Direct Text Best Practices
Browse through our Direct Text Best Practices to explore options for your facility. All text messages are fully customizable and can be used on an as-needed basis.
Tips on Character Count:
- Short text messages are good text messages as they increase the likelihood of reading and retention. Messages cannot be more than 612 characters total.
- We recommend that you include your facility name at the beginning of every outbound text message to provide clarity for your patients. For example, "Main Street Medicine: Your appointment is tomorrow at..." You can use an abbreviated facility name to conserve characters. Keep in mind, those characters are not included in the character counts below.
- If you have a particularly long message, consider sending your main content in one message, and then creating a series of additional messages to provide the remaining content.
To learn more about how Dialog Health counts characters, click HERETrying to Reach You
Left Message
No Show
Call Billing
Arrival Time Reminder
Directions to Facility
Long Procedure (to Caregiver)
Consult Area (to Caregiver)
Complete Procedure (to Caregiver)
Ready for Discharge - Patient Pickup (to Caregiver)
Ready for Discharge - Waiting Room (to Caregiver)
For more information on utilizing the Direct Text feature, check out our other articles: How to Create/Edit Direct Text Templates and Direct Text a Patient.
Our support line is monitored Monday through Friday from 8:00 am – 6:00 pm CST