Email marketing for physical therapists is the most overlooked opportunity in most clinics: you already collect nearly every patient’s email address, yet that list mostly sits unused. In this episode, Neil Trickett talks with Wes Taylor, Practice Promotions’ Special Projects & SEO Manager, about turning that list into reactivations, retention, and referrals — covering list hygiene, deliverability, subject lines, and how to do it all without violating HIPAA.
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In This Episode
If you’ve been in practice for any length of time, you’ve quietly built a list of hundreds or thousands of patient emails — and most clinics barely use it. Wes Taylor explains why that list is your lowest-hanging fruit, then walks through the mechanics that separate email that lands from email that gets buried: keeping a clean, opted-in list, warming up your sending domain, understanding how Gmail and Yahoo decide what reaches the inbox, pruning “ghosts and zombies,” writing scannable emails with the right subject lines, and staying on the right side of HIPAA. The throughline: consistent, genuinely useful email keeps you top-of-mind so patients rebook and refer.
About Wes Taylor
Wes Taylor is the Special Projects & SEO Manager at Practice Promotions, where he supports clients’ websites, SEO, and email marketing. Before that he spent five years as a digital account manager, helping hundreds of clinics across the U.S. and Canada attract and retain more patients. He works hands-on with the agency’s email systems, including its HIPAA-compliant platform.
Today, Wes will talk to us about how PTs get more patients with email marketing – WITHOUT violating HIPAA.
Key Takeaways
- 01:12 Email is the most underused channel in PT marketing: you already capture nearly every patient’s address, so your list is high-deliverability, low-cost, untapped potential.
- 05:48 Email’s real power is brand recognition and staying relevant with past patients — not every email should try to convert. Newsletters and blog emails are the flagships.
- 10:40 “How often is too often?” is the wrong question. Aim for consistent, relevant sends — roughly weekly to twice a month — segmented by service or condition.
- 13:12 The three pillars of email: a clean, opted-in list; domain authority plus a warm-up; and deliverability and reputation with Gmail and Yahoo.
- 19:15 Warm up your domain: start with about 100 engaged subscribers and compound upward over 6–12 campaigns before mailing the full list.
- 22:41 “Ghosts” (no opens in 6+ months) and “zombies” (12+ months) can be roughly 30% of a list — mailing them hurts your reputation and deliverability.
- 33:42 Subject-line rules: one emoji at most, minimal punctuation, avoid negative/spam words like “pain,” and lead with the value.
- 42:37 Stay HIPAA-safe: keep names and conditions out of subject lines, never buy a list, and use an encrypted, compliant platform instead of Mailchimp or Constant Contact.
Email Marketing for Physical Therapists: How to Do It Right
Done well, email marketing for physical therapists isn’t about blasting offers — it’s about staying relevant to the people who already know and trust you, so they come back and send friends and family. Here’s the system Wes lays out.
Your patient list is untapped potential
You capture an email address from almost every patient, so even a single-location clinic quickly accumulates hundreds or thousands of contacts. Wes’s point is that this list is the easiest, highest-deliverability asset you have, and most practices barely touch it beyond a once-a-year holiday note. The opportunity isn’t hard selling; it’s consistent, relevant contact — reminders about services, conditions, and unused insurance benefits — that keeps you top of mind. As Neil puts it, patients rarely come back “unless they have to,” so a timely, useful email is the gentle nudge that turns a lingering ache into a booked appointment.
The three pillars: list, authority, deliverability
First, build a healthy, opted-in list — never purchased — and keep it clean with list hygiene, scrubbing against databases to remove typos, hard bounces, and dormant addresses (a decade-old list of 50,000 might drop to 45,000 valid contacts). Second, build domain authority and warm up your sending address; adding the right DNS/authentication records is like showing a passport at the border, proving to inbox providers you’re allowed in, and using a personal-looking sender (a name rather than a generic “info@”) helps. Third, earn reputation with Gmail and Yahoo, which act like airport security: they score your sender reputation and scan subject lines and content before deciding whether to deliver. The warm-up itself is gradual — start with about 100 engaged subscribers, then compound to 250, 500, and up over 6 to 12 campaigns before you mail the whole list.
