By: Emma Bentley Ruzicka

At the height of the coronavirus pandemic, people cheered for beleaguered healthcare workers as they returned home at the end of their shifts. The vast majority of these people had not been hospitalized, but they recognized the sacrifice and effort inherent to being a healthcare professional in such a difficult time. That appreciation is at the heart of running a successful grateful patient program.

While grateful patient programs typically rely on a myriad of fundraising strategies, including donor visits and direct mail, digital grateful patient programs rely exclusively on digital approaches, namely email. This post will outline six fundamentals of creating and running a successful digital grateful patient program. But first, it’s important to understand who grateful patients are and why they give.

Grateful patients are individuals who have received exceptional care from a healthcare organization and feel compelled to give back. They may also be the family members or friends of patients who have received exceptional care. Grateful patients give because they want to show their appreciation for the care they’ve received and offer support to the organization that provided it.

Typically, organizations select out mid- and major-gift level prospects for direct mail and donor visits, leaving only the remaining prospects for digital grateful patient programs. Other organizations choose to incorporate all prospects into the digital program. In those cases, organizations may focus their programs more on education and stewardship rather than direct appeals. Either way, six fundamental rules of thumb apply:

1. Keep your program mission-focused.
   • Your digital grateful patient program should be aligned with your organization’s mission. Your program’s messaging should reflect your organization’s values and align with your existing marketing campaigns.
   • Keep in mind that your digital program should be about more than just raising money. It should be about building relationships and engaging your patients and community in your mission.
2.  Personalize your approach
   • There is virtually no cost difference in emailing ten people versus 10,000 people, but no one wants to feel lost in the crowd. Digital messages should be as personalized as possible. Most email marketing software programs allow for highly personalized approaches, and can be synced with a wide variety of databases to ensure that messages are tailored to the individual, based on their relationship to the organization, and, if applicable, reflective of their giving history.
3. Make it easy to give
   • The best digital grateful patient programs make giving seamless. Include donate now buttons and provide a variety of giving options, such as one-time gifts, recurring gifts, and designation to specific funds.
4. Don’t be afraid to tell a broader story
   • Asking early and often is fundraising gospel, but the best digital grateful patient programs meet this metric while offering something more. Digital grateful patient program content might include medical stories, patient stories, impact statistics, quizzes, and surveys.
   • Interactive approaches, such as opportunities for recipients to share their own experiences or send thank you messages directly to their doctor or care team, are often highly successful. As with all digital marketing, content should be varied and include text, video, and even audio messages. (Grateful patient podcast, anyone?)
5. Plan for success
   • Converting patients to donors is only half the strategy. Don’t forget to make plans for stewarding patients once they have become donors, and offering ongoing opportunities to be engaged in your organization’s mission and future fundraising campaigns.
6. Cover your bases
   • Be sure to involve your legal and compliance teams in aspects of the program related to HIPPA and email privacy. Ensure that you are following the federal, state, and local laws, in addition to your organization’s policies to safeguard patient data.

Digital grateful patient programs offer a unique opportunity to connect with patients and build relationships that last long after they’ve left the healthcare facility. By following these fundamentals, you can create a digital grateful patient program that is successful, sustainable, and mission-centered. We can assist you with your digital grateful patient strategy.

With all options for creating successful digital grateful patient programs, it comes down to budget, capacity, and technology. If you are unsure if you have the right technology or capacity for creating a successful program in-house, please contact us.

Our team is familiar with RE NXT, Salesforce, Bloomerang, DonorPerfect, BBNC, BBIS, Luminate Online, Emma, Mailchimp, Constant Contact, Omatic, WordPress, and many others. We are ready to help you build or improve a digital grateful patient program.