NOTE: Do NOT send texts or emails to all patients in your database. You must use filters and dates to select a specific audience (list of patients) for your message. Sending messages to all patients in your database is considered SPAMMING and your phone number may be reported as spam and shut down. This can also cause your emails to get sent directly to spam or promotions folders or your email address to get shut down completely.
What are Blast Campaigns used for?
A blast campaign is basically a quick, one-time mass message sent out to a group of patients all at once. It usually means sending the same email or text message to many people simultaneously, rather than automated drip sequences over time.
Think of it as your practice's way of "shouting from the rooftop" to lots of patients with important or useful info - but you can still choose who hears the shout by using filters.
How It Works
Pick your audience using the available Primary filters:
Recent patients → e.g., anyone with a Visit Date in the last 6 months.
Inactive patients → e.g., Last Visit Date more than 6 months ago.
People with future appointments → e.g., Next Visit Date tomorrow or next month
New patients → e.g., First Visit Date in the last month.
Narrow down the list of patients with Secondary filters:
Tags
Active/Inactive
Age
Has Future Appointment (Yes/No)
Appointment Purpose
Attorney
Birthday Month
Care Package
Case Types
Diagnosis
Fee Schedule
Insurance Company
Paid Total
Appointment Provider
Primary Provider
Referral Source
Services/CPT Code
Sex
City
State,
Zip Code
Combine the primary and secondary filters to create a targeted list of patients - for example:
Patients between the ages of 35 - 75 who haven't visited in 6-12 months (Last Visit Date filter) with no future appointment and paid more than $100
Patients whose Last Visit Date was more than 1 year ago who has a birthday this month and does not have a future appointment
Patients who saw a certain provider during a specific date range (Visit Date filter) and have no future appointment
Patients with a specific insurance company or case type with a future appointment
Patients who are scheduled to come in in the next week (Next Visit Date filter)
New Patients (First Visit Date filter) without a future appointment
Then you write one message (or pick a template), choose email and/or text, and hit send - everyone on your filtered list is sent a message at roughly the same time.
Common Uses of Blast Campaigns
Office announcements - "We're closed for the holiday" or "New extended hours starting next week!" or "Exciting news: We've added a new provider/specialist!"
Special offers / promotions - "Join us for our community health seminar on preventive wellness tips next month."
Newsletters - Monthly health tips, seasonal advice (e.g., "Fall injury prevention" or "Tips for better posture").
Holiday messages - "Happy holidays from our team - here's our updated holiday schedule!"
Reactivation nudges - Target inactive patients ("It's been a while - come in for a check-up!") to bring them back.
Educational blasts - Share info about a new treatment, service, or general health topic relevant to a diagnosis group.
Birthday wishes - "Happy birthday! Enjoy this special offer just for you this month."
In short, blast campaigns are your fast, efficient tool for broadcast-style communication to keep patients informed, engaged, coming back, or booking more - all while staying targeted enough to feel relevant. They're for when you want to reach many people quickly with the same key message.
Best Practices for Blast Campaigns
Always use appropriate date ranges
Review audience carefully before sending
Set goals to automatically remove responders if you have a multi-step campaign
Monitor results for campaign effectiveness- Keep It Clear and Personal: Use merge fields such {{PatientFirstName}} for personalization.
Stay Concise with SMS: Limit text messages to one or two sentences to avoid splitting into multiple texts.
Use Appropriate Channels: Ensure the delivery channel matches patient preferences (e.g., text for urgent alerts).
Step 1: Create New Campaign
Go to Marketing Campaigns (megaphone icon)
Select Blast Campaigns
Click the yellow "+ Add Campaign" button
Name your campaign and click Next
Step 2: Select Your Audience
First, choose your primary date filter:
Visit Date - Best for:
Practice announcements
Newsletters
New services/providers
Office closure notices
Targeting patients from a specific date range
Last Visit Date - Best for:
Reactivation campaigns
Must be used with 'has future appointment' No option selected. This finds patients based on their last visit date and no future visit.
Patient follow-ups
Note: Avoid using "yesterday" as the date range
Then add secondary filters to refine the list:
Recommended filters:
Active/Inactive Status (usually select Active only)
Has Future Appointment (usually set to No if it is for a reactivation)
Total Paid (exclude free consultation patients)
Age (exclude inappropriate age groups)
Tags (use + to include, - to exclude)
Additional filter options:
CPT codes (services received/not received)
Birthday month
Case type
Diagnosis
Provider
Insurance
Location
Many other options
Step 3: Review Your Audience
Click blue "Load" button
Click "Audience Preview"
Verify contact info:
For texts: Uncheck Address and Email box
For emails: Uncheck Address and Cell Phone box
Remove unwanted recipients using trash can icon (the preferred method is to tag individual patients and exclude these patients using the tag filter)
Optional: tag patients in bulk in the audience list. Blast campaigns are a great way to create a very specific list of patients and assign them all a tag at the same time for tracking purposes on the various TrackStat reports.
Step 4: Create Messages
Click "Next"
Click "+ New Message" or search for previously created message
Choose timing:
Send now
Schedule for later
Turn on campaign
For text messages:- Example Template for an Office Closure:
{{PatientFirstName}}, {{OfficeName}} will be closed tomorrow due to inclement weather. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please call or reply to this text to reschedule at your convenience {{OfficePhone}}
1 text = 160 characters with spaces
2 texts = 161-320 characters with spaces
3 texts = 321-480 characters with spaces
Note: SMS (text) messages exceeding 290 characters with spaces will be converted into MMS (multi-media segment) type messages and will include your office logo saved in Account Settings.
