The first step in building an Outreach campaign is to create a Profile. A Profile spells out the methods (phone call, text, or email) of reaching out to your patients and the details on how the campaign will be conducted.
You will need to setup a separate Profile for each functional campaign. For example, if you have one campaign for appointment reminders and one for new patient forms, these need to be setup in separate Profiles
You can use RingRx Outreach for any purpose. The most common purposes are:
- Appointment reminders
- Newsletters
- Marketing or product/service offers
- Office updates
- New patient materials
There are three methods for contacting your patients:
- Voice – a Profile with a Voice campaign will contact your patients using a phone call. The patient’s phone will be called, and a message with information will be played to them. The messages can either be pre-recorded greetings or media files that you create, or they can be created with text that is converted to voice using an automated system
- SMS – SMS lets you send texts to patients with details of your message.
- Email – Email lets you send emails with details of your message. Emails can be configured with any type of content or details.
Setting up a Profile
I. Voice
Name – Assign a name to your campaign. Something descriptive that you can easily identify in the future. Ex: “Appointment Reminder for Dr Smith”
Description – Describe what this campaign will be used for. Ex: “To send appointment reminder notifications for Dr Smiths patients”
Tags – Tags are labels that are kept along with outreach events to help you track performance by analyzing call data. Something like “Smith” or “Appt” can help you analyze your campaigns
Caller ID – this is the number that will appear that your calls are coming from, which helps your patients identify who is contacting them. You can specify a different number to be called back if patients select the callback option.
Message 1-5: The Message fields are where you build the script that will be recited to your patients. Anything typed in these fields will be converted to voice using a speech-to-text program and played to recipients. While the recording is quite realistic, most people can tell that it is automated. You can have up to 5 messages that will be read to patients in sequence. Only fill out as many Messages as necessary. Leave blank any Message fields that you do not need. Many campaigns only require one Message field.
Static text – any text entered to a Message box will be played on every call.
Custom fields – You are able to customize voice messages by including fields for the specific event. These fields are located in the Box in the upper right. This lets you personalize messages that make more of an impact for your patients. For example, by entering {name} to your script, the call will recite the patient’s name in that part of the script. Custom fields should be typed exactly as they appear in the box with the brackets {} round the text.
Media files 1-5: Media files function similarly to Message fields in that they play a message sequentially to a Patient. The difference is that a Media File is a recorded audio file that you create. Instead of converting text to speech, RingRx simply plays the recorded file. These will be played in Sequence from Media File 1 through Media File 5. Because Media Files are recorded audio files, you cannot add Custom Fields to these files. However, you can simply add Custom Fields to the Message field either before or after the Media File to create a personalized experience.
Exit Greeting – This is the final Message that is recited after all Messages and Media Files have been played. After it is played, the call automatically hangs up. This will typically be something like “Goodbye”
NOTE: Time is an important consideration when setting up Voice campaigns. This mostly has to do with creating a campaign that will be most receptive to your patients to ensure they have the highest likelihood they will see (and respond) to your call. The next three settings are to establish the time frames when Calls will be conducted.
Call Start Time – Call Start and End times specify the time period of the day you want calls to go out to patients. Call Start Time is the time of day you want this campaign to start placing calls and would be the very earliest time you want calls to go out. This is primarily to avoid calling patients too early in the morning or during times they would not want business calls. Typically, this should start around 9:00am or 10:00am
Call End Time – This is the time of day you want the campaign to stop placing calls. No calls will be placed after this time. This is primarily to avoid calling patients too late at night. Typically, this should be set at 5:00 or as late as 7:00pm but not later unless there is a reason for it.
Call Trigger Hours Before – This is the number of hours before a scheduled Event that a Call will be placed. If this is for an appointment reminder, you would normally you want to set this at least 24 hours in advance. 48 hours is fine as well.
