Healthcare businesses vary in scope, from wellness centers to doctors’ offices to hospitals. But they share one important need: They all must safeguard any protected health information (PHI) they possess, especially when doing email marketing.
Email marketing tools for healthcare help keep patients informed of promotions, upcoming appointments, and ways to stay healthy. But not all are created equal. How do you balance feature richness with HIPAA compliance needs? This article will help you choose the best email marketing software for your healthcare business, complete with a comparison table, feature breakdowns, a how-to guide, and FAQs. We used AI for research and drafting, and a HubSpot staff writer reviewed and revised this article before publication.
The stakes are high — three-quarters of patients want more personalized healthcare experiences, according to a Redpoint Global survey. Email marketing software that connects with a CRM delivers exactly that, helping healthcare organizations personalize their marketing to build stronger patient connections. For example, medical simulation company VirtaMed improved email interaction rates significantly by centralizing lead nurturing with HubSpot Marketing Hub, showing how the right platform drives measurable results for healthcare businesses.
Table of Contents
What is email marketing for healthcare?
Email marketing for healthcare enables medical practices, hospitals, clinics, and wellness centers to communicate with patients through targeted email campaigns. Healthcare email marketing software helps organizations send appointment reminders, share health education content, promote wellness programs, and maintain patient engagement while adhering to strict privacy requirements. HubSpot’s Marketing Hub supports healthcare organizations with tools that help providers personalize patient communications at scale, all connected to a Smart CRM.
Comparison Table: Email Marketing Software for Healthcare
|
Email Marketing Tool |
Best For |
Key Features |
Pricing |
|
HubSpot Marketing Hub |
Growth-focused healthcare businesses needing an all-in-one platform that unifies email marketing with sales and service in a Smart CRM |
Features that support HIPAA compliance, advanced marketing automation, unified customer platform |
Free plan available, but to store sensitive information and enable HIPAA-supporting features, you need the Enterprise plan, which starts at $3,600/mo (billed annually) and includes 5 core seats |
|
Paubox Marketing |
Security-focused organizations looking for a purpose-built HIPAA-compliant email marketing solution |
Built for HIPAA compliance and PHI content, visual workflow builder, syncs with your EHR/EMR |
Free for up to 100 contacts. Paid plans start at $259/mo billed monthly. |
|
Weave |
Small healthcare practices, especially optometry and dental, looking for email marketing that connects to a broader patient communication platform |
Features that support HIPAA compliance, all-in-one patient communication platform, integrations with healthcare software |
Plans start at $249/mo. |
|
LuxSci |
Healthcare providers, payers, and suppliers seeking a HIPAA-compliant platform for email, text, and web hosting |
Features that support HIPAA compliance, automated marketing workflows, REST-based API integration |
Contact LuxSci for pricing. |
|
Zoho Campaigns |
Healthcare companies wanting email marketing with built-in ecommerce features |
Features that support HIPAA compliance, automated appointment reminders and personalized health tips, integrations with other Zoho apps and external apps |
Free plan for up to 2,000 contacts. Paid plans start at $4/mo billed monthly. |
Best Email Marketing Software for Healthcare Businesses
Healthcare organizations need email marketing tools that balance powerful automation features with strict privacy features. The best email marketing software for healthcare helps you personalize patient communications, automate appointment workflows, and measure campaign effectiveness while supporting HIPAA compliance requirements. We evaluated email marketing platforms based on their security features, healthcare-specific functionality, ease of use, and integration capabilities to identify the top solutions for medical practices, hospitals, clinics, and wellness centers.
1. HubSpot Marketing Hub
Best For: Growth-focused healthcare businesses needing an all-in-one platform that unifies email marketing with sales and service in a Smart CRM
Key HubSpot Features:
- Features that support HIPAA compliance – As of October 2024, HubSpot supports HIPAA compliance when you enable the Sensitive Data functionality in your Enterprise account. This secure data storage is crucial for powering personalized nurture campaigns while protecting patient privacy.
- Advanced marketing automation – HubSpot Marketing Hub allows you to build automated workflows triggered by certain behaviors or events. For example, a doctor’s office can set up a workflow that sends automated email reminders to patients the day before their appointment.
- Unified customer platform – HubSpot has native sales, marketing, service, and operations tools that are all built on the same CRM. Healthcare businesses use HubSpot to gain a 360-view of their patients’ non-clinical data to drive better business decisions and personalized experiences in their email marketing and beyond.
