You have a list of 2,000 patients who’ve walked through your door, paid you money, and trusted you with their face. You know their names. You have their email addresses. You know what treatments they got and when.
And you’re doing nothing with it.
Instead, you’re spending $3,000 a month on Google Ads chasing strangers who’ve never heard of you. Makes sense, right?
Email marketing returns $36-42 for every dollar spent. That’s not a typo. That’s industry-consensus data across every major email platform. Healthcare emails specifically have a 37.07% open rate, according to Mailchimp’s 2023 benchmark data. That’s higher than almost every other industry.
Your patient list isn’t just a list. It’s the most valuable marketing asset your med spa owns. I cover the full acquisition side in my med spa marketing guide, but this article is about the money you’re already leaving on the table. And you’re ignoring it because you think email marketing means sending a monthly newsletter with stock photos that nobody reads.
Why email works better for med spas than almost any other business
Most businesses send emails to cold leads. People who signed up for a free PDF or entered a contest. These people barely remember opting in, and they don’t care about your emails.
Med spas are different. Your list is made of people who’ve physically been in your clinic, had a treatment, and paid you money. They’ve seen your work. They trust your hands on their face. That’s a relationship that most businesses would kill for.
When you email a past BOTOX patient 10 weeks after her last treatment to remind her that her results typically last 3-4 months, that’s not spam. That’s a service. She was going to need that appointment anyway. You just made it easy for her to book it with you instead of searching Google and finding your competitor.
That’s why the data looks the way it does. Welcome emails achieve 83.63% open rates, per MailerLite. Automated emails generate 320% more revenue than standard campaigns. The highest engagement day for healthcare emails is Saturday, with 49% view rates and 5% click-through rates.
This channel is practically begging you to use it. And it costs almost nothing compared to ads.
The three emails every med spa needs running today
You don’t need a complicated email strategy with 47 sequences and a content calendar that takes 10 hours a week to execute. You need three automated workflows that run on their own and bring patients back through your door.
1. The BOTOX/filler reminder sequence
This is the single highest-ROI email you will ever send.
BOTOX typically lasts 3-4 months. Fillers last 6-12 months depending on the product and placement. Your patient management software knows exactly when each patient got her last treatment.
Set up an automated email that fires at the 10-12 week mark after a BOTOX treatment:
Email 1 (Week 10): Subject: “Time to touch up?” Body: Short and personal. “Hi [Name], it’s been about 10 weeks since your last BOTOX treatment. Most patients notice their results starting to soften right about now. Want me to grab your usual time slot before it fills up? [Book now link]”
Email 2 (Week 12, if no booking): Subject: “Your BOTOX is wearing off” Body: “Just checking in. Your last treatment was 12 weeks ago, and most patients are ready for their next session by now. We have [specific day] openings this week if you want to pop in. [Book now link]”
Email 3 (Week 14, if still no booking): Subject: “Quick question, [Name]” Body: “I noticed you haven’t booked your touch-up yet. Everything okay? If there’s anything I can help with, scheduling-wise or otherwise, just reply to this email. I’m here. [Book now link]”
Three emails. Fully automated. They fire based on treatment dates, not arbitrary calendar schedules. And they bring back patients who were going to need the treatment anyway but just hadn’t gotten around to booking.
Set up the same sequence for fillers (at the 5-month mark), for laser treatments (at whatever the maintenance interval is), and for any other recurring treatment you offer.
2. The lapsed patient reactivation campaign
Someone came in 6 months ago. Got a facial. Loved it. Never came back. She didn’t leave because she was unhappy. She left because life happened and your clinic fell off her radar.
Reactivation campaigns targeting patients who’ve been inactive for 6+ months are one of the highest-value tactics in med spa marketing, cited by Growth99 and EDNA Digital Marketing as a key revenue recovery tool.
Here’s the sequence:
Email 1 (6 months inactive): Subject: “We miss your face (literally)” Body: “Hey [Name], it’s been a while since we’ve seen you. We’ve added some new treatments since your last visit, including [mention one or two new services]. Your skin deserves some attention. Want to book a visit? [Book now link]”
Email 2 (7 months, if no response): Subject: “A little something for you” Body: “I wanted to reach out one more time. As a thank-you for being a past patient, here’s a complimentary [add-on treatment, like a lip mask or LED add-on] with your next booking. Just mention this email when you schedule. [Book now link]”
Email 3 (8 months, final attempt): Subject: “Last chance: your welcome-back gift expires soon” Body: “Your complimentary [add-on] expires at the end of the month. After that, I’ll stop bugging you. But I’d love to see you back. [Book now link]”
Notice the pattern. Each email escalates the value offer slightly while keeping the tone friendly and personal. The last email creates urgency and sets a boundary so you’re not emailing someone forever.