Prune the ghosts and zombies
It feels counterintuitive to email fewer people, but sending to your entire list actively hurts you. Wes defines “ghosts” as subscribers who haven’t engaged in six-plus months and “zombies” as those inactive for a year or more — together often around 30% of a list. Mailing them lowers your engagement signals, which pushes you further down the inbox and can drag down deliverability for everyone else. The better play is disciplined list hygiene: mail the people who actually open your emails, and reintroduce dormant contacts only in small, occasional batches once your domain is warmed up.
Write emails people actually read
Attention spans are short, and more than half of your audience reads on a phone, so content has to be scannable: short lines, bullet points, sections, larger fonts (14–15px and up for an older patient base), and lightweight images that load fast on mobile. People read the subject line, then subheads, then skim — so lead with the “meat and potatoes.” On subject lines specifically, Wes recommends brand consistency, a single emoji (multiples get flagged), restrained punctuation (one question mark or exclamation point, never a string of them), and positive, benefit-driven wording — favoring phrases like “get back to enjoying life” over spam-triggering words such as “pain” or “suffering.” And never bait-and-switch: misleading subject lines get marked as spam, and even a handful of complaints can blacklist your domain — which can also block your website’s form notifications.
Stay compliant, and treat email as content marketing
Because you’re a healthcare provider, HIPAA adds constraints most email advice ignores. Keep personal details out of subject lines (no “Hi Neil,” no naming a patient’s condition), keep condition- or service-based targeting conservative, and use an encrypted, HIPAA-compliant platform that will sign a business associate agreement — not consumer tools like Mailchimp or Constant Contact, which are built for e-commerce. Above all, think of email marketing as an extension of your content marketing: give value first with newsletters, blogs, tips, and testimonials, sprinkle in the occasional offer, and route everything back to your website as the hub. Wes’s single first step for anyone not using email yet: segment out a healthy group of engaged subscribers and send them one genuinely useful email — no ask attached.
FAQs
What are the best email marketing strategies for physical therapists?
Build a clean, opted-in list of your own patients, warm up your sending domain, and send consistently and relevantly — segmented by service or condition — rather than in random bursts. Treat email as content marketing (newsletters, blogs, tips, testimonials), keep subject lines positive and clear, and mail your engaged subscribers rather than your entire list.
How can physical therapists reactivate former patients through email?
Stay relevant with consistent, condition- and service-based touches so that when a patient’s issue flares up, your email happens to be in their inbox and prompts a rebooking. Newsletters and blog emails are especially effective for reactivations — just give value far more often than you ask for anything in return.
What email marketing platforms are best for healthcare providers?
Use an encrypted, HIPAA-compliant platform that will sign a business associate agreement. Wes advises against Mailchimp and Constant Contact, which are built for e-commerce and generally won’t meet healthcare requirements; Practice Promotions uses its own compliant system for condition- and service-based campaigns.
How often should physical therapists send emails to their patients?
Multiple times a month — roughly weekly or every two weeks. The better framing is how consistently and how relevantly you’re sending: you can mail different segments for different topics, even on the same day. Most practices actually send too infrequently, which quietly erodes engagement.
What type of content should physical therapists include in their email campaigns?
Value-first content: blogs, newsletters, condition tips, patient testimonials, and review requests, with only the occasional offer. Keep it short and scannable, mobile-friendly, and easy to read, and route readers back to your website so they can rebook or refer.
Tools, resources & links mentioned
- Email marketing — how Practice Promotions runs HIPAA-compliant email campaigns for clinics.
- Newsletters — the flagship format Wes cites for opens and reactivations: print & digital newsletters.
- SEO & digital marketing — the broader system email plugs into: SEO & digital marketing.
- Related episode: Grow Your PT Business with the Market2Grow™ Strategy — where patient-list marketing fits the bigger picture.
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