Summary: The Campaigns module lets you compose and send a message to a list of patients via SMS or IVR to communicate time-sensitive information. This feature can be used for sending one-way communication to inform your patient population about road closures, inclement weather warnings, or any other site-specific information that you would like to share. You can also use it for bulk messaging to an established cohort of patients, such as for pharmacy patients that need to pick up their medications or to reach out to no-show patients in order to request they contact your office to reschedule.
Once you log in to the Commure Engage Platform, you will see the “Campaigns” tab on the left side. Select this tab, and the Campaigns main page will display.
Your full campaign history with the campaign name, file name, and delivery status will be displayed here where each campaign is organized in a single row. You can search for an individual campaign by the “Campaign Name” as well as the “CSV File Name”. The “Delivery” column will show “Outreach In Progress” while the campaign is still processing and “Finished” once it has completed processing. Selecting anywhere in the row will navigate you to an expanded view showing the delivery status of each patient message. From here, you can also download the file that was used for that specific campaign.
We recommend using an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of the various campaign names and messages being sent. This will also allow better ease when resending the same message since it can be easily copied and pasted into a new campaign.
To create a new campaign, click the “+ CREATE CAMPAIGN” button in the top right and follow the steps below.
Step 1: Create the CSV file with all the relevant patient data that will be used to process your campaign and upload it here. You can create a simple Excel spreadsheet and save it with a unique name in the CSV format in order to convert it to a CSV file. At a minimum, the patient’s first name, last name and phone number should be included as separate columns. When formatting your CSV file, please keep the following rules in mind:
Each campaign has a file limit of 5,000 records.
Avoid using spaces when formatting the columns and instead use underscores. For example, the column for the patient’s first name should appear as “patient_first_name”.
Dashes are allowed in the phone number but do not use brackets around the area code.
The screenshot below shows an example of the excel file layout that can be used and then converted to the proper CSV file format.
Once you have uploaded the CSV file you would like to use, a “PREVIEW CSV” option will appear. Selecting this option will allow you to view all of the data as it appears in the file. In Step 3, we will show you how additional data columns are useful when populating variables within the message content.
Step 2: Create a unique name for the campaign that will be used to track the specific message that was sent. We recommend standardizing the name format across the enterprise for easier reference. E.g. “Colonoscopy Reschedules 29Mar2024”.
Step 3: Input the message content in the “Message” section. The Message section supports a maximum of 1600 characters. We recommend beginning your message with the same unique heading that is being utilized for your other messaging requirements in order to improve recognition and consistency throughout your site’s patient engagement.
Here is where including more data columns within the CSV file is helpful. You can include variables that pull data from the CSV file columns in order to customize the message for each patient. This feature is available for any data that is organized within the file columns. Typing “@” will allow the different variable dropdown options to appear. For example, if the file is being used as a bulk appointment reminder, typing “@” and selecting “appointment_visit_on” will create the variable in the proper brackets and include each patient’s specific appointment time directly within the message.
Step 4: Use this drop-down menu to identify the column that is being used for the patient’s phone number. This directs the campaign to use that specific column as the outreach method for each individual message.
Step 5: Select the mode in which you would like to communicate with this cohort of patients. The campaign’s feature supports both SMS text messaging as well as Call/IVR options.
Step 6: Once you have completed the steps above, select the “LAUNCH CAMPAIGN” option in the top right and your new campaign will begin processing the outreach.