Run a Powerful Flu‑Season WhatsApp Broadcast with Ferbz to Fill Your Clinic’s Schedule

Below is a step‑by‑step walkthrough of creating a flu‑season broadcast inside Ferbz. Imagine Greenfield Family Clinic in Leeds, a practice with three GPs, a nurse‑led vaccination hub, and 4,200 registered patients.

1. Log in to the Ferbz Dashboard
   Open your browser, go to https://dashboard.ferbz.com/, and sign in with your credentials. The home screen shows the main navigation bar on the left: Patients, Appointments, Doctors, Billing, Automation, Broadcasts, Reminders, Reports.

2. Navigate to Broadcasts
   Click the Broadcasts icon. The Broadcasts page displays a list of past campaigns, a “Create New Broadcast” button, and a quick filter for “Draft”, “Scheduled”, or “Completed”.

3. Start a New Broadcast
   Press Create New Broadcast. A modal opens with three tabs: Audience, Message, Schedule.

4. Define the Audience

   • Filter by Patient Tag – In the Patients module, Greenfield has already tagged patients who received a flu vaccine in the previous year with the tag flu‑2023. To target those who haven’t been vaccinated, select the filter “Tag does not contain → flu‑2023”.
   • Add a Date‑Based Condition – Use the field “Days since last visit” and set it to “> 180”. This pulls patients who haven’t been in the clinic for six months, a group likely to need a reminder.
   • Geography – If the clinic wants to limit to patients within a 10‑mile radius of the Leeds centre, add the “Postcode starts with → LS” filter.
     The filtered list now shows 1,342 patients. Click Save as Audience → Flu‑Season‑2024.

5. Compose the Message
   Switch to the Message tab. Ferbz uses your pre‑approved WhatsApp templates, which you have stored under Automation → Templates. Choose the template titled Flu‑Shot Reminder. The template contains placeholders for patient name ({{patient_name}}) and a booking link ({{booking_url}}).

   • Edit the static text to suit the current season:

     Hi {{patient_name}},  
     The flu season is here. Protect yourself and your family with a free flu vaccine at Greenfield Family Clinic. Click below to book a convenient slot:  
     {{booking_url}}  
     Reply STOP to opt‑out.  
     

   • Press Preview – the system substitutes a sample patient (“Emma Thompson”) and shows the final WhatsApp view.

6. Set the Schedule
   Move to the Schedule tab. Choose Send on a specific date and time. Set the date to Monday, 2 October 2024, 09:00 GMT – the start of the NHS flu‑vaccination campaign. Tick Time‑zone aware to ensure all recipients receive the message at 09:00 local time, regardless of whether they are in Manchester or Cornwall.

7. Allocate Credits
   At the bottom of the schedule screen, Ferbz displays an estimate: “1,342 messages × 1 credit per message = 1,342 credits”. You have a wallet balance of 5,000 credits, so the broadcast fits comfortably. If you need to top up, click Add Credits and follow the prepaid wallet flow (no subscription required).

8. Review and Launch
   Click Review Summary. The summary page lists: Audience size, Message preview, Scheduled time, Credit cost. Confirm that everything is correct, then press Schedule Broadcast. The broadcast moves to the “Scheduled” list, and a small countdown timer shows time remaining until send.

9. Monitor Live Status
   While the broadcast is pending, you can watch its progress on the Reminders board. Once the scheduled time hits, each message appears as a line item with status icons:

   • Sent – the API has accepted the message.
   • Delivered – WhatsApp confirms delivery to the handset.
   • Read – the patient opened the message.
     Any failures (e.g., invalid numbers) are highlighted in red, allowing you to export a list of failed contacts for follow‑up.

10. Analyse Results
    After the broadcast completes, go to Reports → Messaging Effectiveness. Filter by the broadcast name “Flu‑Season‑2024”. You’ll see:

    • Sent: 1,342 (100%)
    • Delivered: 1,315 (98.0%)
    • Read: 1,102 (82.1%)
    • Click‑throughs to booking URL: 276 (20.6%)
    • New appointments generated: 184 (13.7% of total audience)

    Cross‑reference with the Appointments calendar to see the exact slots booked. The Billing module will automatically generate a “New Sale” receipt for each completed visit, and the Automation engine will enroll those patients into any post‑vaccination follow‑up journeys you have defined.

11. Iterate for Next Wave
    If you want to send a reminder to the 92 patients who booked but haven’t yet attended, simply duplicate the broadcast, change the audience filter to “Appointment status = booked but not attended”, adjust the message, and schedule a follow‑up send two days later. All credit usage is tracked in the same wallet.

By following these steps, Greenfield Family Clinic can launch a fully compliant, credit‑controlled flu‑season broadcast in under ten minutes, without leaving the Ferbz environment.

Time saved: Before Ferbz, Greenfield’s front‑desk team spent an average of 2 hours each morning manually dialing 50‑plus patients to confirm flu‑shot appointments. After the broadcast, that routine disappears. The Reminders board shows that 1,342 messages are sent automatically, freeing roughly 120 minutes of staff time per campaign.

Revenue recovered: In the previous year, the clinic recorded 184 missed flu‑shot opportunities during the October‑December window, equating to an estimated £4,560 loss (average £25 per vaccination plus ancillary consultation fees). The broadcast generated 184 new appointments, recapturing that revenue in a single campaign.

Reduced no‑shows: Because the same WhatsApp channel is used for both the broadcast and the automatic appointment confirmation, patients receive a reminder at the moment they book. The Automation journeys then send a 24‑hour pre‑visit reminder, cutting the no‑show rate from 12.4% to 6.8% for flu‑shot slots.

Credit transparency: The prepaid wallet means Greenfield knows exactly how many credits each broadcast consumes (1 credit per message). There is no hidden monthly fee, and the Reports module provides a clear cost‑per‑appointment metric – in this case, 1,342 credits for 184 bookings, or 7.3 credits per booked visit.

Compliance and data safety: All messages travel through the official WhatsApp Business API, satisfying UK GDPR and NHS Digital communication standards. No personal numbers are used, and each message respects the patient’s opt‑out preference (the “Reply STOP” clause is built into the template).

Overall, the Flu‑Season WhatsApp Broadcast turns a seasonal pain point—patients forgetting to book or attend vaccinations—into a measurable, repeatable workflow that saves staff hours, recovers lost income, and keeps the clinic’s schedule full during the busiest months of the year.

Ready to fill your clinic’s schedule this flu season? Sign up for a free trial at https://dashboard.ferbz.com/, top up your credit wallet, and launch your first Flu‑Season WhatsApp Broadcast in minutes. If you need help designing your message or setting up the audience filters, our support team is on hand at support@ferbz.com. Start converting seasonal demand into booked visits today.