How to Send Ad-Hoc Broadcasts

How to Send Ad-Hoc Broadcasts

About Ad-hoc Broadcast Messaging

The ad-hoc broadcast feature in Dialog Health allows you to send a mass text message to all of your subscribers or to a designated subset of subscribers. Ad-hoc broadcasts are handy when you need to get out emergent information fast. Unlike campaign broadcast messages, ad-hoc messaging is not automated. Keep reading to learn how to send an ad-hoc broadcast.

When Could My Team Use Ad-Hoc Broadcast Messaging?

Send Mass Updates to Staff:

  1. Center closing/opening
  2. Center-adjusted hours
  3. Parties/Activities
  4. Supply shortage
  5. Limited staff needs
  6. Alert on-call team members

Send Mass Updates to Patients:

  1. Center closing/opening
  2. Center-adjusted hours
  3. Possible delays or cancellations
  4. Inclement Weather

Don't currently have access to ad-hoc broadcast messaging? Reach out to info@dialoghealth.com to talk with our team about the addition of ad-hoc messaging.

How to Send an Ad-hoc to All Subscribers

The following tutorial will walk your team through sending an ad-hoc broadcast to all the people currently opted-in for texting in your Dialog Health console.

1. Navigate to the Broadcasts Tab. If your team has Ad-hoc broadcast messaging enabled, the first tab will display Ad-hoc. If you do not have Ad-hoc messaging enabled, it will appear greyed out.

2. To create a new ad-hoc, select + Add Ad-Hoc Broadcast.



3. Create New Ad Hoc Broadcast Message
  1. Broadcast Name: Pick a name for your ad-hoc broadcast. This will be for internal use only. Our team recommends adding the date you send your ad-hoc into the title as best practice. 

  1. Audience: Unless your team is actively using caregiver messaging only, you can leave your audience as Patient. If your team is using caregiver messaging only, you should select Patient and Caregiver. To learn more about caregiver messaging, click HERE.
To learn more about the "From File" option, click HERE




  1. Opt-In Group(s): Select the appropriate opt-in group(s). For example, if I only want to message staff members, I would select my staff opt-in group. If I want to send a message to my patients, I would select my patient opt-in group. If you use multiple groups, take caution when selecting "all groups" unless you are truly attempting to message all subscribers. To learn more about opt-in groups, click HERE.

  1. Audience Filters: In this tutorial, our goal is to message all members who are currently opted-in to the Dialog Health console, so we do not need to select any audience filters. To learn how to send an ad-hoc to a subset of your subscribers, continue to the next section of this article. 
  1. Send Time: You have two options available to queue your ad-hoc broadcast to send. The first option is selecting a scheduled date and time to send your ad-hoc broadcast. As a best practice, our team always recommends scheduling your ad-hoc broadcast, even if it's set to go out 10 minutes from the time you are creating the message. By scheduling your ad-hoc for a future date/time, you have the capability to go back and make changes to your ad-hoc broadcast. 

  1. Send ASAP: The second option available to queue your ad-hoc broadcast to send is Send ASAP. Once you have created your ad-hoc and you're ready to send, you will not be able to go back and makes changes to your ad-hoc broadcast. Your message will be sent and cannot be undone. 

  1. Template: If your team has a message which is used frequently, your admin on the account can add templates to choose from which will populate the message box with your prebuilt verbiage. To learn more about creating templates, click HERE.

  1. Message: If you do not have text templates created, you can free type in the message section. As a best practice, remember to add your organization's name to your outreach so the subscriber knows who the message is coming from. Your preferences in Dialog Health allow you to create a sponsor code so your team does not have to add your organization's name each time you create an ad-hoc broadcast or direct text message. To learn more about how to set up your sponsor code, click HERE.

Use dynamic tags to enhance your text messages. Click HERE to learn more about dynamic tags.



  1. Add: Once customization is complete, proceed by selecting Add in the bottom, right-hand corner of the window. You will receive a Broadcast Configuration Alert to confirm that you are ready to send/schedule your ad-hoc. The alert will also provide the projected deliverability of your ad-hoc dependent on the volume of members who are eligible to receive text messages. Select Send to xx people to continue or Cancel to go back to make changes to your ad-hoc broadcast. 

