" email api Archives - LuxSci

Posts Tagged ‘email api’

5 Healthcare Marketing Trends for 2023

Thursday, January 5th, 2023

Happy New Year! A new year brings new challenges and opportunities for marketers to take their strategy to the next level. Here are some healthcare marketing trends you should consider adopting this year to meet your goals in 2023.

healthcare marketing trends

Email Marketing is Here to Stay

Healthcare providers face a challenging economic situation in 2023 and may be forced to cut marketing budgets. Although some advertising channels may be forced to take a hiatus, email marketing should not be one of them. Not only do patients want to receive marketing communications via email, but email marketing also delivers one of the best returns on investment.

email stats

Email marketing should remain part of your marketing strategy in 2023. There are ways to reduce costs and streamline processes to help you grow even more. 

Multichannel is Out; Omnichannel is In

Companies have realized the importance of reaching customers across various channels, including digital and traditional media. As a result, many have embraced a multichannel approach to their marketing campaigns, using social media, email, print and digital ads, and more to spread marketing messages. However, using multiple channels doesn’t mean the message is consistent across these channels. The difference between a multichannel marketing strategy and a truly omnichannel experience lies in the consistency and alignment of the messaging. Omnichannel marketing involves the integration of digital channels and traditional media to provide a consistent and personalized experience across all channels to drive marketing success. An omnichannel strategy considers all you know about a potential prospect to serve them with personalized messaging at the appropriate time on the right channel.

Email Personalization

Speaking of personalization, patients desire relevant communication from healthcare providers. In fact, a recent Salesforce study found that 73% of global consumers expect brands to cater to their unique needs and expectations. In healthcare, this presents a challenge because providers must comply with HIPAA regulations in their email communications. Luckily, with the right tools and patient permission, it’s possible to personalize emails to create relevant campaigns. When healthcare marketers have access to zero-party data from patients and the right tools to execute, it’s possible to go beyond practice newsletters to create campaigns that actually deliver results.

One bonus personalization tip- create emails that are culturally competent and use the patient’s preferred language. Healthcare communications should not leave anyone behind. With the right tools, it’s easier than ever to segment your audience based on their language preferences and create alternate content that resonates. Learn more about personalization techniques here.

Automation and Dynamic Content

Many marketers are turning to automation tactics to streamline operations in the face of increasing budgetary pressure. Advanced email marketers can use email APIs to trigger email campaigns when specific criteria are met and use dynamic content to personalize the email content. These tactics make email marketing scalable and ensure your audience receives the right communications at the right time. Expect to see more marketers embrace automation this year. 

Changing Metrics and Reporting Data

In 2023, open rates are becoming even more unreliable metrics. Apple Mail’s new privacy features and the increasing prevalence of email filtering and spam tools mean that marketers will need to rely on different metrics to judge the success of their campaigns. Tracking the clicks and what actions users take after receiving the email is crucial to understanding the effectiveness of your campaigns. Also, keeping email lists clean and removing unsubscribed and inactive users is more important than ever to keep your IP addresses off blacklists. 

What tactics will you be testing out in 2023?

Tags: email api, email automation, email marketing, healthcare marketing, hipaa, omnichannel marketing, personalization, reporting metrics
Posted in Email Marketing
Comments Off on 5 Healthcare Marketing Trends for 2023

New Feature: API Priority Queue

Tuesday, November 22nd, 2022

Maximize efficiency by employing our new email-sending prioritization features. Secure High Volume Email customers utilizing APIs for sending can now set a message priority to determine the order in which messages are sent out.

email api priority queue

What is the API Priority Queue Feature?

This feature allows customers to set a priority on email messages sent via API. Customers can pass an optional parameter in their API to set the message priority on a scale of 0 – 9. Zero is the lowest priority, nine is the highest, and four is the default priority setting.

The API priority queue feature allows customers to send out higher-priority messages faster when the sending queue is already long.

Why is the API Priority Queue Useful?

Traditionally, all customer emails were processed in a “first come, first serve” method. Customers can now use the priority queue to determine the sending order when they simultaneously send transactional and marketing messages via the API.

For example, time-sensitive password resets could be stuck in the queue while a large blast of marketing emails is transmitted. Depending on the size of the email list and server capacity, the password reset email could be held up for several minutes to even hours. This situation is unacceptable for many business use cases.

Customers can designate transactional emails as high-priority with the API priority queue feature enabled. When transactional emails are given a high-priority status, they can jump the line and go out before less time-sensitive emails like marketing messages.

