Hospitals do not publish names. We still found them.
Apptiva from Lucerne builds AI chatbots with Apptiva Klar for Swiss organisations. Akquire used 
Clay for Apptiva to find the people who make decisions in hospitals, clinics, care centres and schools, and contacted them in four campaigns, in German, using the informal or formal form of address.
- 69positive replies, qualified leads
- 25,3 %of the contacts replied
- 2'248Named decision-makers, not info@
- 33Institutions replied
These institutions have replied.
University hospitals, cantonal hospitals, clinics, care and education institutions: from each of these institutions, at least one personal reply came to Apptiva's emails.
Counted in 
Smartlead: every institution with at least one personal reply in Apptiva's campaigns. Out-of-office replies do not count. A reply is not yet a commitment.
November 2025
Swiss hospitals and care homes buy on references and reputation. Decisions are made by committees, procurement takes place over quarters. And almost no institution states on its website who makes the decisions. Instead, there is info@ or a HIN mailbox. Apptiva needed names.
Four campaigns. Two worlds.
- 01MedicineHospitals, clinics, rehabilitation, psychiatry, retirement and care centresJanuary 2026
- 02Medicine, second waveGroup practices, Spitex and other cantonsMarch 2026
- 03Education, informalVocational schools, colleges of higher education, private schoolsApril 2026
- 04Education, formalUniversities of applied sciences, universities of teacher education, universitiesApril 2026
Names.
Institution by institution, until someone has a name.
From info@ to 2'248 people.
- info@
- HIN mailbox
- Management. Care home management. Executive management. Marketing. IT.
- First the directoriesThe cantonal healthcare directories show which institutions there are.
- Then each institutionLegal notice, team, contact and management on your own website. That is how names gain a function.
- Two to four per institutionNo more, and no clustered sending times. In a market where people know each other, that protects your reputation.
- Existing customers remain unaffected316 domains and 1'488 addresses were blocked before each import. Anyone who was already a customer did not receive a cold email.
For you: You reach the management of the institution, not the reception desk, and no institution feels pressured.
«Patient questions.» One word in the subject line.
The first email to hospitals and clinics, exactly as it appears in Smartlead. No advertising copy, just the issue at reception, in the language of the institutions, in the familiar style as is standard in the sector.
- The problem firstHours spent on the same questions over and over, while urgent matters are left waiting.
- Data protection addressedHosting in Switzerland and the FADP, before anyone asks.
- Something already in placeA small demo for the institution, ready to present.
Hoi [Vorname],
Ich melde mich kurz, weil viele Spitäler berichten, dass bei Patientenanfragen jede Woche mehrere Stunden für dieselben Informationen aufgewendet werden, während dringendere Anliegen liegen bleiben.
Wir bauen seit mehr als 10 Jahren Website-Chatbots, die Spitälern wie dem Kantonsspital Luzern helfen, diese Fragen 24/7 automatisch über die Website zu beantworten (Hosting in der Schweiz, DSG-konform), damit sich das Team auf die Fälle konzentrieren kann, die wirklich Betreuung brauchen.
Unsere Kunden wie der Kanton Bern, das Bundesarchiv und die Ausgleichskasse Solothurn haben tausende Anfragen automatisiert und damit 547 bis 2'372 Std./Jahr eingespart.
Wir haben für euch bereits eine kleine Demo gebaut, wie das bei euch aussehen könnte. Darf ich sie dir zeigen?
Beste Grüsse
P.S.: Falls das branchenübliche «Du» für dich nicht in Ordnung ist, gib bitte Bescheid.
Five emails in twenty days. Leads were still coming in on the third and fourth.
- Day 0Patient questions«May I show it to you?»
- Day 3Data protection«A short follow-up, because data protection is understandably central in Swiss healthcare.»
- Day 7One sentence«Did you have a moment to look at my last message?»
- Day 11Who is responsible?«Who is responsible for processes around patient intake and website enquiries?»
- Day 20The close«If this is not a priority right now, a short ‹0› is enough as a reply.»
For you: Your buyers read a short, collegial email about their own problem, not a brochure about your product.
Formal or informal.
Same subject line, same offer, same time. Once formal, once informal.
The test: formal or informal
Formal.
Dear [Anrede]
I’ll keep it brief: [Hochschule] has a vast amount of information on offer. That is great for students, but it often leads to a high volume of routine enquiries in the administrative office. … Would a brief exchange in the next few days suit you?
- Response rate
- 32,1 %
- Leads
- 0
Informal.
Hello [Vorname]
I’ll keep it brief: We would like to show you in a short demo how an AI chatbot looks on the [school] website and what added value it offers you. We at Apptiva have been developing chatbot solutions in Central Switzerland for over 10 years for clients such as Swiss Post or the Canton of Bern. … Would you be available for a no-obligation 30-minute video call in the next few days?
- Response rate
- 27,7 %
- Leads
- 8
The highest response rate. No leads.
The version with formal address got the most replies of the entire collaboration and achieved nothing. Formality invites a polite reply, informal address starts a conversation. Since then, at Akquire every target group gets the form of address its buyers use themselves.
Education, formal address: 78 contacts, 25 responses, 32,1 %, 0 leads. Education, informal address: 292 contacts, 81 responses, 27,7 %, 8 leads. Both in April 2026, same subject line, each one part of education: universities of applied sciences formal, vocational and private schools informal.
For you: We measure what leads to conversations, not what gives the prettiest response rate.
Result.
Only those who want to talk are counted.
2'248 decision-makers. 69 positive responses.
- 2'248Named decision-makers, 6'740 emails
- 568Responses, 25,3 % of contacts
- 69qualified leads
Response rate per campaign, bars start at zero.
33 institutions replied: university hospitals, cantonal hospitals, psychiatric services, care institutions and training centres. At Akquire, a lead means exactly this: a positive reply from a verified decision-maker in the target customer profile. No opens, no clicks, no lists.
For you: Conversations with the institutions you want to reach, in a market where hardly anyone publishes contacts.
«The team thinks it is really good that something is coming in. In principle, everyone is very happy that things are happening. I think that is the most important thing.»
“I'm happy. I'm curious to see what happens next.”
From the first list to testing the form of address.
Start with Akquire, target customer profile: healthcare
First campaign to hospitals, clinics, rehabilitation and care centres
Second wave: group practices, Spitex, other cantons, no more than two to four people per institution
Training in two versions: informal and formal address
Are you selling to hospitals, care homes or schools? We find the names.
For software companies, medical technology and service providers in healthcare and education: tell us which institutions you want to reach. At the strategy meeting, we will bring an initial target group with names and a sample email.
10Weitere Akquire-Fallstudien
Andere Märkte, dieselbe Methode.
Banken, Praxen, Spitäler, Medizintechnik, Personalberatung, Medien und Software. Ein Klick auf ein Logo öffnet die ganze Kampagne.
