Episode #619: Should I Start An Email List - Abundant Practice Podcast

Summary

Abundant Practice Podcast Summary

Episode #619: Should I Start An Email List
Release Date: February 8, 2025
Host: Allison Puryear

Introduction

In Episode #619 of the Abundant Practice Podcast, host Allison Puryear delves into the nuanced topic of whether therapists should cultivate an email list to connect with potential clients. This episode challenges conventional marketing strategies often recommended in the therapy community, offering a fresh perspective that may surprise many listeners.

Understanding Email Lists in the Context of Therapy

Allison begins by defining what an email list entails, highlighting its common use in the business world for building rapport, sharing valuable content, and promoting products or services through lead magnets like checklists, workbooks, and coupons.

Allison [00:36]: "An email list is a collection of email addresses from people who sign up to receive content from you. It's really common in the business world where it's used to build rapport, share valuable information, and eventually encourage people to buy a product or a service."

Allison’s Reservations About Email Lists for Therapists

Despite recognizing the effectiveness of email lists in general business practices, Allison expresses skepticism about their suitability for therapists. She articulates several concerns:

Mismatch of Content and Intent:
- The nature of therapeutic work is intimate and trust-based, which may not align well with the often impersonal nature of email marketing.
Allison [02:20]: "Therapy holds a really different level of responsibility. Our clients often come to us with significant emotional needs, and the boundaries that we maintain reflect that."
Potential Intrusiveness:
- Surprise emails, even with valuable content, might feel intrusive to potential clients seeking a safe and private therapeutic relationship.
Allison [03:15]: "Surprise emails, even with the best intentions, might feel intrusive."
Boundaries and Ethical Concerns:
- Regular emails could blur the lines between professional therapy and marketing, leading to ethical dilemmas, especially when clients engage in clinical discussions via email.
Allison [04:50]: "Without clear boundaries, this approach can lead to misunderstandings about the client-therapist relationship."
Alignment with Therapeutic Goals:
- She emphasizes that therapy should be about clients finding the right fit through intentional research rather than being persistently nurtured through an inbox.
Allison [05:30]: "I want clients to find me through intentional research and trust that I'm the right fit, not because I stayed in their inbox."

Alternatives to Email Lists

Instead of traditional email marketing, Allison suggests alternative methods that better respect the therapeutic boundaries and client needs:

Content Marketing through Blogs and Social Media:
- Creating blogs and vlogs allows therapists to share valuable insights without the intrusive nature of direct emails.
Allison [06:00]: "If you're really eager to share valuable content with potential clients, blog about it instead. Vlog about it instead."
Information Products:
- For those interested in creating ebooks or courses, an email list can be beneficial if it's clearly tied to specific products rather than ongoing marketing.
Allison [06:30]: "If you're planning to create an information product like an ebook or a course, an email list can make sense for sure."

Personal Stance and Flexibility

Allison concludes by emphasizing that the decision to use an email list should align with the therapist’s personal and clinical values. She acknowledges that while email lists may not be suitable for traditional therapeutic practices, they can be effective in coaching or consulting roles.

Allison [06:50]: "If an email list fits your practice, it aligns with your values. Go for it. But if you're like me and it doesn't sit as well clinically or personally, know that it's okay to skip it."

She encourages listeners to reflect on their own practice needs and make informed decisions rather than following generic advice.

Engagement and Resources

To foster community interaction, Allison invites listeners to share their thoughts on email lists in the chat and offers a free worksheet titled "Common Marketing Strategies for Therapists" for those seeking guidance on alternative marketing approaches.

Allison [07:00]: "I'm curious about your thoughts. Do email lists the future for therapists? Do you share my concerns? I would love to hear your perspectives in the chat."

Conclusion

In this thought-provoking episode, Allison Puryear provides a critical examination of email lists as a marketing tool for therapists. She balances her personal reservations with an open-minded approach, allowing therapists to make choices that best fit their practice values and client relationships. This episode serves as a valuable resource for therapists navigating the complexities of marketing while maintaining the sanctity of their therapeutic roles.

Additional Resources

Membership Program: Abundance Party – Step-by-step guidance on building a thriving private practice.
Free Tools: Abundance Practice Building – Access checklists, worksheets, and more.
Support Email: help@abundancepracticebuilding.com

Notable Quote:

Allison [05:30]: "I want clients to find me through intentional research and trust that I'm the right fit, not because I stayed in their inbox."

Thank you for tuning into the Abundant Practice Podcast. Continue building a practice that feels right for you!

Transcript

A (0:00)

Foreign welcome to Ask Allison.

B (0:09)

Y'all ask the questions about having a fun and thriving practice and I answer them. We have a worksheet for you today so you can bring this answer into your life. You can Access that@AbundancePracticeBuilding.com links where you'll also be able to ask any questions you have for Ask Allison. If you want more support, we've got some free trainings in there too. If you can't get enough Ask Allison, check out our YouTube channel for our entire Ask Allison library.