How to Utilize the API Priority Queue

This feature is only available to Secure High Volume Email customers utilizing APIs to send emails. It does not work for SMTP sending. Customers can add the optional parameter and desired value while crafting their API call to send emails. Additionally, customers can use the API configuration editor in the LuxSci UI to change the default priority value for all messages. You can review the details of our API by going to: https://luxsci.com/rest-api.html.

Tags: api, email api, luxsci news, marketing email, new feature, password reset, secure high volume, secure high volume email, sending priority, sending queue, Transactional email
Posted in New Feature Announcements
Comments Off on New Feature: API Priority Queue

Frequently Asked Questions: HIPAA and Email Marketing

Thursday, October 27th, 2022

HIPAA is a complicated law that offers a lot of guidance but does not require the use of any specific technologies to protect patient privacy. This causes a lot of confusion when it comes to HIPAA-compliant marketing campaigns. This article addresses some frequently asked questions about HIPAA-compliant email marketing and what you need to do to be on the right side of the law.

Do generic practice newsletters still count as PHI?

In many cases, even generic email newsletters can be considered PHI because they are sent to lists of current patients. Email addresses are individually identifiable and combined with the email content; it may imply that they are patients of the practice. For example, say you send a “generic” newsletter to the patients of a dialysis clinic. An eavesdropper may be able to infer that the recipients receive dialysis. Therefore the email is PHI and should be protected.

In some cases, it can be complicated to determine what is PHI and what is not. Using a HIPAA-compliant marketing solution is best to avoid ambiguity and ensure you are secure.

What are email marketing best practices for organizations using Mailchimp?

The best practice is not to use Mailchimp! Mailchimp is NOT HIPAA-compliant and will not sign a Business Associate Agreement to protect your data. The best way to begin an email marketing program is to select a fully HIPAA-compliant vendor. Simply put, this means that emails are encrypted in transit, and stored data is also encrypted. 

 

quasi compliance

What is an Email API?

API is an acronym that stands for “Application Programming Interface.” An email API gives applications (like CRMs, CDPs, or EHRs) the ability to send emails and retrieve analytics. Email APIs are often used to send transactional or bulk marketing emails. Trigger-based emails are ideal for sending with an email API. In this situation, emails are sent when pre-determined conditions in the application are met. For example, an order confirmation is a transactional, trigger-based email. A person buys a product online, the transaction is processed, and an email is sent to the buyer with their transaction details. The email is sent automatically with an email API. When a new patient has an upcoming appointment, an email API could be used to send a reminder email and offer rescheduling options. Email APIs enable the automation of common email workflows.

Does HIPAA permit providers to send unencrypted emails with PHI to patients?

Encryption is an addressable standard under the HIPAA Security Rule, but that does not mean it’s optional. The HIPAA Privacy Rule does not explicitly forbid unencrypted email. Still, it does state that “other safeguards should be applied to reasonably protect privacy, such as limiting the amount or type of information disclosed through the unencrypted email.”

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has clarified this by stating that “covered entities are permitted to send individuals unencrypted emails if they have advised the individual of the risk, and the individual still prefers the unencrypted email.” Some organizations use waivers to inform patients of the risks and acquire permission to send unencrypted emails.

However, we do not recommend this for several reasons. One, keeping track of waivers over time and recording status changes and updates is challenging. Two, signed waivers do not insulate you from the consequences of a HIPAA breach. And finally, using waivers to send unencrypted emails doesn’t eliminate your other HIPAA obligations. Using a HIPAA-compliant solution is more manageable and eliminates ambiguity.

Do patients have a right to exercise their right of access to their own PHI by receiving it via unencrypted email?

Yes, but they must be fully informed of the risks and sign waivers acknowledging them. The caveats in the previous answer apply. It’s always better to encrypt emails. 

Is Microsoft 365/Exchange 365 encryption sufficient for marketing emails?

Microsoft 365 can be configured with Office Message Encryption (OME) to comply with HIPAA. However, it is not well-suited to send marketing emails. OME primarily relies on portal pickup encryption, in which the message is stored securely on a server and requires the recipient to log in to the portal to read the email. If you are a marketer trying to increase open and response rates, the portal adds a barrier to access that many will not cross. Light-PHI marketing messages are best sent using TLS encryption. TLS-encrypted messages arrive in the recipient’s inbox just like a regular email and do not require a user to log in to read the message.

tls vs portal pickup

Conclusion

HIPAA can be difficult to understand, but choosing the right tools and properly vetting your vendors makes it easy to execute HIPAA-compliant email marketing campaigns. If you are interested in learning more about LuxSci’s easy-to-use, Secure Marketing platform, please get in touch with our sales team.

