I studied Political Science in college, and one of my favorite classes was Survey Research and Public Opinion. The idea that you could ask a few hundred people a question and draw meaningful conclusions about millions? Fascinating.
I never lost that bug. Which is probably why I loved putting together our State of Healthcare Marketing 2026 report, and why I love asking you all questions in this newsletter. Like last week, I asked: When it comes to proving marketing ROI to leadership, what's your biggest blocker?
The answers were close, but one pulled ahead: My attribution model doesn't reflect how patients actually find us.
Not surprising, honestly. But validating. And now we're building a webinar around exactly that: the attribution gap, why it exists in healthcare specifically, and what teams are actually doing to close it.
More on that soon. For now, here's what else I've got for you this week:
Stat of the week
Acronyms of product updates
See you in Boston?
Driving 150% Member Growth
Jobs, jobs, jobs!
Last week's most clicked link
Let's get into it...
Stat of the Week: 58% vs 18%
Want to know the biggest difference in healthcare marketing teams that consider themselves "Advanced" or "Leading" when it comes to marketing maturity vs. those that don't?
It all comes down to attribution models. This is the biggest delta, and the reason is clear. Last-click limits your visibility to the final touchpoint. Every ad, every piece of content, every channel that influenced the patient before that moment gets ignored. You can't fund what you can't measure.
The numbers tell the story: 58% of foundational/developing teams still rely on last-click or first-touch as their primary model. Among advanced/leading teams? Just 18%.
And that gap shows up directly in outcomes. 74% of advanced orgs consistently improve ROI at the appointment level, compared to just 17% of developing ones.
Last week, I said our product team was busy with a wave of product enhancements coming to help you balance privacy and performance. This week, the wave continues.
We've got four more updates, all aimed at giving you more control over where your data goes, what you do with it, and how your patients experience the privacy side of things.
The Trade Desk (TTD) Audiences
Your first-party behavioral data can now flow directly into The Trade Desk as audience segments and exclusion lists, and they stay synced in real time. That means you're reaching the right people with less wasted spend, and when someone converts, you're not burning budget continuing to serve them ads. Faster signal → faster action.
Zeta DSP
Want to extend your campaigns into CTV, display, and mobile without bolting on another siloed platform? The new Zeta DSP integration lets you activate your first-party data across premium omnichannel inventory using the same privacy-first approach you already rely on. More reach, less operational chaos, so you can scale campaigns while keeping performance signals intact.
Custom CSS for Consent Manager
Consent banners don't have to feel like an interruption anymore. You can now fully customize fonts, colors, layout, sizing, and spacing with Consent Manager to match your brand. That means the consent experience feels like part of your site. Not a third-party pop-up that breaks the flow. And if you need to adjust how prominent the banner is, you now have that control, so you can improve opt in rates while staying compliant and increase the amount of usable data available for targeting, measurement, and optimization.
Download Insights (CSV Export)
Your Insights data table is now exportable as a CSV. Pull it straight into Excel or Sheets for pivot tables, custom charts, or that C-suite report you've been rebuilding by hand every week. It respects your existing filters—date range, attribution model, all of it—so what you share offline matches exactly what you see in Freshpaint. No copy-paste errors, no "wait, which numbers are you looking at?" – just numbers you can confidently stand behind.
Reach out to your Account Manager to learn more about any of these, or contact sales for a walkthrough.
Fresh Events: Where We're Heading Next
Join us and our friends at Amsive Health and Invoca for a private reception during the HMPS26 Summit! Enjoy natural wines, seasonal cocktails, and Mediterranean tapas. Plus, connect with fellow healthcare marketers outside of the conference halls.
Amsive Health Reception
📅 Monday, May 4
⏰ 7:00PM MT
📍 Melancholy Wine & Cocktail Lounge (556 Gale St, Salt Lake City, UT 84101)
Escape the HMPS26 Summit hustle and join us for Freshpaint LIVE in Salt Lake City. We're gathering a small group of healthcare leaders for a relaxed dinner with great food, honest conversations, and the opportunity to connect with peers. Leave with a few fresh ideas worth bringing back and a few new friends!
Freshpaint LIVE Salt Lake City
📅 Tuesday, May 5
⏰ 6:00PM MT
📍 Laurel Brasserie & Bar (inside The Grand America Hotel)
After bringing healthcare leaders together in Miami and New Orleans, House Call is making its next stop in Boston this June. Join a curated group of senior healthcare marketers for candid conversations on how to stretch fixed budgets, prove what’s working, and build strategies that stay resilient in today’s evolving privacy landscape. Expect actionable ideas, real peer insights, and connections you’ll carry forward long after the event.
Growth had plateaued for Oar Health, a telehealth brand treating alcohol use disorder, for more than six months. Paid search had hit its ceiling. There simply wasn't enough existing demand to scale further.
So instead of capturing demand, they started creating it.
Neil Walker, Oar's VP of Growth, built a coordinated TV, radio, and SMS system to reach people before they start searching, and nurture them until they're ready to act.
The result: a 150% month-over-month lift in members and a 20% reduction in CAC.
A few things that made it work:
Problem-led creative outperformed solution-led ads by ~20%
SMS bridged the gap between interest and intent. About 30% of conversions happened over a longer window, up to four months out
Brand search grew from 20% to 70% of total search volume
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