health and medicine: using direct mail, email marketing, and related communicative methods to engage patients, newsletters about your healthcare practice are effective because they:
Email newsletters offer a direct channel to patients and prospective patients, allowing healthcare providers an opportunity to educate, inform, and promote their practice.
See also: Improve Patient Outcomes with Healthcare Email Marketing
There are various types of content that you can include in your email newsletters, which serve different purposes. Here are the main categories that your newsletter may fit into.
Educational email newsletters allow healthcare organizations to keep patients informed about relevant health topics, seasonal wellness issues, preventive care, and updates within a specific area of clinical expertise. Providers often use these newsletters to share information on chronic disease management, mental health awareness, vaccination schedules, screening guidelines, and general public health recommendations from trusted sources.
The goal of an educational newsletter is not promotion but patient education. By consistently delivering accurate and useful information, healthcare organizations reinforce trust, establish credibility, and remain top of mind for patients.
If you maintain a blog for your practice, you want to make sure your patients know when you post new content. A great way to spread the word is with an email newsletter that summarizes recent stories or articles you have published.
Informational email newsletters are sent when there is something worth updating your patients about, such as announcing a new practitioner, unveiling a new location, or updating people on changes to your policies and procedures. Paubox customers can leverage Paubox Marketing to keep their patients up-to-date on changes to their practices.
See also: Top 5 Telehealth Software Services
With a promotional newsletter, you can showcase new products and services available at your practice and offer coupons, discounts, referral codes, or other deals. This type of email works best with elective procedures and/or procedures that patients receive multiple times, such as acupuncture, BOTOX injections, or dental cleanings.
No matter what type of email newsletter you send, there are some best practices you should keep in mind.
According to Adobe Business, “Email personalization can significantly strengthen your company’s brand and the relationships you have with your subscribers.” Personalized emails can:
The simplest thing to do is include the recipient's name in an email newsletter greeting ("Dear Sarah" vs. "Dear Patient"), but Paubox Marketing allows you to include any information that you want in your marketing in a HIPAA compliant manner.
See also: Why Paubox Marketing is the Best HIPAA Email Marketing Solution Available
Most HIPAA compliant email solutions require patients to log into a secure web portal and create an account and password before they can read a message from their doctor. This is a bad user experience, even for an email that patients have asked for, such as test results. If recipients have to go through that rigmarole to read marketing emails, they will be very unlikely to bother. Luckily, Paubox Marketing leverages patented technology, which allows people to read your HIPAA compliant email newsletters directly in their inboxes with no additional steps.
Make sure the subject line of your newsletter conveys the newsletter's theme in a concise way. A subject line such as “Newsletter No. 12” probably won’t have your patients itching to read more. “Increase Your Fertility With These 12 Steps” is a much better subject line. The title is the first thing that your recipients will read, so entice them to open your email to find out more.
Read also: Writing a HIPAA compliant subject line
The CAN-SPAM Act requires that “Your message must include a clear and conspicuous explanation of how the recipient can opt out of getting marketing email from you in the future.” Additionally, it requires that “Any opt-out mechanism you offer must be able to process opt-out requests for at least 30 days after you send your message. You must honor a recipient’s opt-out request within 10 business days.” Paubox Marketing takes care of both of these requirements, so you don't have to think about it. All marketing emails contain an unsubscribe button in the footer. If someone clicks it, he or she is removed from your distribution list immediately.
The CAN-SPAM Act also requires that email marketing must contain your physical address. Paubox Marketing includes this automatically in the footer of every email you send.
86% of the US population reads their emails via tablets or smartphones, so your marketing campaign should be optimized to work on all devices. Again, Paubox Marketing takes care of this for you. All email promotions use responsive design to optimize the visual experience, no matter what device your recipients are using to view your messages.
Paubox Marketing allows you to send yourself a test email to ensure that your email newsletter looks the way you want it to before you send it to your recipients.
Once you have your email newsletter plan ready to go, you may be raring to start emailing your patients. However, be careful not to bombard patients with marketing messages, as this can irritate them and lead them to unsubscribe. Instead, take a measured approach and only send newsletters that contain useful or actionable content.
These guidelines are only the start. As with the majority of digital marketing efforts, achieving success through email marketing is a long-term process. It requires a blend of astute planning and analysis of data and reader feedback to improve your campaigns. But the only way to excel at this is by being out there and emailing to your prospective audience!
A healthcare email newsletter is a regularly sent email that shares updates, health tips, and practice news with current and prospective patients. It keeps your practice top of mind, engages patients around their health needs, and offers a direct communication channel to educate and inform your audience.
Well-written newsletters help build stronger relationships with patients, serve as a platform for sharing health education, and can remind patients about appointments or services, contributing to better patient engagement and retention.
Yes, newsletters can include general reminders such as flu season alerts or wellness check-ups, but they should avoid including individualized PHI unless sent through a HIPAA compliant email solution.