Doing a Happy Dance for Fewer Emails

by Stacy Palmer

We send a lot of emails.  Those on our mailing list will likely agree. 

To be transparent, we’ve struggled with balancing our communications over the years. We have so much great information to share from the generous contributions of our members, and we’ve worked hard to ensure no one misses something that might support their patient experience efforts. But, at times our members have shared that the frequency of emails can be overwhelming. 

Earlier this year we brought on a new marketing manager. Emily is a polished communicator with great energy and fresh perspective. Within a few weeks she came to our team with a bold idea, “Let’s only send ONE email per week.” At first we gasped, as it seemed such a departure from our typical approach. But the more we listened to Emily’s reasoning, the more excited we became.

She reinforced the opportunity to make things easier for busy healthcare professionals, to consolidate our content and to create a publication that our community could anticipate arriving in their inbox on the same day at the same time each week. She believed there could be calm and rhythm in the predictability of a newsletter received in a concentrated format. 

In healthcare, we emphasize the need to listen to those we serve. Recognizing the opportunity to heed those words and put them into action at the Institute, we looked to our community for feedback.  First, we introduced the weekly email idea to our boards and councils. With their incredibly positive response, we then conducted four virtual focus groups. (Note: if you haven’t signed up to participate on our Virtual Focus Groups, I encourage you to do so!) 

The focus groups were unanimously in favor of the transition. In fact, two different members on two separate focus groups exclaimed they were doing a ‘happy dance’ at their desks as Emily shared the idea. They appreciated our understanding of their professional challenges, the intention to streamline content and the opportunity to contribute feedback to the process.

So, today, in an effort to consolidate and improve our communications, we are excited to introduce PX Weekly…your Patient Experience newsletter.

You will still receive all the resources and information you’ve come to expect from the Institute, just in a consolidated, weekly publication. While that means emails will be longer, we’ve designed PX Weekly to be consistent and clean with simple icons to help you quickly find your favorite features such as event calendars, podcasts, learning bites or blogs.

There will be occasions in which you receive additional emails from the Institute, but we will limit those to special announcements such as new issues of Patient Experience Journal, new white paper releases and event-specific communications for Patient Experience Conference or PX Pop-ups.  

Take a look at the first issue. We would love to hear your thoughts. We welcome any suggestions on how we can improve the newsletter to best support your efforts to positively impact the healthcare experience for patients, families and those providing care. 

We’re working hard to support your needs and hope this change will help keep you engaged, informed and better prepared to do the important work you do. (And maybe even inspired to do a little happy dance!)

Stacy Palmer, CPXP
Senior Vice President and COO
The Beryl Institute