A (0:36)

Welcome back to Ask Allison. Here's today's question. I'm considering starting an email list and newsletter. I'm on email lists, including yours, but I don't see a lot in the therapy space. Should therapists use email lists to connect with potential clients? So spoiler alert, my opinion may surprise you. It kind of goes against the grain of what a lot of the practice builders recommend. But hear me out. And before I get to it, I would like to thank Therapy Notes for sponsor Ask Allison. I've talked about Therapy Notes for years and I know their features by heart, but here's what truly sets them apart. First, they genuinely care about your experience. It's not just about troubleshooting. They actively implement user suggested features like therapy search, secure messaging, clinical outcome tracking, real time insurance checks, and Smooth super build process. Everybody at TherapyNotes believes in the product and wants you to love it too. Plus, they're independently owned, which means no venture capital and no pressure to prioritize investors over customers. This independence allows them to keep prices fair, focus on innovation, and prioritize customer experience. With over 100,000 therapists already on board, they've proven you don't have to compromise success for quality. Ready to see for yourself? Try Therapy notes free for two months with code abundant@therapynotes.com okay, so for those who are unfamiliar, an email list is a collection of email addresses from people who sign up to receive content from you. It's really common in the business world where it's used to build rapport, share valuable information, and eventually encourage people to buy a product or a service. You've probably experienced this when you sign up for a checklist, a workbook, a training, a coupon. You give your email address, you got the freebie. It's called a lead magnet, typically. And then you start receiving follow up emails from people. So before you start figuring out what kind of content to include in like a 5 email autoresponder series for potential clients, I want you to hear me out. I don't like an email list for potential therapy clients. Imagine this. Your potential client signs up for your freebie. Let's say it's 10 steps to accepting your body. It is helpful, it's inspiring. It's exactly what they need to kind of get started on that journey. Certainly it's not therapy, but then two days later they get an email titled how to avoid a binge that lights up their phone in the middle of a date and the phone is sitting in between them on the table. So even if you mention in the fine print that they're going to receive follow up emails, and people are accustomed to getting follow up emails from getting on email addresses, that doesn't necessarily mean they're prepared for your emails to come through with subject lines that need to get them to open them right. They need to be compelling subject lines. But our subject lines are going to hit harder than like 25% off sale from your favorite clothing store. Surprise emails, even with the best intentions, might feel intrusive. And I want to be really clear, I do not think an email list is unethical or bad in any way. I just personally, they don't like it. If you're using an email list to remind potential clients that you're available for therapy, how do you balance genuinely helping them with marketing your services? So for me, therapy isn't about persuading someone to come back or encouraging them to schedule a session necessarily. I want clients to find me through intentional research and trust that I'm the right fit, not because I stayed in their inbox. I want them to be like, okay, let's go, I'm ready and make an appointment. My ideal clients are very motivated and they probably aren't going to sit on an email list for months or years before getting the help they want. I also think there's something really sacred about the work we do in therapy. It is raw, it's intimate. It's built on trust. And sending regular emails like 7 Ways to Set boundaries can kind of blur the lines between the therapeutic relationship and marketing. As therapists, it is our job to keep that space safe and protected. I think that, you know, seven ways to set boundaries. These are better suited to things like blogs, blogs, social media. It's not as personal as landing in their inbox. They have to have sought you out to, to receive the information or to see it. If you're emailing potential clients frequently, how do you communicate with them? The emailing you back regularly isn't appropriate. So with email marketing, we want people to email us back. We want to engage with them. But I can imagine a potential client hitting reply and saying oh I totally. This is so me. I'm strugg with X, Y and Z in my relationship right now. What do you think about that? Without clear boundaries, this approach can lead to misunderstandings about the client therapist relationship, about how to effectively use HIPAA compliant email about these kinds of things. This person isn't your client and here they are engaging with you over clinical things. Email list can also feel a lot more like a coaching approach than therapy. Coaching is amazing. It's helped me in my own life. But therapy holds a really different level of responsibility. Our clients often come to us with significant emot needs and the boundaries that we maintain reflect that. So if you're really eager to share valuable content with potential clients, blog about it instead. Vlog about it instead. This allows people to access your insights on their own terms without feeling like you're intruding. And if you're planning to create an information product like an ebook or a course, an email list can make sense for sure. Just make sure it's really clearly tied to a specific product. So at the end of the day, this is about what feels right for you. I just want to put my concerns in your head for you to consider if they fit for you or not instead of just blindly creating an email list because that's what somebody else told you to do. If an email list fits your practice, it aligns with your values. Go for it. But if you're like me and it doesn't sit as well clinically or personally, know that it's okay to skip it. There is no one size fits all approach to building a successful practice. I certainly use an email list for abundance in a coaching or consulting capacity, so I'm definitely not anti emailist in general. So I'm curious about your thoughts. Are email list the future for therapists? Do you share my concerns? I would love to hear your perspectives in the chat. And if you're navigating questions about marketing or practice building, I've got a worksheet to help you out that's for free. Just DM me the word sheets to get this week's worksheet, which is Common marketing strategies for therapists. So you can see some other options outside of that. All right, let's keep building a practice the way that feels great for you. I'll talk to you later if you're.