In the spirit of sharing examples and inspiration for your medical device email marketing, check out this terrific example that landed in my spam folder as I was writing this guide.
It’s about software rather than a medical device, but it’s still worth sharing.
Their competitor had an issue and the team was quick to capitalize by pitching their services as an alternative.
The hippo likes this one because of the combination of the timing of the problem, finding leads that are customers of that particular competitor, and reaching out to them quickly. If months pass by, the fear and opportunity might be gone.
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The problem with this type of opportunity is that they don’t come around often, and you can’t just wait for it to happen.
Instead, you and I will look at examples of medical device email marketing funnels you can use virtually any day of the year. Let’s continue where we left off in the first “episode” of the first B2B healthcare lead generation mini-series.
But first, a brief reminder of what I covered there to give you some context (if you want to skip this, feel free to use the table of contents below).
Table of Contents
If you prefer watching instead of reading, here’s a recap.
Are these the two most popular medical device email marketing funnels?
In the first part of this guide, the hippo and I looked at two commonly used lead generation funnels, both with the goal of scheduling demos using email sequences.
The first funnel is a scenario where you’re buying leads that work in the industry. Meaning, they have no pre-existing relationship or knowledge about your company. They might have been copied from somewhere, and we’re pitching them cold.
In the second funnel, you’re generating your own leads by running search ad campaigns. Those signing up for more information are considered leads, while the email sequence converts them into qualified leads as they express interest in a product demo.
The approach is about the same whether you’re selling medical devices, software, or other similar products to clinic networks and hospitals.
We’re targeting leads at the latter stages of awareness, and the essence is that leads aren’t necessarily at the same place in their buying process. They tend to be aware of different things, so you’ll need to move them towards the latter stages for them to pull the trigger and buy.
The later the stage, the more you’ll use tactics I bet you’re familiar with, like comparing competitors or focusing on price versus benefits.
On the other hand, the earlier you reach the leads in their stage of awareness, the more you have to focus on guiding them towards the later stages when they’re ready to buy (but there’s also less competition!)
Does that make sense?
When you’re pitching leads without any insights, you have to make an educated guess as to which stage they fall into (which is hard without any insights).
… Or pitch as if all the leads were at the same stage, betting that you’ll reach a good enough portion that fits into the stage you’ve chosen.
Both are tricky.
In the second funnel scenario, you’re buying leads that were searching for certain keywords giving us a clue into which stage they’re at.
For example, they might be searching for “Philips CT scanner vs Toshiba CT scanner” if they’re in the later stages and looking for the right product among a series of competitors.
With the recap out of the way, let’s dive into the good stuff, the medical device email marketing examples.
Since AI is all the hype these days and we’re seeing plenty of cold pitches written by it, the hippo thought it would be fun to get it to write these sequences as well.
I’ll walk you through them email-by-email as we go. Let’s look at the cold pitching email sequence first.
Medical device email marketing to schedule demos (cold pitching example)
We’re continuing where we left off in the previous example, by looking at a scenario where we cold email a lead that we have no connection with.
They most likely don’t know anything about us and we don’t know anything about their current stage of interest and decision making. We just know that they work in the relevant job and we got our hands on their email. That’s the context.
The hippo doesn’t recommend this approach, but it’s widely used. These medical device email marketing sequences often come in the shape of one-off emails with a series of follow ups, which is a bit like trying to kill the final boss in a video game right out of the gate.
It’s super hard at level 1, and it’s often better to give yourself more chances by using several emails.
This first email intends to introduce the brand and qualify the leads’ interest in upgrading to a device with better image resolution and interface for faster processing time.
These are features affecting the lead’s workflow and everyday use. The email also offers an attached PDF with a brief overview of the product and features.
Based on the pitches I have received myself, this is a good representation of how they come across, even if the product is different.
This is not a bad starting point. It’s fairly short and concise, and the email mentions specific features the lead cares about (less process and setup time per scan without compromising quality).
Even so, it feels a tad generic and salesy. The first two sections could be either cut almost entirely, or better yet, be replaced with something more specific to make the lead feel that you understand their problems well.
