Analyzing healthcare email marketing trends for Q3 2023

We tracked key healthcare email marketing benchmarks for Q3 2023 based on an analysis of 10,130,344 emails sent by 130 unique senders across Q2 and Q3.

The report reveals notable trends in email engagement, including viewed rates and click-through rates (CTR), as well as insights into the effectiveness of drip vs. marketing emails. Seasonal trends and day-of-the-week performance are also explored.

The scale of the analysis

The data set includes a total of 10,130,344 emails sent across Q2 and Q3 of 2023. These emails were sent by 130 unique healthcare industry senders, with 59 senders contributing to Q2's data and 71 to Q3's.

Unpacking the Q2 vs Q3 trends

We compared key performance indicators - specifically, viewed rates and CTR - between Q2 and Q3.

A comparative analysis of viewed rate and CTR 

The data reveals a decrease in both key metrics from Q2 to Q3. The viewed rate dropped from approximately 38.34% in Q2 to 27.03% in Q3, marking a 29.50% decrease. 

Similarly, the CTR declined from 3.06% in Q2 to 2.81% in Q3, resulting in an 8.20% decrease.

These shifts indicate a decline in engagement and suggest that healthcare marketers may need to revisit their email marketing strategies to arrest this downward trend by using more personalization in their healthcare email marketing.

Month-to-month analysis in Q3

Various factors, including seasonality, can significantly impact engagement metrics. Our month-to-month analysis within Q3 offers some insights into these variations.

Viewed rate and CTR: Monthly fluctuations

• July to August: We observed a slight increase in the viewed rate by 1.75% but a significant decrease in CTR by 43.58%.
• August to September: The viewed rate increased substantially by 67.62%, but CTR continued its decline, decreasing by 35.23%.

These fluctuations suggest that while the viewed rate rebounded in September, the CTR consistently declined. This could be indicative of seasonality or perhaps other factors, such as changes in email content or strategy that require further exploration.

Best and worst days in Q3 for email marketing

The data highlights the days of the week that were most and least successful in terms of views and CTR during Q3 2023.

Days of the week: Views and CTR

• Best days for views: Sunday led the pack with a viewed rate of 58.15%, closely followed by Friday at 40.36%.
• Worst day for views: Monday lagged behind with the lowest viewed rate of 15.23%.
• Best days for CTR: Wednesday stood out with the highest CTR of 4.90%, with Saturday following at 4.13%.
• Worst day for CTR: Despite having the highest viewed rate, Sunday had the lowest CTR at 2.34%.

While Sunday might be an excellent day for views, it may not be the best day to drive action, as indicated by its low CTR.

Drip vs Marketing emails

Our analysis included both drip and marketing emails, and the findings present a compelling case for the former.

A comparative look at CTR performance

Drip campaigns outperformed marketing emails significantly when it comes to CTR. Specifically, drip emails had a CTR of approximately 5.00%, nearly double the 2.74% CTR for marketing emails.

This stark difference suggests that drip campaigns are more effective at encouraging recipients to take action. Healthcare marketers aiming to boost engagement might consider focusing more on personalized drip campaigns, given their demonstrated effectiveness in this analysis.

Fluctuations of healthcare email marketing

The third quarter of 2023 has shown significant fluctuations in healthcare email marketing metrics. Key takeaways include the marked effectiveness of drip campaigns over traditional marketing emails and the importance of considering both seasonality and timing when planning email campaigns.