Most small businesses can’t expect a new lead to convert the first time they are introduced to your message. This is especially true for assisted living communities because choosing senior care for yourself or your loved one can take a lot of time and research.

Whether someone hears about your assisted living through an ad, Facebook post, Google search or personal recommendation, it may be months or even years before they are ready to make a final decision.

If you want to remain a contender at the top of the list during all of that time between the initial contact and the final decision, you need to stay top of mind. Email marketing is the best way to do that.

Here are a few tips to help make the most of email marketing for your assisted living.

#1. Build your email list the old-fashioned way

You can craft the best email in the world, but if you don’t have anyone to send it to, it can’t do you any good. It takes time and effort to build your email list, and it’s tempting to take a shortcut that can help you skip all of the work.

When you’re just getting started with email marketing, purchasing an email list can seem like a great option. However, the success of an email marketing campaign depends on your recipients actually wanting to open and read your emails. Buying an email list is a waste of time and energy.

Build your email list the old-fashioned way by asking for emails when people tour your community, having an email sign-up form on your website, etc. This allows people to opt-in to getting emails from you.

Pro tip – Include an unsubscribe link

Again, your success depends on having recipients who want to receive your emails. Give people who are no longer interested in receiving emails an easy way to opt-out by including an unsubscribe link.

#2. Get to know your audience

Not every message resonates with every person. All marketing strategies, from social media to content marketing, depend on your ability to get the right message across to the right audience, and email marketing is no exception.

But, before you can craft the right message for your audience, you need to get to know them. That means gaining an understanding of who they are, what they care about the most, what information they find valuable and more.

With every email you send, you need to provide value. Getting to know your audience better will help you identify what they value most.

#3. Personalize your emails

People don’t like to feel like they’re just another name on your email list. They want to know that you cater to their unique needs, and they tend to respond much better when you approach email marketing in a more personalized way.

That’s why personalized email marketing campaigns tend to have higher open rates and convert better. Even by just including the recipient’s name dynamically using email automation, you’ll see better results.

Including small details about your recipients, like their interests or location, can also go a long way toward increasing the effectiveness of your email marketing.

Pro tip – Segment your email list

Everyone in your email list has one very important thing in common — they or someone they love needs senior care — but they have many differences as well. Segment your email list so you can group recipients by similarities and send more personalized emails.

#4. Make your emails mobile-friendly

Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to market your assisted living community in terms of ROI. One big reason why email marketing works so well is that people can check their email from anywhere these days, thanks to smartphones.

Most people who receive your emails aren’t going to wait until they get home to their computer to read them. They’ll read them on their mobile device. That means that you need to design your emails for mobile.

Remember that a smartphone screen is a lot smaller than a computer screen. Make sure your main message is visible above the fold so they don’t have to scroll down to see it.

#5. Take advantage of automation

Not only does email marketing have a great ROI, but it’s also incredibly fast and easy. That’s because almost every aspect of your email marketing campaign can be automated.

Put together a sequence of emails someone who just signed up for your emails will receive, including a welcome message, an email a week or two later highlighting your community and inviting them to take a tour, etc.

This is called a drip campaign. While it takes time and hard work to put together in the beginning, once the work is done, it’s essentially effortless.

Pro tip – Monitor your performance

Your first email marketing campaign may not be an immediate success. It may need some tweaking to get right. Keep a close eye on your performance, and make changes where necessary.

Email marketing is something every assisted living community should be taking advantage of. Save time and make it easy with Marketing 360®’s email marketing software. See our plans and pricing.