Text Message Marketing Belongs In The Healthcare Industry
- Bob Perella
- Feb 10, 2016
- 3 min read

The Healthcare Industry plays an important role in society. SMS Marketing can benefit any business, especially Healthcare providers. Text messaging is an effective communications tool between provider and patient, and even has been shown to improve satisfaction and outcomes. Because of its popularity, ease of use and scalability: Text Messaging is used by many healthcare professionals to communicate with one another, with related facilities and with patients.
In the US, nearly three-fourths of all physicians use text messaging in a professional setting; to discuss cases, exchange patient information and to seek the current status of a test.
SMS is an ideal way to communicate with patients in real time.
Immediate communication is essential between the provider and the patient. What better way to communicate with your patients than through SMS Messaging!
This is a personal and effective tool that allows you to build long term relationships with your patients while at the same time keeping patients satisfaction levels high.
WHY REACHING PATIENTS IS VITAL
Most people are inundated with phone calls and E-Mails throughout the day, making communication through those channels practically ineffective.
In contrast, text messaging reaches people where they prefer to be reached ... After all many people don’t go anywhere at all without their mobile phone.
If we assume that individuals share the common desire of improved health … it’s necessary for health care organizations to choose an accessible and effective channel to initiate and continue conversations.
It is often difficult and time consuming trying to communicate with every patient regarding appointments, clinic opening hours, and news alerts all at the one time.
SMS Messaging will help save your staff time … and your clinic money by getting the message directly into the hands of your patients in real time.
Your staff will not be on the phone confirming appointments or having to send letters and E-Mails to patients.
The main advantage of using SMS Messaging is that you can guarantee that the message will reach your patients no matter where they are.
In the US, privacy rules demand HIPAA-compliant messaging be used by physicians, nurses and other staff. With non-secure text messaging you could be at risk for hacking and identity fraud.
There is now convincing data that text messaging can influence health behavior and decisions as well.
TEXT MESSAGING IS IDEAL FOR:
Appointment Reminders
Missed appointments waste not only time, but money too. It can be all too easy to forget about an appointment, particularly if it is one that could be regarded as a ‘routine check-up’.
By incorporating a text messaging reminder service, GPs can quickly reduce the number of missed appointments, and ‘no show’ rates can drop by as much as 20%.
2. Medication Reminders
This is particularly relevant with patients who suffer from dementia, where an increasing inability to recall when to perform set tasks such as taking medicine could have serious consequences.
3. Preventative Medicine
For those who are at risk of contracting serious or chronic illnesses due to poor health management … SMS messaging can play a crucial part in preventative health campaigns.
If a woman is at particular high risk of developing breast cancer due to a family history or faulty genetic markers, then text messages reminding her when she is due for a mammary scan could be a critical factor in early detection or preventing the development of cancer.
4. Pain Management
The potential for text messaging to play a key role in pain management is enormous … particularly in helping to prevent dependency on prescribed painkillers, a serious issue for those who are dealing with long-term conditions such as cancer.
*Text messaging can help patients to stay informed about early signs of drug dependency, and even help patients to consider alternative forms of pain management.
YOUR PATIENTS WILL THANK YOU
According to popular data sources, nearly half of patients report that they missed appointments simply because they forgot about them. Missed appointments can be a source of frustration for your practice employees as well as your patients.
Patients who’ve forgotten about a scheduled visit are then forced to find a new time that works with their schedule, and the rescheduling process can be challenging.
*This is especially true if the appointment needs to happen quickly and your practice is very busy.
Many patients would likely appreciate a quick text message to remind them of an upcoming office visit, so that they don’t have to go through the trouble of finding a new appointment time.
The potential applications of text messaging within the medical sector are enormous, and it has been shown that patients respond well to SMS messaging.
Incorporated into the future model for the health sector, it could potentially not only save a huge amount of money, but could also save lives too.
Get Started With Personalized Mobile Messaging Today!
We Have All Types of Custom Text Message Programs To Fit Your Needs
Visit us at http://www.smarttextmarketing.com/
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