HubSpot Marketing Hub Pricing:
It‘s important to note that HubSpot’s HIPAA-related security features are available only on Enterprise plans. Below is the pricing for Marketing Hub, based on monthly billing, current as of this blog’s first publishing date.
- Free plan available for up to two users, no credit card required.
- Marketing Hub Starter: $15/mo/seat for up to 1,000 marketing contacts.
- Marketing Hub Professional: $890/mo. Includes three core seats and up to 2,000 marketing contacts.
- Marketing Hub Enterprise: $3,600/mo (annual billing only). Includes five core seats and up to 10,000 marketing contacts
2. Paubox Marketing
Best For: Security-focused organizations looking for a purpose-built HIPAA-compliant email marketing solution
Key Paubox Marketing Features:
- Built for HIPAA compliance and PHI content – This email marketing software was specifically built for healthcare companies to ensure their marketing emails are HIPAA compliant. BAAs are included with all accounts. This tool allows marketing teams to send personalized emails that can include PHI, ensuring high levels of protection through HITRUST certification and third-party audits.
- Visual workflow builder – This tool has an easy-to-use visual workflow builder, allowing marketers to build advanced drip campaigns triggered by user actions.
- Syncs with your EHR/EMR – Sync contact data by using an API to connect with your EHR or EMR.
Paubox Marketing’s pricing is based on the number of contacts you have. All plans have access to the same features. Paubox Marketing is free for up to 100 contacts. Paid plans start at $259/mo billed monthly.
3. Weave
Best For: Small healthcare practices, especially optometry and dental, looking for email marketing that connects to a broader patient communication platform
Key Weave Features:
- Features that support HIPAA compliance – Weave has a standard BAA that is an addendum to its Terms of Service. It also provides data encryption in transit and at rest.
- All-in-one patient communication platform – In addition to email marketing, this software has insurance verification, phone calls, online scheduling, and billing & payments all on one platform.
- Integrations with healthcare software – This tool integrates with popular healthcare software, including AthenaHealth, Ortho2 Edge, Advanced MD, and Mindbody.
Weave has three plans, starting at $249/mo. It also has separate Enterprise pricing. You must contact Weave for pricing details.
4. LuxSci
Best For: Healthcare providers, payers, and suppliers seeking a HIPAA-compliant platform for email, text, and web hosting
Key LuxSci Features:
- Features that support HIPAA compliance – This company provides a BAA to customers with HIPAA accounts. It also has a HITRUST CSF certification, and annual reviews for risk analysis and HIPAA.
- Automated marketing workflows – Create automated workflows that adapt based on user behavior.
- REST-based API integration – Connect email marketing data with your existing software, such as EMRs and EHRs.
LuxSci Pricing:
LuxSci doesn’t publish pricing on its website. Contact LuxSci for pricing.
5. Zoho Campaigns
Best For: Healthcare companies wanting email marketing with built-in ecommerce features
Key Zoho Campaigns Features:
- Features that support HIPAA compliance – You can toggle on HIPAA settings in your Zoho Campaigns Settings. You can request a BAA template from Zoho. It also provides audit logs and user roles and permissions. To help protect PHI, you can restrict data access via API or restrict data export. You can also mark fields that contain PHI.
- Automated appointment reminders and personalized health tips – Reduce no-shows by setting up automated reminder emails. Educate patients by creating segments to automate personalized health guidance emails as well.
- Integrations with other Zoho apps and external apps – Integrate with Zoho CRM or Zoho Survey, or external apps like HubSpot and SurveyMonkey.
Zoho Campaigns offers a 14-day free trial. It also has a Forever Free plan ($0) for up to 2,000 contacts and 6,000 emails/month. Paid plans start at $4/mo billed monthly and go up based on how many contacts you manage.
Benefits of Email Marketing Software for Healthcare
Reduces Patient No-shows
Automated email reminders help ensure that your patients never forget an appointment, while saving your team time.
Provides Better Personalization
Segmentation helps you group recipients based on their interests. Additionally, an email marketing tool that connects to a CRM, like HubSpot’s all-in-one platform, ensures that you can personalize your emails with patient preferences.
Improves Patient Satisfaction
Email marketing can create trust and rapport with patients, providing them with helpful tips, reminders, and relationship-building content.
