Like any first impression, the electronic messages (DocMails in our case) you send to physician candidates let them judge based solely on your tone, punctuation and writing ability. Effective communication takes time: time to formulate thoughts; time to figure out what you’re really trying to say; and time to write your message out in a clear way. It’s not just what you say, but how you say it!

Over the years, our Doximity Talent Finder Client Success Team has seen some very effective DocMail messages and some not so effective ones too. We asked our team to share some examples of what NOT to do when writing messages to clinicians - check them out below.

1. Adopting an email blast strategy. Although it may be tempting to want to send out as many messages as you can to clinicians, we find that this strategy does not always lead to the best results on Doximity Talent Finder. Clinicians respond best to personalized messages that are specifically tailored to their background and experience. In fact, all of our best performing DocMail subject lines we’ve seen on Doximity have been sent to groups of less than 100 physicians. 

2. Not optimizing for mobile device reading. 80% of physicians access Doximity on their mobile device, so it is paramount to format your DocMail messages in a way that can be easily read by clinicians. Be concise. Use paragraphs, indents and bullet points to get the reader through your text more easily.

3. Writing an unclear subject line. The subject line is the first thing a clinician will see - be straightforward and personalize when you can. Try to think about subject lines that would influence you to open a message!

4. Attach the wrong Job Template. This may sound like a given, but we’ve seen it done before. Always double check to make sure you attach the appropriate job to your DocMail (as well as make sure you attach a job - we’ve seen that too!) Along the same lines, don’t forget to proofread your DocMails for any spelling or grammatical errors.

5. Not including a Salutation. Whether you choose ‘Hi Dr. Smith’ or ‘Dear Dr. Smith’, it’s important to personalize your messages to physicians.  The Message Template offers a number of options to select from when it comes to a Salutation in your DocMails depending on how formal you want to be. The way you close your message is equally important. We have found that reiterating who you are and what organization you are from can be effective as well as including a pleasantry such as ‘I hope you are doing well’. 

6. Not including a Call-to-Action. If it’s unclear to the physician of the next step they should take after reading your message, there’s a good chance they may read and ignore it. We recommend including a clear call-to-action (in most cases including your contact information) so the physician knows how to move the process along if interested in the job opportunity. Some of our favorite call-to-action phrases are ‘What is a good number to reach you at?’ or ‘Feel free to give me a call at xxx-xxx-xxxx’. 

7. Including Job Details in the Message Template. It may be tempting to include details of the job opportunity in a DocMail message, but remember that the job is attached to the DocMail for their reference. The DocMail is a space for you to communicate why you think this physician would be a good fit for the role - it should have a conversational tone. 

8. Withholding information about the job opportunity. We’ve seen some recruiters leave out important details from DocMails with the hope that the physician will be intrigued to learn more. On the contrary, physicians don’t have the time to ask for more details. Being transparent and forthcoming with information on the job opportunity in your DocMail will save them time and ensure the right physicians for the job you are hiring for respond to you. 

9. Missing opportunities for a personal touch. If you’ve invested time segmenting your searches or reviewing physician profiles, don’t use a generic Message Template. Instead, let the physician know why and how you found and selected them. You can even create a Template around the search criteria you used to find that physician, or group of physicians.

10. Not using all your DocMails in a credit period. Another one that may seem obvious, but it’s important to remember, is to send all of your allotted DocMails. The more DocMails you send, the greater the chances you have of getting a response. If you really don’t think you can send all of your DocMails, consider using them to send to other physicians in that specialty to ask if they might know of someone who would be interested. 

We hope you found these tips of what not to do when writing DocMails helpful as you create and send messages to clinicians. If you’re interested in learning more about social recruiting best practices, we invite you to sign up for Doximity’s online Social Recruitment Certification. It’s free,  and you can take it on your own time and on your own device.