Send Covid Vaccination Alerts through Mass Texting
The global pandemic of 2020 was one of the toughest phases the world has ever gone through. People, businesses, and everyone suffered immensely. However, smart businesses shifted to text marketing and used it to stay connected to the audience and worked on customer retention. Healthcare systems also used mass texting to send Covid related alerts. With the vaccine out now, healthcare organizations have the responsibility of sending covid vaccination alerts too.
Sending out and managing covid vaccination alerts can become easier with mass texting. Here is how you can manage alerts with mass texting.
Build your list
The first and foremost thing to do is to build your list. The TCPA is strict about sending mass texts and marketing messages. You cannot send messages to people that have not given you prior express consent. To gather this consent, you can use ExpertTexting’s tools to help people easily subscribe to your list. The following are the ways you can build your list.
- Keywords
One of the easiest and most common ways to invite people to subscribe to your list voluntarily is with keywords. Keywords are short phrases that your customers can send to your number. ExpertTexting segments keywords according to groups for your convenience. You can choose a unique keyword to make it easier for your customers to remember. Or, you can pick multiple keywords. Make sure your terms and conditions are transparent and the subscriber knows what they are getting themselves into. - QR Codes
QR codes are another very easy method to invite people to signup to your list to receive messages. ExpertTexting allows you to generate your QR code against the keyword that you choose. You can simply ask the audience to scan it and be a part of your list. QR codes are also easy to advertise. You can simply put them up on banners or flyers around. Interested parties can instantly scan and sign up for your list. - Signup widget
ExpertTexting allows you to create and place your signup text widget on your website as well. People coming to your website are wasted traffic if you don’t invite them to signup to your list. A signup widget is a short form that allows people to instantly signup to your list.
Once you have your list, you can move forward with mass texting.
Send alerts
Now that you have your list, you can begin sending alerts. Send all the vaccination details that you think are important. These can include possible side effects, availability, timings, or anything else. As long as there is no personal health information, you can send these alerts.
You can use these alerts to encourage people to get the vaccination as soon as possible. Moreover, you can enable two-way messaging so people can send their concerns.
Since Covid is a novelty, the vaccine is also new and people have concerns. Instead of them relying on the internet to get the results, be there for them. Texting allows you to instantly send replies and connect with concerned parties.
Segment your audience
If you opt to use ExpertTexting, then you get the upper hand in segmenting your audience. You can make groups for people that are due for vaccinations. These come in handy when you want to send reminders. Moreover, you can also personalize sending mass texts. Simply add custom fields of the date and time of the people. You can send them reminders of when to show up for their first dose.
Make another group for people that have been vaccinated. You can send them common side effect alerts. Moreover, you can tell them about aftercare.
Some vaccines require two doses. Set up a group if you are offering that. Send reminders for people to come in and get their dose done on time. Moreover, you can also send them further aftercare.
To top it all up, you can send a congratulatory message to the people that got their shots. This gives them a sense of achievement.
Limitations of sending alerts
Mass texting is quite tricky when it comes to the healthcare industry. The reason being the HIPAA act. HIPAA clearly states that sharing PHI – personal health information, is illegal! Even if the patient wants the details on texts, you cannot send them to them according to HIPAA.
The reason for such tight laws is that text messages are neither encrypted nor protected. Hence, the information shared can easily be accessed by third parties. The best way to go about it is to not share it at all.
We have a comprehensive guide on HIPAA compliance. Click on the image below to find out more.
Begin with ExpertTexting
ExpertTexting is a mass texting service that allows you to send marketing messages and mass texts. You can send personalized messages, schedule messages, and segment your audience into groups for covid vaccination alerts. All this and more at a pay-as-you-go pricing so that you never waste credits.
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