Proves ROI
The right email marketing tool not only boosts ROI — it helps you prove it. For example, HubSpot Marketing Hub has an analytics dashboard that helps you connect email marketing campaigns with revenue outcomes. HubSpot enables tracking opens, clicks, conversions, and revenue attribution on the same platform, eliminating disjointed systems.
4 Important Features for Healthcare Email Marketing Software
- Security. For healthcare companies, security features are paramount to help ensure you use your email marketing tool in a HIPAA-compliant way. Check for features that help you protect PHI, such as sensitive data settings, encryption in transit and at rest, user roles and permissions, and audit logs. Additionally, it’s crucial that you ensure the vendor will sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA).
- Automations. Help your healthcare marketing team save time with automations, including automated appointment reminders. It’s even better if they can build these automations without needing to use code. HubSpot helps marketers create workflows with an easy-to-use visual editor.
- Integrations with existing healthcare software. When you’re looking for an email marketing tool, make sure it’ll integrate well with your existing tech stack. Check for integrations with your healthcare software, including EHR/EMR integrations. HubSpot customers have access to over 1,900 apps in the HubSpot Marketplace, and for custom integrations, they can work with HubSpot partners.
- Analytics and reporting. Boosting the bottom line means you need to identify which campaigns are actually performing well. The right email marketing software helps you track opens, clicks, conversions, and revenue per campaign. HubSpot Marketing Hub makes it easy for marketers to identify key trends and see how interactions contribute to revenue.
How to Choose an Email Marketing Tool for Healthcare (Step-by-Step)
Step 1: Audit your current email marketing process.
Talk to your marketing team and evaluate your existing marketing software. What is the current process for sending email marketing messages? What does your marketing team wish they could do? What problems are they running into? An audit will unearth the unique needs that’ll shape your must-have features, which we’ll identify in our next step.
Step 2: Identify must-have features.
As we went over in the section above, security features that help you meet HIPAA requirements are a must-have for healthcare companies. But your specific business might have additional needs. If your team is on the go a lot, for example, a mobile-friendly email marketing tool might be top of mind.
Step 3: Research.
Search Google, read reviews, and talk to fellow healthcare marketers to find recommended email marketing tools. You’ll also need to review each vendor’s product pages and documentation to make sure their solutions can actually meet the needs you identified in step two.
Step 4: Demo solutions.
Once you have your shortlist of tools for email marketing for healthcare, it’s time to put them to the test. Sign up for free trials or demos to get a better feel for how the tools work and if they meet your needs.
Step 5: Choose a unified customer platform — like HubSpot.
A major pain point for many marketers is having disconnected tools that fail to give them a 360-degree view of their customers. HubSpot is an all-in-one platform that connects email marketing to its Smart CRM so you can spot trends, connect campaigns to results, and power your campaigns with customer insights.
MedicAlert replaced its disconnected systems with HubSpot’s all-in-one platform to successfully track KPIs across marketing, finance, sales, and service.
How to Create Email Marketing Campaigns for Healthcare
Creating effective email marketing campaigns for healthcare requires you to balance patient engagement with regulatory compliance. Below are some suggested steps to take.
1. Define your goals.
Establish clear objectives for your healthcare email campaigns before launching. Healthcare organizations use email marketing to achieve multiple goals, including reducing no-shows, educating patients, and making service announcements. HubSpot helps healthcare teams set campaign goals and track performance against marketing outcomes.
2. Ensure compliance.
Healthcare email marketing must meet regulatory requirements to protect patient information. Three key considerations guide healthcare email campaigns:
HubSpot’s Marketing Hub can be configured to support compliant email workflows when used appropriately by healthcare organizations.
3. Create segments based on goals.
Segment your email list into targeted groups that align with campaign objectives. Ensure each segment includes only contacts who opted into that specific communication category — for example, contacts in a healthy eating tips segment must have explicitly consented to receive that content.
4. Tailor content based on segments.
Develop personalized email content that addresses each segment‘s specific needs and interests. Healthcare email content performs best when it provides value through patient education, wellness tips, or timely service information. HubSpot’s Marketing Hub offers personalization tokens and dynamic content that allow healthcare marketers to customize messages.
5. Set up your email marketing tool.
Configure your email marketing platform with proper safeguards and compliance considerations in place. Healthcare organizations should work with their legal and compliance teams to establish appropriate processes.
