You can efficiently send text messages to specified patients to increase your patient engagement and loyalty through Amplicare. The text message can be added to both automated campaigns (which will send to your patients who qualify for the campaign automatically) and one-time custom campaigns.
How it works
Text messaging can be leveraged in any patient engagement campaign that can be initiated through Amplicare:
- Automated campaigns, including refill reminder campaign, happy birthday campaign, slipping away patients campaign, and first fill patients campaign
- Manually selected patients, including will-call bin reminder campaigns and newly eligible patient campaigns
If text message content is entered for a campaign, Amplicare will send a text to the patient's cell phone number. If a cell phone isn't entered in the patient's profile, Amplicare will attempt to validate whether the patient's phone number is a cell phone and then send the text appropriately.
If the text attempt fails, the outreach will default to sending a call, so it's required to select a voice recording even if text message content is included.
ALL text messages by default will include (at the bottom of the text message):
- An option for the patient to opt-out of future text messages
- Your pharmacy's name
- Your pharmacy's phone number
We include this information for your protection, as contact name, phone number, and opt-out instructions are required by the FCC for SMS messaging.
Example
Once your campaign is selected, you'll be met with a screen to adjust campaign details, including the option to type a message in the "Text Message" area.
Here's an example:
In this example, the patient will receive a text message that will look like this:
Remember, there's no need to add your pharmacy's name, number, or instructions to opt-out, as this info is added automatically to every text message!
Best practices
Placeholder tags
Use placeholder tags in the text message content, like {{first_name}}, and the text will fill in the variable appropriately for each specific patient. This creates more personalization, increasing the effectiveness of the text!
Examples:
- {{first_name}} -- we highly recommend including this in the text message!
- {{last_name}}
- {{pharmacy_title}}
- {{pharmacy_email}}
- {{pharmacy_address}}
- {{pharmacy_fax}}
Be sure the placeholder is spelled correctly, including the curly brackets and underscore.
Learn more about how to use placeholder tags.
Keep it short
We suggest you keep your message as brief as possible, in order to increase the effectiveness of the message. FCC regulations dictate all SMS text messages are “generally concise”, which translates to “160 characters or less”. Excluding the opt-out info, pharmacy name, and phone number, it's suggested the main content of the message is limited to around 100 characters. No need to count, we'll do that for you:
We also have recommended scripts for outreach to help you get started.
Reference your message history
Check your Message History regularly to review what messages have been scheduled, what messages were sent, and if the message was answered by the patient or a voicemail. You can access your Message History in your Campaigns tab in Amplicare. Or, if you have the Assist tool set up, you can access your message history in just two clicks!
Message History:
Click on a message to see more details:
What's next?
Click here to learn more about automated campaigns and other Amplicare Connect benefits!