Be aware of how these three settings work together. For example: If some one has an appointment at 8am on a weekday, and you have Call Start Time at 10:00am, and the Call Trigger at 24 hours, the call will go out for this appointment event at 10:00 am. But if you have a call trigger of 6 hours, a Call Start time of 11:00 am, and an appointment at 9:00 am, this patient will not be called prior their appointment. So never create a Trigger time less than 24 hours if you have events that will happen before the Call Start Time.
Confirm Digits – This is to let patients confirm they received your notification by entering a number from their phone during the call. We will receive this entry and mark the Event as Confirmed. You can use any digit or combo of digits you want. Your script should include these instructions ex: “to confirm your appointment, please press 5”. Leave blank if you don’t want them to be able to Confirm.
Cancel Digits – This is to let patients cancel their Event by entering a number from their phone during the call. We will receive this entry and mark the Event as Cancelled. You can use any digit or combo of digits you want. Your script should include these instructions ex: “to cancel your appointment, please press 6”. Leave blank if you don’t want them to be able to cancel.
Dialback Digits – This is to let patients call the office directly by entering a number from their phone during the call. We will send the caller to the Dialback Destination in the next field. You can use any digit or combo of digits you want. Your script should include these instructions ex: “to be connected to the office, please dial 9”
Dialback Destination – This works in conjunction with Dialback Digits. When a patient dials the Dialback Digit, they will be connected to the Destination selected in this field.
Confirm Notification – Email address that you want to have notifications sent when a patient confirms the event (by pressing the Confirm Digit). Leave blank if you don’t want a notification.
Cancel Notification – Email address that you want to have notifications sent when a patient cancels the event (by pressing the Cancel Digit). Leave blank if you don’t want a notification.
Voice – There are several voices to choose from. All are professional business voices.
Male A
Male B
Male C
Male D
Male E
Female A
Female B
Female C
Female D
Female E
II. Text
SMS Message – This is the text that will appear in the message that your patients/recipients see. Message length is limited to number of characters SMS services permit less a buffer for custom field content. Custom fields can be inserted to personalize the message. Message can also contain reference to Confirm Text and Cancel Text, explained below
SMS Start Time/End Time – Start and End Times spell the the time frames that your SMS messages will be sent out. We will not send SMS before the start time, or after the end time. This allows you to control when during the day your customers are contacted. May not bridge midnight. Always evaluated in customer local time.
SMS Trigger Hours Before – This is the number of hours before a scheduled Event that a message will be sent. If this is for an appointment reminder, you would normally you want to set this at least 24 hours in advance. 48 hours is fine as well.
SMS Reply Window – this is an amount of time in minutes that replies will be associated with the event that caused the message to be sent out. If a message is sent at 2pm, any message received from the recipient within X minutes will be considered a response to that message. If the reply is outside that window, it will not be associated with that message. This is to prevent accidental messages or messages for future events to be associated with the wrong message.
Collect SMS Replies – This turns on/off the SMS reply harvesting on this profile. Turning it on will allow you to see replies in the Event
Confirm Text – these are the words that recipients can use to respond to your message that will result in a Confirmed Event
Cancel Text – these are the words that recipients can use to respond to your message that will result in a Cancelled Event
III. Email
Email Start Time/End Time – Start and End Times spell the the time frames that your email messages will be sent out. We will not send email before the start time, or after the end time. This allows you to control when during the day your customers are contacted. May not bridge midnight. Always evaluated in customer local time.
Email Trigger Hours Before – This is the number of hours before a scheduled Event that an email message will be sent. If this is for an appointment reminder, you would normally you want to set this at least 24 hours in advance. 48 hours is fine as well.
Reply to – this is the email address you want any replies to be sent to.
Email subject – Enter whatever you would like as the subject line in the email
Email text body – This is the text that will appear in the email message that your patients/recipients see. Custom fields can be inserted to personalize the message.
Email html body – if you would like to customize the style of your email, you can use html code in this section