6. Measure results.
Track key performance metrics to evaluate campaign effectiveness and patient engagement. Healthcare email marketers monitor open rates, click-through rates, appointment bookings, and unsubscribe rates to understand campaign performance. HubSpot’s reporting dashboard shows email performance metrics that help healthcare teams assess campaigns against their goals.
7. Refine and iterate.
Continuously improve email campaigns based on performance data and patient feedback. Regularly test subject lines, content formats, and send times to optimize engagement rates. HubSpot’s A/B testing tools allow healthcare marketers to test different email variations to identify what resonates with patients.
Frequently Asked Questions: Email Marketing for Healthcare
What is the best email marketing tool for healthcare?
The best email marketing tool for healthcare depends on your organization’s specific needs and size. HubSpot Marketing Hub is the top choice for growth-focused healthcare businesses that need an all-in-one platform with features that support HIPAA compliance, advanced marketing automation, and a unified customer platform. For organizations specifically prioritizing HIPAA compliance features, Paubox Marketing offers a purpose-built solution and includes a BAA with all of its accounts. Small practices, especially in dental and optometry, may prefer Weave’s patient communication platform that includes email marketing alongside scheduling and billing.
What features should I look for in email marketing tools for healthcare?
When evaluating email marketing tools for healthcare, look for features that support HIPAA compliance, including a Business Associate Agreement (BAA), data encryption in transit and at rest, and audit logs. Additionally, prioritize marketing automation capabilities for appointment reminders and patient nurture campaigns, integrations with your existing healthcare software like EHR/EMR systems, and robust measurement tools that show how your campaigns perform and contribute to your bottom line. A visual workflow builder makes it easier for marketing teams to create automated campaigns without coding knowledge.
Is HubSpot good for healthcare?
HubSpot is a good option for companies looking for email marketing tools for healthcare professionals. As of October 2024, you can enable the Sensitive Data functionality in your Enterprise account and use the tool in a HIPAA-compliant way. HubSpot stands out because its email marketing is built into its Smart CRM, enabling healthcare organizations to personalize patient communications using CRM data while tracking email performance alongside revenue outcomes. Healthcare companies like Santagostino and MedicAlert have successfully used HubSpot Marketing Hub to grow their patient base and improve marketing effectiveness.
How much does email marketing software for healthcare cost?
Email marketing software for healthcare varies widely in cost depending on features and contact list size. Paubox Marketing is free for up to 100 contacts. Paid plans for email marketing software for healthcare typically start between $4-$259 per month (billed monthly) for small contact lists. Weave starts at $249/month for its all-in-one patient communication platform. Most healthcare email marketing tools are priced based on contact count or feature tier. HubSpot’s CRM is free, but its Sensitive Data functionality is available only on Enterprise plans, so a business seeking to achieve HIPAA compliance will need an Enterprise plan.
Meet HubSpot, the Top Email Marketing Choice for Healthcare Companies
Marketing Hub is built on the all-in-one HubSpot customer platform, so you can connect your email marketing, sales, and operations, plus power your marketing efforts with your CRM data.
- Features that support HIPAA compliance: When you activate the Sensitive Data functionality in your Enterprise account, HubSpot Marketing Hub can be configured to support HIPAA-compliant workflows, helping healthcare organizations protect patient information while executing effective email campaigns.
- Advanced marketing automations: Enhance the patient experience by creating automated workflows with helpful email content targeted for specific segments, such as healthy eating tips for those who opted into receiving them. Build appointment reminder sequences, new patient onboarding journeys, and seasonal health campaigns without writing code.
- Email marketing natively connected to Smart CRM: HubSpot stands out because its email marketing is built into its Smart CRM, meaning your CRM data can power more personalized emails and connect campaigns to revenue results. Track which email campaigns drive appointments, measure patient engagement over time, and prove marketing ROI on a single platform.
Healthcare company Santagostino grew its customer base over 9x larger using HubSpot Marketing Hub. Childcare marketplace Winnie used HubSpot Marketing Hub to optimize its email program, increasing active suppliers by 32% in the first month.
Ready to see how HubSpot can work for your healthcare business? Get started with HubSpot today.
Disclaimer: This blog post is not legal advice. Instead, it provides background information to help you better understand various healthcare email marketing tools and HIPAA compliance. This information is not the same as legal advice, where an attorney applies the law to your specific circumstances, so we insist that you consult an attorney if you’d like advice on your interpretation of this information or its accuracy.
