How Large Should My HCP Mailing List Be

The success of your HCP marketing strategy depends on how well you can connect with the right physicians and healthcare professionals for your campaigns. Traditionally, marketers would cast a wide net to reach as many prospects as possible through direct mail and email, however the quality of those leads and how they fit into your strategy can largely determine the effectiveness of your campaign and your return on investment (ROI).

Mailing lists are essential to reaching the right audience, especially for one as difficult to connect with as physicians. The general rule is to make your mailing lists as large as you can afford to make them without sacrificing quality, but there are a few basic considerations when organizing your HCP lists that will factor into exactly how large your list should be.

The goal is not to just reach the largest number of healthcare professionals, but those right for your marketing strategy.

How Much You Invest
While the idea is to reach as many relevant healthcare providers as possible, the quality of those leads can largely determine the success of your campaign, and taking stock of your budget can help you determine how much you can invest in your HCP contact list, and how large it should be.

There are free and cheap physician lists with low-quality contacts, but these are often ineffective at reaching your intended target audience, driving further engagement, or ultimately converting leads. Be sure that your HCP contact data is opt-in verified, authenticated and well-maintained.

The best way to maximize your ROI is to utilize clean and well-sourced lists supplied by reliable data service providers or specialized companies with expertise in targeted and verified physician lists. Investing in a better segmented HCP mailing list will net higher overall delivery rates and lower bounces.

You should invest as much as you can afford, knowing that the biggest list doesn’t compare to having the best, most accurate and targeted compilation of contacts who would respond well to your campaign.

Click Here to Learn How to Gain Access to Our Clean, High-Quality HCP Contact Lists

Preferred Engagement Channels (Email & Direct Mail)

Optimizing your HCP marketing strategy means utilizing multiple channels for reach and engagement, and the most effective are direct mail and email marketing. Even if you’ve gone through the legwork of producing relevant and useful content for your audience segments, you need to ensure it is easily discoverable in the right channels—especially for physicians who are notoriously hard-pressed and difficult to engage with.

Maintaining and leveraging a robust set of direct mail and email contacts are great ways to reach the best HCPs while keeping marketing and lead generation costs low, especially with the recent restrictions of in-person interactions.

Direct Mail Lists

The size and quality of your direct mailing list can make a huge difference in your response rates and overall marketing program.

Direct mail can be highly personalized, and extremely effective at reaching audiences, especially since physical correspondence can be passed around, and hold the attention of targeted audiences for long periods. Investing in a high-quality direct mailing contact list can be critical, therefore, to the success of your campaign.

While there are many outside mailing lists to choose from, using your own, internal database will result in the best performance. Compiling a direct mailing list from among those who’ve inquired about your services, responded to your offers, or otherwise engaged with your brand is more effective and cheaper than sourcing an outside list.

It also offers more opportunities for specific audience segmentation based on the specialties, attributes, or habits you’re targeting. Consequently, it’s essential to do all you can to not only find the right direct mailing list, but refine and add to it, so you can target individual segments with more precise messaging.

Click Here to Learn How to Implement Unique and Memorable Direct and Print Mail Campaigns

Email Lists

Email marketing is an efficient and cost-effective means of communicating with your prospective customers while reinforcing your connection and prompting further contact and engagement.

According to a 2020 HCP communications survey conducted by customized healthcare data solutions firm HealthLink Dimensions, 65% of healthcare providers prefer email as their primary communication method for receiving industry news, product updates, and research/educational opportunities. Given its prevalence in the healthcare industry, it’s important when sourcing your HCP email list you identify exactly who your campaign is targeting, and how best to connect to that audience.

Collecting and maintaining a reliable list of email contacts entails targeting the right people, knowing whether they opted in or were unknowingly added, and keeping these compilations clean and up to date.

The average open rate of emails for the Health, Pharmaceuticals, and Biotech industries is 21 percent, according to a 2020 report by Hubspot. Updating and optimizing your list to maximize the number of engagements will ensure a higher ROI as well as help prevent wasted time and money spent reaching out to inactive or uninterested prospects.

Be sure to seek out lists with domain verification and real-time authentication to better ensure your investment and guarantee a higher rate of success for your campaign. And be prepared to add to your list, even if you have a substantial lineup already. Using sign-up forms and calls-to-action (CTAs) to invite users to engage further will grow your list.

While many email marketing suppliers are known for boasting the size of their lists, ensuring the HCPs included match the attributes you’re looking for is more important.

Campaign Intent

The size of your individual lists should also reflect the intent of your campaigns. You’ll have to monitor your campaign open rates to audit who’s actively engaged and how you should modify your reach to ensure the success of your campaign.

For example, if your campaign goal is to reach 500 HCPs, and your overall open rate is 20 percent, you should compile a list of at least 2,500 contacts to ensure you hit your target amount.

Just as there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to HCP marketing, there’s not one singular list that should solely be used across your entire strategy. Achieving the best ROI for each email means sending content specific and relevant to the recipients, and for that, utilizing multiple, well-segmented lists is a must.

As discussed, there is no universally perfect size for an HCP mailing list optimal for every campaign or organization. It is more important you reach the right prospects with the right content to provoke higher open rates, more positive engagement, and ultimately, convert leads.

If you need help sourcing and accessing the highest quality contacts from across the industry, PDQ Communications provides access to some of the best—and always ensures recipients are well segmented, for the greatest engagement.