How to Send an Ad-Hoc to a Subset of Your Subscribers

The following tutorial will walk your team through sending an ad-hoc broadcast directed to a portion of people currently opted-in for texting in your Dialog Health console (e.g., if your team only wants to message employees who have full-time employment status, or if your team only wants to message patients scheduled on a specific date). 

The configuration described in the previous section will remain the same, however, to direct your ad-hoc towards a specific audience in your console, we will be leveraging audience filters. 

  1. Audience Filters: Select the drop-down located in the Audience Filters section to choose how you'd like to direct your Ad-Hoc Broadcast. Depending on who you are trying to reach, it may be appropriate to use more than 1 audience filter. Below are a few common scenarios using audience filters.
    1. A team only has to close their office 1 day out of the week and wants to send a notification to patients only scheduled on the closure date.


    1. A provider calls out from June 20th to June 23rd and you need to reschedule those patient visits.


The Date filters for "Before" and "After" are exclusive. Using a value like "06/19/2023" for either filter will not include Appointments/Events scheduled on "06/19/2023". 

    1. You are sending out a reminder regarding open enrollment, and only want to message full-time employees who are eligible for benefits. 


    1. You want to send out a reminder about the board meeting to staff members with leadership roles. 


It is crucial to pay attention to the estimated deliverability count provided upon the completion of configuring an ad-hoc broadcast. This count serves as a valuable safeguard to ensure the appropriate configuration of audience filters. For instance, consider a scenario where you intend to send a message to 20 patients scheduled for a specific date. If the configuration alert indicates that the broadcast is about to reach 200 subscribers, it should raise concerns about potential misconfiguration in the ad-hoc setup. 

Continuing with the example of 20 patients, if the Broadcast Configuration Alert indicates an expected reach of only 18 patients, it suggests the possibility that 2 patients may be ineligible to receive text messages. It is important to note that ad-hoc broadcasts will solely reach the intended audience if they have opted-in for messaging and meet the specified audience filter criteria.  


If you are expected to reach over 10,000 subscribers with your ad-hoc broadcast, you will need to verify the estimated count before proceeding to send or schedule your message. 



How Do I Know When My Ad-Hoc Has Finished Sending?

It may take up to 5 minutes for your ad-hoc to send after your selected send-time. The Status Bar will alert your team when the message has been sent. 

1/2 Scheduled: Dialog Health is working on sending your text message, or your message is scheduled for a future date/time. 



2/2 Sent: Your ad-hoc broadcast has been sent from Dialog Health.





Questions? Please reach out to: support@dialoghealth.com or 877.666.1132
Our support line is monitored Monday through Friday from 8:00 am – 6:00 pm CST


    • Related Articles

    • How to Send Ad-Hoc Broadcasts From a File

      About Ad-hoc Broadcast Messaging The ad-hoc broadcast feature in Dialog Health allows you to send a mass text message to all of your subscribers or to a designated subset of subscribers. Ad-hoc broadcasts are handy when you need to get out emergent ...

    • Clone Ad-Hoc Broadcasts

      How to Clone an Ad-Hoc Broadcast Do you have an ad-hoc broadcast that your team has sent in the past that you'd like to quickly resend? Instead of creating the message from scratch using +Add Ad-Hoc Broadcast, use the new cloning action. 1. Navigate ...

    • Mass Communication and Emergency Alerts

      An Ad Hoc broadcast is a mass text message that can be sent to a group of subscribed Patients and/or Staff with information such as closing dates, or what to expect in the coming weeks. Browse through our Ad Hoc Best Practices to explore options for ...

    • How to Create Same-Day Broadcast Messages

      How to Build a Same-Day Broadcast Message 1) Navigate to the Broadcasts Tab, and select the Campaign Tab. 2) If you do not already have a Campaign Broadcast for your same-day messaging, you can create a new "bucket" to help organize your text ...

    • How Many Patients Received My Automated Broadcast?

      How to Leverage the Outbox to Find the Number of Patients who Received a Broadcast Message Your Inbox and Outbox can be a great place to pull statistics based off of your patient communication. This article will walk through how to find the number of ...