How to sell to CTOs at Healthcare companies
CTOs in healthcare are primarily measured on system uptime and patient data security. They respond to outreach that demonstrates an understanding of regulatory challenges, such as HIPAA compliance, and how to enhance patient care through technology. Highlighting specific pain points like system outages or data breaches can capture their attention and prompt a conversation.
Written and maintained by the SoloRiff team, who build outbound software and run outbound with it. The figures below are our own: we measured 567 healthcare company domains over public DNS on 2026-09-03. Last updated 2026-09-03.
What actually hurts
- system downtime complaints
- data breach fears
- HIPAA compliance headaches
- integration issues with legacy systems
The playbook
- 01
Identify recent data breaches in healthcare
Research recent news articles or reports about data breaches in healthcare organizations. Use sources like the HIPAA Journal or Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to find relevant incidents. Tailor your outreach to highlight how your solution can prevent similar breaches.
- 02
Target clinics expanding telehealth services
Filter your list for healthcare clinics that have recently expanded or announced new telehealth services. Use databases like Crunchbase or LinkedIn to identify these clinics. This indicates a need for reliable technology solutions to support increased patient interactions.
- 03
Highlight compliance challenges in outreach
When crafting your message, directly address the challenges of maintaining HIPAA compliance in your outreach. Mention how your approach or solution can simplify compliance processes, which is often a significant concern for CTOs in healthcare.
- 04
Follow up after industry conferences
If a CTO has attended a recent healthcare technology conference, follow up within a week. Reference specific sessions or speakers from the event in your message. This shows you are engaged with their industry and can lead to a more relevant conversation.
- 05
Offer a risk assessment for system uptime
In your closing outreach, propose a complimentary risk assessment focused on their current system uptime and security posture. This adds immediate value and addresses a critical concern for CTOs, making it more likely they will agree to a call.
Can healthcare companies even receive your mail?
We measured the DNS of 567 healthcare companies, sampled evenly across company sizes, to see how many authenticate their own email. It matters in both directions: a domain that does not authenticate is a domain whose team is used to mail going missing — and if your own domain is in the gap, yours is the mail going missing.
Publishes a DMARC policy of quarantine or reject — the domain actually asks receivers to act on failures.
The gap is the finding: 18.3% of 1–10-person companies against 78.3% of the largest — 60 points apart. Small companies are where the unauthenticated domains are, and small companies are who most cold outreach is aimed at.
Where does your domain sit?
Same three lookups, run live against your domain. Nothing is stored and nothing is emailed to you.
How this was measured
Company domains were sampled within employee-count bands, then queried over public DNS for SPF (TXT at the apex), DMARC (TXT at _dmarc.) and MX. One domain per company, deduplicated. Anyone can reproduce any single row of this with dig.
DKIM is deliberately absent. A DKIM key lives under a selector that cannot be enumerated from outside the domain, so a company with flawless DKIM under a name we did not guess would be counted as having none. That would measure our guess list, not the industry.
Domains with no MX record are excluded rather than counted as failures — parked and redirect-only domains would otherwise drag every figure down and make the result an artefact of the sample.
Sampled within bands, so this describes the population of companies, not of employees: a 10-person company counts once, as does a 10,000-person one. Each band is at least 60 domains; bands below that are not published. Figures are percentages of the sample, not of the whole industry, and we publish no company names — only counts.
Measured 2026-09-03. Re-measured monthly.
The full census across every industry — sortable, with sample sizes, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0.
Subject lines that fit
- Addressing your data security needs
- Improving patient care technology
- Telehealth expansion support
Questions
- Why do CTOs in healthcare ignore proposals about new software?
- CTOs often overlook proposals if they don't clearly address specific regulatory concerns or demonstrate a direct impact on patient care. They prioritize solutions that enhance security and compliance, so proposals lacking these elements may be disregarded.
- What factors influence a healthcare CTO's decision-making?
- A healthcare CTO's decisions are influenced by regulatory compliance, patient data security, and the ability to integrate new technologies with existing systems. They also consider the potential for improving patient outcomes and operational efficiency.
- How can I get a response from a busy healthcare CTO?
- To engage a busy healthcare CTO, reference specific industry challenges they face, such as recent data breaches or compliance issues. Personalizing your outreach with insights from recent healthcare events can also increase your chances of getting a response.
- What common objections do CTOs have regarding new technology?
- CTOs commonly object to new technology due to concerns about integration with existing systems, potential downtime during implementation, and the cost of compliance. Addressing these objections directly in your outreach can help alleviate their concerns.
Or have it run itself
SoloRiff does every step above on its own — finds the companies, finds the people, writes each of them individually, and handles the replies. Drop your URL and watch it work before you sign up for anything.
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