Introduction
Blast Campaigns in TrackStat let you send the same email or text message to a specific group of patients at one time (or on a scheduled basis). They are perfect for one-time communications such as reactivation/recall messages, office announcements, special offers, newsletters, birthday wishes, or educational content.
Important: You must use filters and date ranges to select a targeted audience. Sending messages to your entire patient database is considered spamming and can result in your texting account and email address being shut down and/or emails going directly to spam or promotions folders.
Blast Campaigns also allow you to bulk-tag patients for easier tracking in reports.
Who Can Create and Edit Blast Campaigns?
Users with User Plus, Manager, or Administrator permission roles can view, create, and edit Blast Campaigns. The basic User role cannot access campaigns.
Common Uses of Blast Campaigns
- Reactivation/recall messages (inactive patients)
- Office announcements (holiday hours, closures, new hours, events)
- Special offers and promotions
- Newsletters or educational content
- Birthday reactivations
- Workshop/seminar invitations
- Bulk tagging specific patient groups (except “np start”)
Best Practices
- Always use date ranges and secondary filters for a targeted audience.
- Review the Audience Preview carefully before sending.
- Use merge fields for personalization (e.g., `{{PatientFirstName}}`).
- Keep text messages concise (under 145 characters when possible) to avoid extra charges.
- Set campaign goals (e.g., “has Future Appointment” or “Clicked the link”) to automatically remove patients who meet the specified criteria.
- For reactivation campaigns, combine Last Visit Date primary filter with Has Future Appointment = No secondary filter.
- Test formatting and merge fields before full send.
- Use the “not qualified” tag to exclude patients from campaign audiences while still allowing appointment reminders.
Step-by-Step: How to Create a New Blast Campaign
1. Click the megaphone icon (Communication) in the left menu.
2. Select Blast Campaigns.
3. Click the yellow + Add Campaign button (in the upper right corner).
4. Give the campaign a clear name and click Next.
5. Choose your Primary Filter (date range):
- Visit Date – best for announcements, newsletters, new services.
- Last Visit Date – best for reactivation (pair with “Has Future Appointment = No”).
- First Visit Date – best for new-patient follow-ups.
- Next Visit Date – best for upcoming appointment reminders or closures.
6. Click Audience Filter to add Secondary Filters. You can combine multiple filters for precision. Common options include:
- Active/Inactive (note: "Inactive" filter means patients who have been discharged, archived or marked as deceased)
- Age
- Has Future Appointment (Yes/No)
- Tags (use + to include, – to exclude)
- Appointment Purpose / Provider
- CPT code / Diagnosis / Case Type
- Insurance Company / Fee Schedule / Total Paid
- Sex, Birthday Month, City, State, Zip Code, etc.
7. Click Load to generate the patient list or audience.
8. Click Audience Preview (or scroll down) to review:
- If sending a text message then uncheck Address and Email boxes in the Audience Preview column header.
- If sending an email message then uncheck Address and CellPhone boxes.
- The trash can icon can be used to remove individual patients from the list, but a much better option is to assign a tag to unwanted patients and then exclude that specific tag in the secondary filter section using the red minus sign. If patients are manually removed from the audience list using the delete (trash can) icon and the audience is reloaded or modified, those deleted patients will be re-added to the list again and will have to manually removed again.
9. Create or Select Message(s)
- Click Message/Schedule (or Next button).
- Click blue + Add Message button.
- Click yellow + New Message button to create a new message (email or text) or select an existing message from a folder or by using the search box.
- Choose Now or At designated date/time to specify when the message should be sent.
- Repeat to add multiple messages with delay timing if desired (note: delays are based on the previous message, not the first message).
10. Set Goal (optional, for multi-message campaigns)
Choose a goal that automatically removes patients (e.g., “has Future Appointment” or “Clicked the link”).
11. Enable and Send
- Slide the campaign toggle to ON
- Click Exit and then Save and Exit.
- After enabling blast campaign, allow 10–15 minutes for the messages to be generated and sent. Outgoing messages will be visible in the Inbox once sent (click on All Messages filter). The green bell icon next to the message name in the Blast Campaigns section will change to an airplane icon indicating that the message has been sent.
Step-by-Step: How to Copy a Blast Campaign (Sent or Not Enabled)
Click the megaphone icon (Communication) in the left menu.
Click Blast Campaigns and find the campaign you want to copy.
Click the copy (paper) icon (located between the Status column and the Delete icon).
Rename the campaign with a new name.
The copied blast will appear at the bottom of the Blast Campaign page scroll down to find it.
Click the name of the new blast to edit it.
The campaign filters from the original campaign will be copied over.
Update the filters as needed. Then be sure to click the “Load” button to load the audience; otherwise, the campaign will not send to any patients.
The messages from the original campaign will also be copied, but all schedule times will default to “Now.”
If the campaign has more than one message, you must update the schedule time for each message in the Message/Schedule section.
If the campaign has only one message, it will also be set to “Now” by default. If you want it sent at a different time, you will need to update the schedule accordingly.
You can also set delay times if needed. Keep in mind that delays are relative to the previous message, not the first one. For example, if Message 2 has a 24-hour delay, it will send 24 hours after Message 1 is sent.