Step 5: Set Campaign Goals (Optional)
Common goals that will remove patients from campaign:
Books future appointment
Books with specific provider
Clicks campaign link
Completes survey/webinar registration
Step 6: Monitor Results
Track delivery rates
Monitor response rates
Follow up with tagged patients
Review campaign performance
FAQs
How is group messaging different from a Blast Campaign?
Group messaging allows you to send the same message to multiple patients directly from any report. However, it does not create a true 'group chat'—each patient receives the message individually, and replies aren't shared among recipients.
Q: Which user roles can create and edit blast campaigns?
A: User roles including User Plus, Manager and Administrator can create and edit blast campaigns. User role cannot access campaigns.
Q: When I send a preview or test message some of the merge fields do not look right. What do I do?
A: The following merge fields will not populate in the preview message, but don't worry they will populate when the blast message is enabled and sent to your list of patients! Merge fields are populated when each individual message is generated in the system and customized.
Appointment Provider Name
Patient First Name
Patient Full Name
Google Review Link
Facebook Review Link
Yelp Review Link
Review Page Link
Review Gate Link
Appointment Invite Link
Q: Why do I see an estimated charge when I create a blast campaign? Are there fees for sending text message campaigns?
A: Additional charges apply only if you do not have enough remaining text message credits on your account. Your remaining text message credits for the month can be seen by hovering over the Inbox.
Message credit usage includes individual text messages sent and received in the Inbox as well as all text messages sent through Blast, Drip and Review Campaigns. Monthly message credit allotment will reset at the beginning of each month based on the terms in your contract.
Here is how message credits are counted:
Text messages WITHOUT an image (SMS):
1 message credit = 1 sent or received text message of 160 characters or less including spaces
2 message credits = 1 sent or received text message of 161 - 320 characters including spaces
3 message credits = 1 sent or received text message of 321 - 480 characters including spaces etc..
Text messages WITH an image (MMS):
3 message credits = 1 sent or received text message of 1,000 characters or less including spaces
Q: I added new appointment purposes in my EMR/EHR software. Why can’t I see them in TrackStat?
A: Appointment purposes will not be visible in TrackStat until they are used for the first time in your EMR/EHR software.
Q: Can I create a marketing campaign to send to people who are not patients?
A: They must be a patient in your EMR/EHR software in order to be included in a marketing campaign
Q: We use another software to track and market to our marketing leads. Does TrackStat connect with other marketing software or apps?
A: No, currently we do not have any web hooks to connect with apps such as Zapier or other application integration platforms.
Q: How do I format our emails to make them look really nice?
A: If you want to make something really pretty, the easiest solution is to create your artwork in a program that is specifically made for design like Canva or Adobe Creative Cloud and then insert the image in the campaign. .png format is preferred for images.
Q: We have patients that have opted out of marketing in our EMR/EHR software. How do I find these patients so I can exclude them from marketing in TrackStat?
A:
For ChiroTouch
There is no way to run a list of patients that have been excluded from the call list in the CT Contact Manager but there is a way to run a list of patients that have opted out of marketing (marketing box is unchecked in CT Patient Information screen). Here is how to run the list in the Front Desk app.
Click on "Billing Statements & Reports" button
Click on "Labels/Lists"
In the "Label / List Type" dropdown select "Patient List"
In the "Options" box select "Patient Marketing"
Tag "FALSE"
Click on "ADD" button
Click on "PREVIEW" button
From there the report can be exported or printed. In TrackStat these patients can now be assigned a tag and or disabled from receiving marketing messages.
Q: After sending a campaign, how do I know how many messages were delivered, opened, bounced or how many people unsubscribed?
A: Open the Campaign
Click on the Report tab
Text Campaigns will show:
Total Recipients
Total Delivered
Delivered %
Total Errors
Total Unsubscribed
Email Campaigns will show:
Total Recipients
Total Delivered
Delivered %
Total Opened
Total Errors
Total Bounced
Total Unsubscribed
Common Challenges in Blast Messaging
1. Messages Not Delivered to the Entire Audience
Missing Field Data: If both “Email” and “CellPhone” fields are selected for an SMS-only blast but some recipients lack a cell phone number, delivery will fail for those contacts. Ensure fields match the message type and the required data is present.
Invalid Email Addresses: For email blasts, buyers might not receive messages due to invalid or bounced emails caused by typos or outdated email addresses.
2. Long Messages Failing Delivery
Character Limits: Messages exceeding 900 characters may be rejected by some carriers. To avoid this: - For SMS: Keep the message length under 900 characters. - For MMS: Use Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) for longer messages that include images or additional content.
3. Campaign Sent but No Messages Delivered
Empty Audience: If an audience is not properly loaded, the campaign has no recipients. Users need to ensure that audience data populates before sending.
Filters Applied Incorrectly: The selected filters may overly restrict the audience. Review and adjust filters to ensure a larger pool of recipients.
4. Adjusting Audiences After Sending
If audience changes (e.g., adding recipients) are made post-send, the message will not reach the updated list. All audience updates must be finalized before sending.
Preventative Measures
Follow these practices to prevent delivery issues:
Validate Recipient Data: - Ensure that recipients have valid and up-to-date phone numbers or email addresses.
Match Fields to Message Type: - Only select relevant fields based on the message type. For example, select “CellPhone” for SMS campaigns.
Double-Check Audience Filters: - Apply broad filters to capture a sufficient audience without excluding recipients unnecessarily. Always confirm the total audience count before launching a campaign.
Compose Concise Messages: - Keep messages under 900 characters for SMS or switch to MMS for longer content.
By following these guidelines and leveraging TrackStat’s reporting features effectively, you can significantly improve the success of blast messaging campaigns while preventing common errors. If problems persist, contact support for in-depth assistance.