Challenge
The American Board of Neuroscience Nursing (ABNN) offers several certification opportunities to promote excellence and professionalism in the field. One such credential is the Stroke Certified Registered Nurse (SCRN). Certification is not mandatory for providing care; however, it offers numerous benefits, including career advancement and professional recognition. Obtaining and maintaining SCRN status requires a personal commitment to continuing education and skill development. This high level of knowledge helps to improve outcomes for the nearly 800,000 people in the United States who suffer from a stroke each year.
The mission of ABNN is to promote and advance the practice of neuroscience nursing through specialty certification. Its vision is that every person with neurological health needs receives care from ABNN-certified registered nurses. ABNN’s goal was to increase applications for the 2023 certification exam, thereby elevating the quality of care and patient outcomes.
Process
The certification exam has three yearly exam windows. To reduce message fatigue and avoid potential confusion regarding exam schedules, Studio AMC, AMC’s in-house marketing agency, designed an email campaign strategically scheduled to begin approximately 6 weeks before each exam application deadline. Campaign flights consisted of two messages with two additional messages to recipients who did not open the initial messages. To ensure message relevancy and a motivational call-to-action, audience segmentation was utilized. Audience segments included warm leads who completed an interest form on the ABNN website, hospital decision-makers, members of the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses (AANN) with a Certified Neuroscience Registered Nurse (CNRN) credential, and AANN members who did not hold a CNRN or SCRN certification.
Outcomes
The 2023 campaign increased the number of exam applications by 27% as compared to the 2022 campaign. Additionally, there was an 80.6% increase in SCRN website page views. The warm leads and no CNRN or SCRN certification audiences were the most engaged with email open rates consistent with industry benchmarks. However, email click-through rates exceeded the 2.3% industry benchmark at 14.2% and 5.5%, respectively.
Discussion
Although the concept of an email campaign is straightforward, its successful execution hinges on strategy. The timing of the messages and tailoring them to specific audience segments embody fundamental marketing principles: delivering the right message to the right audience at the right time.