A physician recruiter’s guide to email part 2: Get your email opened

Congratulations! You successfully avoided the spam filters, and your email has landed in a physician's inbox. Now let’s see if your email can pass the subject line test.

Every morning at 5:45 a.m., my alarm sounds. Like most Americans, before I get out of bed, I look at my phone. One recent morning, I had 113 emails in my personal inbox and an additional 233 waiting for me at work. Do I read all of these emails? Of course not! Instead, I skim.

I look at each of the subject lines and I ask myself, “How does this benefit me?” If the answer is “It doesn’t,” then into the trash it goes.

This is the same process that physicians use to manage their own inboxes every day. It is human nature to want to know why they should spend their time opening your email.

Give physicians a reason to open your email

Competing with other emails can make the inbox a hostile environment. However, there is hope for physician recruiters, and it lies in the subject line—the holy grail to marketers. This single line of text is the gatekeeper to your email for physicians, and it’s the single greatest factor determining if your email will become read or trashed.

According to marketing tool Hubspot, 47% of email recipients open an email based on the subject line alone. 

Here are 6 basic concepts that can help your email stay out of the trash

• Be personal. A poll by Adestra, an internet marketing service, found that open rates increase by nearly 25% when the subject line is personalized.
   
• Be natural. You’re human, so don’t sound like a robot! Use personal pronouns and be exciting! (But remember that excessive punctuation is a spam trigger.)
  
  
• Be relevant. Make sure the physician sees the relevance in the subject line so they find value in opening your email. If you’re too vague, the physician may delete your email. At the same time, you also don’t want your subject line to be a tell-all. You need to find a balance that shows that your email has value and that value needs to entice the physician to open your email to learn more.
  
  
• Be quick. Keep your subject lines to 50 characters or less. According to Hubspot, this allows for easy scan-ability. (But remember from Part 1 of this series that 1-word subject lines, like “Hi,” are a spam trigger.)
  
  
• Create a sense of urgency. This tactic can elicit an open for FOMO (fear of missing out). An example: We’re hiring 180 physicians by Feb. 15. Submit your CV today.
  
  
• Use numbers. People respond well to concrete figures. Try: “7 reasons to read this email.”

Another way to look at subject lines: Keepers, Sleepers & Bleepers

According to LinkedIn, there are three categories of subject lines; Keepers, Sleepers and Bleepers.

Keepers: These are well-crafted and inspire a candidate to open the email.

Examples:

• [Shared Connection] suggested I reach out to you.
• Hello from a fellow avid scuba diver.

This is the perfect example of how recruiters can benefit from inDepth candidate interviews by getting those personal details about a candidate. Learn more about inDepth interviews here.

Sleepers: These are standard, run of the mill, boring and generally put the candidate to sleep (these almost never entice an open)

Examples:

• Career Opportunity with XYZ Co.
• Family Medicine Position Available
• Looking for a flexible family medicine physician with a great background.
  
  

Bleepers: These are the subject lines that are so poorly written that it makes the candidate say, “What the bleep!?”

Examples:

• Did you get my earlier message?
• I couldn’t reach you via phone, I hope you check your email.
• Nice LinkedIn profile. How are you?

At the end of the day, if your emails are not getting opened, they’re not getting seen and your jobs are not getting filled. Use these tips to prove to your readers that your email is worth the read.

In part 3 of this series on physician recruitment emails, we’ll discuss how to inspire action through your emails.

Part 1 of this series: Getting your email delivered

Part 3 of this series: Inspiring Action in your emails

Part 4 of this series: Cooking up a Killer CTA (Call-to-Action)