Once finished, save your changes:
Click “Exit” and select “Save and Exit” if you want to come back later, or
Turn the campaign on by toggling “Campaign OFF” to “Campaign ON,” then save.
How to Tag Patients Using a Blast Campaign
Blast Campaigns are one of the easiest ways to bulk-tag a specific group of patients:
Follow steps 1–8 above → In Audience Preview → Click Tags → Apply existing tag or create new one → Done → Save.
Patients can now be located quickly in any report using the tag filter.
Viewing Campaign Results
Open the campaign → click the Report section.
Text campaigns display: Total Recipients, Delivered, Delivered %, Errors, Unsubscribed.
Email campaigns display: Total Recipients, Delivered, Delivered %, Opened, Errors, Bounced, Unsubscribed.
Message Credits and Charges
You may incur extra charges if you exceed your monthly message credits (visible by hovering over the Inbox or looking in Account Settings). Credits reset monthly per your contract.
An estimated charge appears during campaign creation.
Preview and Test Limitations
Merge fields such as {{PatientFirstName}}, review links, etc., will not populate correctly in previews or test messages. The merge fields will populate correctly when the campaign is enabled and custom messages are created and sent for each patient.
Troubleshooting Common Issues
- Campaign not sending: Make sure the campaign toggle is ON, an audience is loaded (greater than 0), and (if scheduled) the time is still in the future.
- No messages delivered: Verify contact fields match message type and that patients have a valid phone number and/or email address.
- Wrong message sent: You cannot edit a blast campaign that was sent previously. Copy the previously sent campaign, edit the copied campaign as needed, reload the audience, and enable it.
- New appointment purposes missing: They appear in TrackStat only after first use in your EMR/EHR.
- Opted-out patients: For ChiroTouch users, click on "Billing Statements & Reports" button > "Labels/Lists" > select "Patient List" > "Options" > “Patient Marketing = FALSE” > Add > Preview. Export the list, then tag those patients individually in TrackStat with the “not qualified” tag. Then exclude the "not qualified" tag in the secondary filter section in the blast campaign and load the audience.
- Long delays: Allow 10–15 minutes after enabling. If still not sent, check filters and toggle again.
- Some patients not included in Audience: By default, blast campaign audiences only include patients who have both a cell phone number and an email address on file. Uncheck the Address and Email or CellPhone box in the Audience Preview section as appropriate. Click Show All Selected Filter on lower left side of the window to view all selected filters. Patients must meet all selected criteria to be included in the audience.
- Audience not loaded: After selecting the desired audience filters don't forget to hit the Load button! This is a common mistake and is necessary to generate the list of patients meeting the chosen filter criteria.
- Changes not saved: a common mistake is leaving the page without saving changes. Click the red Exit button in the top right and select Save and Exit.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I send blast campaigns to non-patients or marketing leads?
No. Recipients must be patients in your EMR/EHR software. Spreadsheets or lists of leads cannot be uploaded into TrackStat. This is intentional to prevent users from spamming lists of leads through TrackStat. TrackStat does not offer any web hooks to connect with apps such as Zapier or other application integration platforms.
How do I stop marketing emails but keep reminders for specific patients?
Assign the “not qualified” tag to specific patients and exclude the "not qualified" tag in your campaign filters.
Can I reuse an old campaign?
Yes, however the original blast campaign must be copied first and given a new name. Then edit the filters as needed, Load the audience, update the message/schedule, and enable the new blast campaign.
How do I find all patients with a specific tag using a blast campaign?
Create a new Blast Campaign → leave the primary date filter blank → filter by the tag (green plus "+" sign) → Load → Audience Preview (uncheck Address, Email and CellPhone boxes in column header to view everyone).
How can I manage duplicate messages in Blast campaigns when patients share the same phone number or email address?
Blast campaigns send messages based on patients, not unique phone numbers or email addresses. This means if multiple patients (for example, a parent and their children) share the same phone number or email, each patient will receive the message separately. To avoid duplicate messages:
Manually remove patients from the audience list before sending. Use the delete/trash can icon next to the patient you want to exclude.
Use tags to exclude patients Tag the patients you want to exclude (e.g., “Shared Phone – Exclude from Blasts”). When creating the Blast, exclude that tag from the audience.
Use the Age filter (Quick option for families) Filter out children by setting an Age range that excludes minors (if the parent is also a patient in your system).
This helps ensure each household receives only the intended number of messages.
Can patients respond to emails sent through blast campaigns?
Yes, recipients can reply to the email, and the sent blast email and their response will be visible in their conversation thread in the TrackStat Inbox.
Keywords: blast campaign, mass email, bulk text message, patient reactivation, office announcement, special offer, tagging patients, SMS credits, TrackStat marketing
Please note: We recommend starting with our articles and training resources, as they are designed to help you understand the platform and guide you through its features so your team can confidently use and manage it. We encourage you to review the articles, try things out on your end, then share your work with us, we’re happy to review and provide feedback. If needed, training calls are available to answer questions and walk through features, but are intended to guide and support you rather than complete tasks on your behalf.