Email Marketing That Converts

You see email marketing every day. Some of it is decent. A few are even good. But great email marketing—the kind that actually drives action? That’s rare.

At LIFT Healthcare, we’ve sent tens of thousands of emails, ran A/B tests on everything from subject lines to signature blocks, and dialed-in what works. I’d like to share some tips to help you skip the guesswork and start creating email campaigns that convert.

Plain Text Crushes Templates

One of our most eye-opening tests compared a fully designed HTML email (logo, signature block, branded buttons, etc.) with a stripped-down plain text version. The plain text email won—by a lot.

We’ve seen up to a 41% increase in open rates and a 100% lift in click-through rates when using plain text over templated emails.

Why did the plain text email outperform the templated one? Because it felt personal. It looked like a real email from a real person, not a polished marketing asset from a brand. It also came off at first glance as less “salesy” and more educational.

And that’s the trick: it doesn’t matter how many people you’re emailing—your message should still feel like it was written for one and provide real value to the recipient. Strip out the HTML, ditch the flashy buttons, write like a human, and say something of value.

Pro Tip: Reduce right and left padding to make it feel even more like a one-to-one email.

When we reviewed heat mapping data on our emails, one pattern stood out: readers gloss over headers and footers in templated emails. Those branded sections with logos and legal disclaimers? Cold zones. People scroll right past them.

The warmest areas on the heat map—the ones that get the most attention—are the meat of the message. That’s your hook. Your CTA. Your offer. This insight has helped us rethink our approach. Instead of leading with the brand, we lead with the value. The branding can follow, and when people derive actual value from what you are saying, a relationship with your brand will grow naturally.

Write Like a Person, Not a Marketer

Ditch the jargon. Avoid cleverness for the sake of being clever. Say what you need to say and get out of the way. Short, meaningful sentences. It probably doesn’t belong in your email if it doesn’t sound like something you’d say to someone over coffee.

Use the person’s first name. Make the subject line feel like it’s coming from a colleague or a friend. This doesn’t mean avoiding formality. Avoid exclamation points and excessive punctuation. The line between formal and casual in email marketing is thin, and contingent on your brand’s voice and tone, but our research has shown that emails sounding too formal and written for the masses perform poorly.

In the spirit of writing for individuals, keep the ask simple. Every email should have one clear goal. Drive a click. Get a reply. Deliver a resource. Don’t pack five messages into one email and hope for the best. Clarity converts. If recipients are confused about what you are asking them to do, oftentimes they will do nothing.

Pro Tip: One button. One action. One CTA. Make it count.

Timing and Frequency Matter

Stop worrying about best practices that don’t fit your audience. Tuesday at 10 a.m. isn’t magic if your audience checks emails at 7 p.m. on Sundays. Use your data. Test send times. Find your rhythm. Email marketing is about listening as much as it is sending. Again, put yourself in the recipient’s shoes. We all receive marketing emails pretty regularly, and we know what resonates and doesn’t.

At LIFT, we often correlate send timing and frequency data with the person we are emailing, and the differences in job titles and responsibilities can be significant. Keep this in mind when A/B testing as well, and try to keep the experimental elements minimal.

Pro Tip: Only test 1 element per email marketing send. You want to pinpoint which changes account for the performance fluctuations.

Want to Go Deeper? We help hospitals and health systems build email campaigns that work, from first touch to final click. Contact us to talk about email marketing strategy.

Anthony Mundis, Marketing Strategist

Anthony holds a Master’s in Philosophical Psychology and began his marketing career in eCommerce. As a strategist at LIFT, he blends emotional insight with data analytics to strategically inform campaigns. Outside of work, he enjoys playing golf at his home in Jupiter Florida.