THE HIPPO’S PRO TIP
Think twice about sending PDFs to strangers. There’s a higher chance it’ll get caught by the spam filter… who clicks on attachments from strangers anyway?
In the next email within the sequence, you’re following up to provide more details without the lead needing to react. This might feel aggressive to some, but I’ve found that they’re sometimes interested, but get distracted, or the timing just isn’t good when the first email ticks in.
This email moves on to talk about how the feature (the faster processing time) benefits the department and overall business (the return on investment via improved throughput), something that the lead can use to persuade other stakeholders internally.
The case study acts as social proof to show that other reputable players feel positive about the product. Oftentimes, the leads want to pick a safe option that doesn’t get them fired, rather than the newest and most innovative option on the block.
Moving on to the third out of four emails in this sequence.
Sometimes leads are interested, but don’t want to sit through sessions with pushy salespeople (or simply don’t want to prioritize it as hospitals and clinics get busy). I like the idea of offering a short virtual demo of the particular features from the last email, so they can explore it at their own pace.
Some personalities prefer asynchronous communication like this, as opposed to the “rapid fire” conversation style some salespeople like.
Finally, let’s move on to the last email in this medical device email marketing sequence. Here, you’re acknowledging that it might just not be the right time and “downsell” them on a resource they can look at when the time is right.
That approach makes it easier for the lead to reach out if it becomes relevant later without having to think too much about a reason for not responding before.
This is not a bad starting point at all and I’m quite impressed, especially considering the time it took AI to write it. But all of the emails could have less filler words and instead, offer more specifics or play on more features and benefits.
Next, let’s move on to the second medical device email marketing sequence, where the leads have signed up for more information from your search ad campaigns.
4-step email marketing example for lukewarm leads
Imagine that one of your leads searched Google for, say, e.g. “Philips CT scanner vs Toshiba CT scanner” or “CT scanner comparison”.
They clicked an ad and entered their email for more information about your products (in this example, you’re offering a competing product to what they were searching for).
They’ve requested more information, but they’re still in one of the later stages of awareness and in the process of selecting the best product for them. Meaning, this lead isn’t as ‘cold’ as in the previous example.
This email sequence also runs across four emails. Let’s look at the first one.
I like how this email mentions other products the lead is likely considering, and moves on to set your product apart. This is only possible because you have clues about what the lead searched for.
I’d prefer that the features and comparison are more specific, for example by using numbers, but you could include that in the comparison sheet (which is fine to include here since they’ve requested more details).
We’re off to a good start!
In this second email, you’re mentioning one of the most important benefits (improvements to operational efficiency) and going beyond the most important features to position the product as a long-term investment due to the ability to upgrade it.
To hammer home the point, the email follows it up with a paragraph from a case study about another clinic improving its efficiency. I like the specificity here, and this is probably the best of the emails thus far.
Moving on.
The third email shares a reminder of one key feature (balancing image detail with scan speed), before moving on to share the pre-recorded virtual demo like we saw in the first funnel.
The biggest downsides to these emails, beyond overly wordy and salesy email cop,y is the push on this one benefit. If you’re confident this is the main problem and sales point, that makes sense, but if it isn’t, these might not convert into a qualified lead.
This email contains a fair bit of copy that doesn’t say much and could be rephrased to cover more features and benefits.
Let’s move on to the final email in this email marketing sequence.
Just like in the other funnel, this last email “downsells” a guide to end on a positive note. I like that idea because it makes it easier for the lead to reach out later without having to think too much about a reason for not responding before.
Final thoughts
Overall, the emails in both sequences are too wordy and focused on the salesperson instead of the lead. There are several paragraphs in each email that could be removed almost entirely, or better yet, replaced with something more specific to impress the lead.
That being said, as medical device email marketing this is a terrific starting point considering just how quickly you can write them with the help of AI.
With a few tweaks, they can go a long way in generating demos and sales meetings, especially when you hook them up to campaigns that give clues as to where they are in their buying cycle.
