Case Study Snapshot
A case study on client work performed by Emily Dahl, Dahlhouse Content, in collaboration with the health system’s digital marketing lead.
Client / Brand: A small, seven-hospital midwest system (client has asked to remain unidentified)
Project / Engagement: Screenings emails + texts
Primary goal: Drive revenue by having patients schedule visits and screenings
Primary audiences: Patients eligible for annual wellness visits (AWVs), mammograms and well-child visits
Timeframe: Ongoing. Reported results are from 5 months (July - Nov)
Outcome: Surpassed $2 million in estimated appointment revenue (via appointments scheduled) within 5 months of starting the campaign
Segmenting the audience by care gaps
We designed journeys to encourage patients to schedule important appointments for their long-term health and close specific care gaps for the following visit types:
Annual wellness visit
Well-child visit
Mammogram screening
Both annual wellness visit + mammogram screening
Choosing the channel approach
The team used the existing tool capabilities that were part of their EHR:
Email for personalization – Positioned as a friendly reminder from the care team with only relevant information for each patient’s unique situation, while still adhering to HIPAA.
Text message for convenience – Emphasized ease of one-click scheduling via text (reduce friction).
Automated voicemail for message saturation – Leveraged as one more touchpoint often expected by patients (”If it’s important, they’ll call”).
Structuring the journeys
After patients met the criteria for each journey, a new wave kicked off each month, with continued refinement and iteration.
Month-long: A series of messages were sent over the course of a month to groups of each audience target.
Group and iterate: Instead of sending to all eligible patients at once, we sent to smaller grouping within each segment. Results informed optimization before sending to the next group the following month.
End: Patients exited the journey if they scheduled the desired visit type or opted out. The campaign has potential for ongoing use and build-out.
Results
The client said: “The best thing is that we can track the appointments generated by this email / text outreach and attribute it to revenue margin for each appointment scheduled.”
Within the first month, 3,060 appointments were scheduled, which at an estimated $250 per appointment in revenue margin yields $765,000.
Within 5 months of starting the campaign, scheduled appointments surpassed $2 million in projected appointment revenue.
Takeaways for success
Some key themes and decisions contributed to our results.
Personalization ensured the right people received tailored and relevant messages.
Careful messaging ensured continued HIPAA compliance and patient privacy.
Channels reinforced the message in unique ways, highlighting the functionality of each without becoming repetitive.
CTA was operationally simple: Schedule online
Messaging tone that resonated:
“Some visits are covered every year — make the most of your health benefits.”
“As each year unfolds, you need a personalized health and wellness plan that evolves with you.”
“Don’t wait for your child to get sick — well-child visits make sure [Name] stays healthy and happy.”
Close care gaps with tools you already have
Most health systems already have the tools to do this. What they're missing is the strategy that ties the audience, the message and the channel together so every email and text has a job.
That's how an existing EHR platform produced more than $2 million in scheduled appointment revenue in five months. If your team has care gaps to close and tools you aren't fully using, let's talk.