3. The seasonal treatment campaign
Beyond the automated sequences, you need 3-4 planned campaigns per year tied to seasonal treatment demand.
January: “New Year skin reset” promoting chemical peels, microneedling, and treatment packages. This is when motivation is highest.
April/May: “Summer prep” promoting laser hair removal, body contouring, and skin tightening. Push the “start now so you’re ready by June” angle.
September: “Post-summer repair” promoting treatments for sun damage, pigmentation, and skin rejuvenation. Her skin took a beating all summer. Remind her.
November: “Gift cards and holiday packages.” This is one of the highest-revenue months for gift card sales. Email your entire list with gift card options and holiday treatment bundles.
Each seasonal campaign should be 2-3 emails over 7-10 days. Not a single blast. A short series that builds urgency.
What to write (and what not to write)
Good email content:
- Treatment reminders based on actual patient history
- New treatment announcements with a specific reason to try them
- Before and after results (with patient permission) showing real work
- Time-sensitive offers with actual expiration dates
- Personal notes from the provider (“I just learned a new technique for under-eye filler that I’m excited about”)
Bad email content:
- Monthly newsletters packed with six different topics nobody cares about
- Generic “Happy Holidays from our team” messages with a group photo
- Lengthy educational articles about skin biology
- Constant discount offers that train patients to wait for sales
- Emails with no call to action (what do you want her to DO after reading this?)
Every email needs one job. Not three. Not five. One. Book an appointment. Buy a gift card. Try a new treatment. Pick one and build the email around it.
Segmentation: stop sending the same email to everyone
Here’s where most med spas leave money on the table. They send the same email to everyone on their list. The BOTOX patient gets the same email as the facial patient who gets the same email as the woman who came in once for a consultation and never booked.
These are completely different patients at completely different stages. Treat them that way.
Segment by treatment type: BOTOX patients get BOTOX reminders. Filler patients get filler reminders. Laser patients get laser content. This is obvious but almost nobody does it.
Segment by recency: Patients who came in last month get different messaging than patients who haven’t been in for six months. Active patients get upsell offers. Lapsed patients get reactivation campaigns.
Segment by spend level: Your top 20% of patients by lifetime spend are your VIPs. They should get early access to new treatments, exclusive events, and personal outreach. These patients are worth 10x your average patient. Treat them like it.
Segment by treatment interest: If someone clicked on your laser hair removal email but didn’t book, she’s interested. Send her a follow-up with more information, before-and-afters, or a time-limited offer. Don’t just blast her again next month.
Technical setup: keep it simple
You don’t need a $500/month email platform. For most med spas, Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, or your patient management software’s built-in email tools will do the job.
What you need:
- A clean list. Remove bounced emails. Segment by treatment type and recency. If you haven’t emailed your list in over a year, expect higher unsubscribes on the first send. That’s normal.
- Automation capability. Your platform needs to send emails triggered by dates (treatment date + X weeks). This is table stakes in 2020. If your platform can’t do it, switch.
- Tracking. Opens, clicks, and most importantly, bookings. Set up booking links with UTM parameters so you can see exactly how many appointments each email drives.
- Mobile-friendly templates. Over 60% of emails are opened on phones. If your emails look bad on a phone, they go straight to trash.
The math: why this is a no-brainer
Let’s do some quick numbers. Say you have 1,500 patients on your email list.
Your BOTOX reminder emails go to 400 patients per quarter (those who had BOTOX 10-12 weeks ago). With a 37% open rate and a 10% booking rate from openers, that’s 15 appointments per quarter from one automated email sequence. At an average of $350 per BOTOX visit, that’s $5,250 in revenue per quarter. $21,000 per year. From emails that cost you essentially nothing to send once they’re set up.
Your reactivation campaign goes to 300 lapsed patients. Even if you only get 5% to come back and they each spend $400 on their return visit, that’s $6,000. And once they’re back, a good chunk of them will become regulars again.
Add seasonal campaigns, gift card promotions, and product emails, and you’re looking at $50,000-$100,000 in additional annual revenue from a channel that costs you maybe $50/month for the software and a few hours of setup time.
Compare that to Google Ads, where you’re paying $30-$60 per lead and not every lead becomes a patient.
Stop spending all your money on strangers
I cover the broader retention strategy in my guide to patient retention strategies. The patients who already know you, trust you, and have paid you money are the easiest people to sell to. You don’t need to convince them your clinic is good. They already know.
You just need to remind them you exist.
Set up the BOTOX reminder sequence this week. Build the reactivation campaign next week. Plan your seasonal campaigns for the quarter. Your patient list is sitting there waiting to be activated.
Use it.