Email is still an effective dental marketing channel and there’s strong evidence to back this up.

An eMarketer report on May 2012 data from the CMO Council shows a significant majority of marketers worldwide (67%) rated email the most successful digital marketing vector.

June findings from the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) saw improvement in U.S. email open rates and click-through rates (CTR) for both in-house and prospect-intended emails in 2012, as compared to 2010.

The Direct Marketing Association reports that the average email open rate for 2012 was up 2.6% over 2010, and the click-through rate was up 1.1% over the same time period.

What is important to note is that while the open rate for prospect lists increased only slightly, the click-through rate nearly doubled in the two-year time-frame, pointing to an increased ability for a dental practice to resonate with dental patients and new prospects once they open their email.

This rise in email open rates could be that smartphones are making it easier for consumers to sort through and view emails in real time, thus making email easier to manage. According to Pew Research, 76% of smartphone users in the United States read email on their phones.

Email marketing services provider Epsilon reported that credit card and banking emails from the financial services industry have the highest email open rates.

This could be due to customers signing up for their own personal banking service notifications, but it could also be an indication that consumers tend to open emails that reflect what is foremost on their minds and in the news. The economy has been on most everyone’s minds over the past two years.

Consumers like to open emails that are in sync with what’s going on within a local business and their local community.

Event-related emails reportedly have nearly 71% higher open-rates than conventional emails, especially when these emails are related to outdoor activities.

Making use of email marketing is one of the easiest dental marketing methods around. Internet Dental Alliance’s New Patient Marketing Machine is a complete new patient marketing program that works side-by-side with your current Internet marketing.

This program includes a complete email patient newsletter program that can help you stay in contact with your dental patients. Click here to read more about how The Wealthy Dentist can help you with your email marketing efforts.

For more on email statistics see: Latest Benchmarks Prove Email Still an Effective Marketing Channel