Tags: email api, email marketing, encrypted email, hipaa compliance, mutual consent, quasi compliance, quasi hipaa compliance, unencrypted email
Posted in Email Marketing
Comments Off on Frequently Asked Questions: HIPAA and Email Marketing

Using Secure Email APIs to Improve Operational Efficiency

Tuesday, May 10th, 2022

APIs are just one tool that organizations can use to streamline operations and automate processes. This article explains how secure email APIs can save time in healthcare communications.

secure email api

What is an API?

API is an acronym that stands for “Application Programming Interface.” APIs enable companies to open up their applications’ data and functionality to external third-party developers, business partners, and internal departments. They allow services and products to communicate and leverage each other’s data and functionality through a documented interface. APIs simplify app development by allowing applications to work together.

APIs help business and IT teams collaborate. One example is the Weather Underground API. If a smartwatch developer wanted to display the weather on the watch face, they could use the Weather Underground API to source current weather data and local forecasts. Application developers do not have to create an entirely new weather database and keep it updated. Instead, the API enables them to use the Weather Underground’s meteorological data in their application.

APIs enable information to flow both ways. The smartwatch can display Weather Underground forecasts, and the API can report data back to the Weather Underground. This functionality enables interoperability and data sharing.

Email APIs

An email API gives applications the ability to send emails and retrieve analytics. Email APIs are often used to send transactional emails from applications like CRMs, EHRs, and other databases. Trigger-based emails are ideal for sending with an email API. In this situation, emails are sent when pre-determined conditions are met. For example, an order confirmation is a transactional, trigger-based email. A person buys a product online, the transaction is processed, and an email is sent to the buyer with their transaction details. The email is sent automatically with an email API.

Benefits of Secure Email APIs

Imagine if it was an employee’s responsibility to create and send every order confirmation email. It would be completely overwhelming. Besides saving time, some of the main benefits of email APIs include:

      • Easy to use and implement
      • Cost savings
      • Email deliverability improvements
      • Email list management
      • Reporting and analytics functionality
      • Personalization and customization
      • Enterprise-grade security

How to Use Secure Email APIs to Improve Operational Efficiency

Healthcare organizations are under increasing pressure to improve the patient experience. Online shoppers expect to see those order confirmation emails within a few minutes of finalizing their orders. Healthcare consumers using online communication tools expect the same experience from their healthcare providers. By expediting and personalizing patient communications, APIs can help increase patient satisfaction.

Thanks to the introduction of electronic health records, healthcare organizations have access to more patient data than ever before. Developers can use secure email APIs to send timely, trigger-based emails from EHR platforms.

Some examples of the types of emails that healthcare providers can send using an email API include:

  • Welcome emails
  • Appointment reminders
  • Patient satisfaction surveys
  • Flu shot and vaccine reminders
  • Password resets and other transactional emails

It works like this: the developer creates the email templates in advance and the criteria for email sending. The email is automatically sent when the conditions are met. For example, a developer may trigger a welcome email to send when:

1) a new patient is added to the database and

2) their first appointment date is set.

Email APIs can also pull information from the patient record to personalize the email. The welcome email may include the patient’s name and the date of their first appointment.

Other than updating the patient record, office administrators do not need to take additional actions to send the email. The email API automatically sends customized emails when appropriate.

Security and Privacy Considerations

Of course, developers working with patient data should not ignore HIPAA. It is essential to choose a vendor that understands the requirements. Failing to follow proper protocols can put patient data at risk and lead to data breaches.

For developers looking to create their own HIPAA-compliant APIs, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has put together a helpful guide. LuxSci also has API developer documentation to help integrate applications with our secure email API.

Conclusion

Email APIs are an essential part of digital health transformation and interoperability. Healthcare organizations should explore how APIs can improve their workflows and improve efficiency. LuxSci provides HIPAA-compliant and secure email APIs with Secure High Volume Email Sending. Contact us today to learn more.

Tags: api, email api, email automation, email workflows, hipaa compliant api, operational efficiency, secure api, Transactional email
Posted in Email, Email Marketing
Comments Off on Using Secure Email APIs to Improve Operational Efficiency