The Elion Briefing

In-depth healthcare technology insights from our team of expert researchers

Patient Marketing Automation: Engaging the Right Patients at the Right Time

Recent studies indicate a decline in patient loyalty, particularly among younger demographics. A past patient might not automatically return for follow-up care, and new patients are more likely to search online—for a provider, to Google their symptoms, or to learn more about treatments or diagnostic services available to them—rather than visiting their PCP. In this environment, patient marketing automation platforms offer an opportunity for healthcare organizations to proactively engage and retain patients.

What Are Patient Marketing Automation Platforms?

Patient marketing automation tools automate targeted outreach to prospective and existing patients across multiple channels—email, SMS, search engines, and social media. They aim to drive patient acquisition, retention, and engagement by delivering personalized health information, screening reminders, and promotional campaigns for relevant services.

Unlike traditional appointment reminders or scheduling systems, these platforms focus on patient acquisition or net-new appointments and services. They are also distinct from push-message or email marketing platforms; to be included within our category, vendors must use personalization and automated targeting, as opposed to mass messaging across an entire patient population or basic transactional emails.

The Evolution of Patient Marketing Automation

In the past, hospitals and clinics relied on traditional marketing methods—billboards, TV ads, and community outreach (tactics that may hit the wrong note with consumers in the current atmosphere). As digital communications have become the norm, some practices have also adopted scheduling or email marketing platforms that include features like appointment confirmation via SMS, annual check up reminders, or promotional offers for add-on services.

However, Google and social media have permanently shifted how patients find and choose care. Today, patients actively search for symptoms, treatments, and specialists online, allowing digital advertisers to target patients who have expressed intent. Crucially, advertisers must navigate HIPAA and patient privacy concerns, especially in an environment where inadvertent patient data tracking remains a significant risk.

Advancements in AI and automation have further accelerated this shift. Early digital marketing tools focused on static ads and email blasts, but modern platforms now aim to predict patient needs, personalize outreach, and automate follow-up communication. (This mirrors similar changes that we’ve seen in the patient payments category, where vendors have begun incorporating machine learning to optimize messaging, delivery time, and message channels.)

How Patient Marketing Automation Works

These platforms combine data-driven targeting, AI-driven engagement, and automated workflows to optimize patient outreach:

• Data Sourcing & Targeting: Platforms use SEO data and paid search ads or rely on population health data to identify at-risk patients who are good candidates for targeting. Many integrate with EHRs and past patient records to re-engage individuals who may have lapsed in their care.

  
  

• Multi-Channel Outreach: Personalized email, SMS messages, social media, and digital ads engage potential patients, often leveraging retargeting based on past browsing behavior. Some platforms integrate conversational AI to answer questions, guide users through decision-making, and encourage scheduling. (There is overlap here with AI symptom checkers, the difference being that marketing automation platforms take a more macro view, including top of the funnel targeting before patients reach the chatbot and potentially retargeting afterward.)

  
  

• Conversion & Tracking: Many tools integrate with scheduling systems, allowing seamless transitions from marketing to care access. Once a patient engages, the platform should track lead conversion, monitoring which outreach strategies drive actual appointments.

  
  

Vendor Landscape: Key Players and Differentiation

Vendors in the patient marketing automation space differentiate based on data sources, campaign automation features, and integration capabilities.

• AWS Pinpoint, Braze, Customer.io, and Fertu are essentially traditional email marketing platforms with transactional and customer journey SMS and email tools, but each offer some additional features that merit inclusion within this category. For example, deeper integration into healthcare workflows (Fertu has automations for VBC enrollment and patient referrals), HIPAA compliance, or (in the case of Braze) automations to trigger retargeting ads.

  
  

• Brado, Cured, Pulsepoint, and Upfront dive deeper into healthcare-specific use-cases. Cured uses APIs to integrate healthcare data and machine learning for campaign targeting; it also has workflows for optimizing health system relationships with providers and driving referrals. Upfront uses signals like patient-reported outcomes and psychographic segmentation to target automations for appointment scheduling, payment, and more. Brado creates ad campaigns and AI chatbots for specific patient concerns. Finally, Pulsepoint’s HIPAA-compliant platform can leverage patient data to target patient populations in a disease-specific or behavior-based way.

  
  

• Liine focuses on call-based workflows, integrating with platforms like Luma and Clearwave to serve retargeting ads to patients who have contacted the practice but haven’t completed booking, and it automates followup calls with new leads.

  
  

Where Patient Marketing Automation is Headed

We’re eager to see how these tools play out alongside population health data and analytics solutions, particularly in value-based arrangements. VBC analytics technologies are already driving toward being able to predict patient needs; direct mail campaigns are common here, but we’d like to see vendors who’ve specialized in targeted, multi-channel outreach partner with these VBC organizations to deliver more effective digital communication strategies.

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Until next week!
Bobby & Team

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