Best Practices: Text Messaging

Jump to:

• How to Build Your Subscriber List
• Why You Should Use Text Messaging for Marketing
• Planning Your Message
• When to Send Your Message
• HIPAA Compliance
• Sending Test Campaigns
• Emojis & Photos
• Using Links

How to Build Your Subscriber List

By default, any lead that registers on a Breakthrough landing page consents to receive messages from your practice. Contacts can unsubscribe at any time by replying STOP.

• Include a field on your intake forms to let your patients confirm how they want to be contacted; some may prefer that you text them.
• Consider a pop-up on your website to invite visitors to text your tracking number for updates about promotions or workshops.
• Use a keyword to make opt-in easy: 
   "Text HAVEN to 6042109328 to stay in the loop about upcoming promotions and events!"
• Offer an incentive:
   "Text LASER to 6042109328 to sign up for texts and get 10% off your first laser treatment"

Why You Should Use Text Messaging for Marketing

The engagement rate for SMS marketing is six times higher than for email marketing; 90% of people open a text message within 30 minutes of receiving it!

• Texting is cost-effective and allows you to quickly and easily check in on your patients or promote services without running ads.

Planning Your Message

Consider the 4 “I”s when planning your marketing calendar:

Immediate

Messages with a sense of urgency/instant opportunity

Best for: flash sales, coupons, keyword promotions

Intimate

Communicate with contacts in a meaningful way

Best for: Birthdays and Milestones

Informative

Valuable, wanted information that’s not necessarily urgent

Best for: Alerts, Intake Forms, Education

Individual

Personalized, customized engagements to grow loyalty

Best for: Feedback, Appointment Reminders, Wait Lists

When to Send Your Message

Whether it’s a weekday or a weekend, most people are awake and active at noon and are, therefore, much easier to reach. 

• Ideally, marketing messages should be sent between 12pm and 2pm locally.
• Sending texts a little after peak daytime hours may also help your message stand out rather than getting lost among other messages.

HIPAA Compliance

The HIPAA Privacy Rule permits healthcare providers to use text messages to discuss health issues and treatment with their patients, provided they apply reasonable safeguards when doing so and that the patient has provided consent.

For more info about how Breakthrough protects personal health information (PHI), click here.

Sending Test Campaigns

We strongly recommend that you add yourself and co-workers as contacts and practice sending, scheduling, and replying to messages. Don't forget to test the placeholders, too! 

• Below is a template you can use for your first test. Simply copy and paste this into the message body:

Hi [Contact.FirstName], this is [Practice.Name]. We're testing our new text messaging tool! Please send a quick reply to this message so that we know it was received. 

Emojis & Photos

Breakthrough supports sending and receiving emojis in the Text Inbox but they cannot be used in text campaigns (which are typically sent to hundreds of contacts at once). 

• Emojis are not universal across cell providers and can sometimes not show up or show up as a different emoji.
• Depending on the carrier, they may be considered a segment of your text messages (which means a higher chance of being filtered as spam).
• They require twice as much data to encode than standard alphanumeric characters and can impact the formatting of your message

We do not currently allow the sending or receiving of photos in text message campaigns.

Using Links 

When sending links, avoid using a link shortener unless you have a paid subscription that includes a private domain for your links. 

• Link shorteners are more likely to be blocked by carriers. 
• To shorten a URL for free, you can use online services such as Rebrandly or Bitly on all your links. The process is simple: you paste the long URL into the designated field, and then click a button to generate a shortened URL.
• Pro tip: consider signing up for a paid subscription to take advantage of link tracking and custom domains!