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For marketing campaigns to function properly, a number of settings have to be configured in the system.

Configuring variables

  • Set the mobile phone prefix in the variables section. Variables >> text_phone_prefix. This should be set as a simple numeric value and will prefix all mobile numbers. This is a requirement for most SMS portals which need the international dialling code in front of the mobile number and remove the leading zero. For example in Australia the text_phone_prefix variable would be set to 61

  • Set the text_species_exclude variable to filter out any species that you do not want receiving marketing campaigns. each species needs to be seperated by a pipe character '|' . For example: exotic|rodent|avian|guinea pig|rat

  • Set the appointment link variable, text_appointment_link. This will then be inserted into messages using a placeholder. This field should contain the https link to the practice online scheduler if they have one.

  • text_business_name. Set this to the business name you want to appear on the messages

  • text_business_phone. Set this to the business phone number you want to appear on the messages

  • text_patient_exclude. Use this to exclude generic patient names AND surnames from mailing lists eg. puppy|litter|kitten,stray|rescue|rspca|referral, seperated by |

  • text_address_include. Use this to only include addresses containing certain characters, seperated by |. Eg to include a postcode like 4163 and 4164, enter 41 or 4163|4164. Works on postcode, state and city fields. Usually this is only required for specific cases for example businesses that operate in holiday areas and only want to target local customers.

Configuring company profile, location and forwarding numbers (setupwizard >>company profile settings)

Configuring for multi-branch environments with centralised database

With multi branch clinics where they use a centralised customer database it is better to run marketing campaigns form the main data hub system where all the customer details are. Running marketing campaigns in split hubs for individual branches is riskier. For example, a patient seen at one branch may be euthanased at another branch, so this information may get missed. Or a patient may be ‘lost’ to one branch simply because they have started using one of the other branches. This is only true for centralised databases. If branch clinics each run on separate databases, there will be duplication of customers and the above risks cannot really be avoided.

To configure the text messages for multiple branches, you can use pipe '|' separated values so that the text message contains the branch name, branch phone number and branch online scheduling link:

  1. text_branch_tags: Set this to EXACTLY the same text as the branch names in the software system
    Eg. branch1|branch2

  2. text_business_name: Set this to what you want displayed on the text message:
    Eg. London Vets|Manchester Vets

  3. text_business_phone: Set this to the phone number for each branch.
    Eg. 02123456|03456789

  4. text_appointment_link: Set this to the URL for the appointment scheduler for each branch.
    Eg. https://apptschedule1:https://apptschedule2
    Note that for some practices their online scheduler for branches is shared, so it may not be necessary.

Please note that the order of the above lists is important and must always correspond to your order in text_branch_tags.

You must also make sure thet the text messages you are sending are using placeholders for the above values not hardcoded names and phone numbers.

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