Frequently Asked Questions

1. What will Patient Minders do for me and my practice?
   
   
2. Why do I need a patient retention program?
   
   
3. Why can't I just do this myself?
   
   
4. Why use greeting cards?
   
   
5. Why should I use Patient Minders as opposed to buying personalized cards from a greeting card company?
   
   
6. Who uses your card sending services?
   
   
7. How do I get my patient information to you?
   
   
8. What if I don't have my patient list digitized?
   
   
9. How do you get my signature and written greetings in the cards?
   
   
10. How and when do I pay?
    
    
11. How do I update my patient names and addresses?
    
    
12. Are there any setup fees?
    
    
13. What are the minimum requirements to sign up for a program?
    
    
14. Can I order personalized cards in bulk and have them sent directly to me?
    
    
15. What about privacy?

What will Patient Minders do for me and my practice?
We offer fully-automated greeting card services that allow you to personally stay in touch with your patients throughout the year---with minimal effort required on your behalf! The greeting cards will have your printed handwritten note inside and the envelopes will be printed with a handwriting-style font. We keep track of birthdays and holidays to make sure your patients ALWAYS receive a beautiful greeting card from you to commemorate any occasion you choose.
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Why do I need a patient retention program?
It is much less expensive to keep current patients than to constantly go after new ones.  Sometimes, in the pursuit of increasing sales and profits, businesses forget the importance of retaining current patients. A primary benefit of our retention programs is that it increases patient retention by increasing patient loyalty.  Patients are not likely to go to your competitors if they believe they have a solid personal relationship with the doctor and staff of your practice. In addition, they will most likely recommend your practice to friends and associates -- the most cost-effective way to acquire new patients.
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Why can't I just do this myself?
Since this is all we do, we have developed processes to get this done more efficiently than most practices can on their own.  Think about all the extra time and costs involved in finding and buying greeting cards, addressing the envelopes one by one, signing each card individually, buying and affixing stamps to the envelopes and keeping track of important dates such as birthday and holidays. If you have employees sending out greeting cards, think about the time and money saved by having them do what they were initially hired to do. When you think about the actual final cost of doing this on your own, it adds up to much, much more than the cost of the card and the postage stamp. We can send your greeting cards more efficiently and less expensively than if you tried to do this on your own. Our services allow you to maintain patient contact and automate your referral marketing plans with little effort.
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Why use greeting cards?
Greeting cards get the best response rate of any direct mail method.  Greeting card industry data shows that the use of greeting cards as a marketing tool can generate a response rate of more than 50%, while Forrester Research finds that typical direct mail response rates range from .5% to 5%.

Greeting cards are also inexpensive and give you the most value for your marketing dollar.  Unlike "junk mail," our personalized greeting cards leave a tangible impression that will reinforce and build your patient relationships. 
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Why should I use Patient Minders as opposed to just buying personalized cards from a greeting card company?
Patient Minders is a marketing company that offers patient retention services in the form of personalized greeting card mailings. We offer services such as date-sensitive mailings, quality reproduction of your handwritten message inside your greeting cards, and first-class postage. No mailing labels are ever used as we print mailing addresses directly onto the envelope in a handwriting-style font. Most greeting card companies simply cannot afford to offer the printing AND mailing services we do and expect to make a profit. Since this is all we do, we have refined our processes and can deliver our services promptly and effectively.
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Who uses your greeting card sending services?
Our customers are healthcare practices and professional individuals in varied industries. Our customers all have a common need to communicate with their patients in a personal way. Sending greeting cards adds a warm, personal dimension to the doctor/patient relationship outside your office. Most practices have a desire to communicate this feeling to their patients but don't know how to do so in a cost-effective way.
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How do I get my patient information to you?
Once you create a free account, you can go to your address book for directions on how to format your data. Most of our customers use Microsoft Excel to get their data ready for uploading. Many contact management programs can export CSV files and those can be imported into Excel and saved as the file format needed to upload your information. If you do not have access to Excel, we can help you get started. If you can export your patient information out of your contact management program as a properly formatted CSV file, we can help you upload it to your account. Contact Customer Support for more details.
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What if I don't have my patient list digitized?
You can either enter your patient information one at a time in your account’s Address Book or we will accept your patient data on paper. We'll do all the work to enter your data manually into our system. You patient data will be entered by us at a cost of $0.20 per contact. The time it takes to get your entire list in your account will depend on the size of your patient list.
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How do you get my signature and written greetings in the cards?
We will provide detailed instructions on sending us your signature in the PDF you’ll be asked to download after you have signed up for a program. After we receive your completed note via US Mail, we'll scan your handwritten signature and/or greetings and store it for use throughout the year. We welcome you to research and see how the quality of your handwriting reproduction compares to other services. 
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How and when do I pay?
When you sign up for our Birthday Program, you must buy mailing credits. One mailing credit is equal to one greeting card and one postage stamp. You are asked to buy the same amount of mailing credits as patients you are signing up for the program. For example, if you sign up 100 patients in your birthday program, you must purchase 100 mailing credits to activate your program. As we send birthday cards to your patients, the amount of mailing credits used per month are deducted from your account. When your account runs low, you will be asked to purchase more credits or your program will not continue.

For our Sphere of Influence program mailings, you will be asked to pay 3-4 weeks before each of your scheduled mailings. This allows enough time to send in your written notes for the upcoming mailing and to order your cards from our suppliers. For our Sphere of Influence program, we accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover either by PayPal or by telephone. We also accept personal and business checks for birthday programs but there will be a delay in your account setup while your check clears the bank. Due to time constraints, we do not accept checks for Sphere program mailings. You do not need to have a PayPal account to pay for your programs with a credit card online.
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How do I update my patient names and addresses?
You may log in to your online account 24 hours a day to make changes to your patient address book. If you are on the Birthday program, you will receive an automated email on the first of each month asking you to approve the birthday cards we will be sending the following month. For example, you would receive an email on April 1st asking you to log in to your account and take a look at the contacts in your program that are scheduled to receive birthday cards in May. You will also receive a 2nd reminder email on the 7th of each month to remind you to make updates. You will have 10 full days each month to make your updates for the following month’s birthday card mailings. If there are any address updates or patient additions/deletions, this 10 day update window is when you would make those changes. Once you have reviewed your upcoming birthday card recipient list and made your updates, you will then be asked to approve your list. Whether or not you approve your list, on the 11th of the month we will begin printing your cards for the following month’s birthdays. After the 10th of the month, you may not make any changes to the following month’s birthday card mailings in your account as we have already started the printing process. If you do not want us to send a card to a particular person in your list for the following month, you must contact Customer Support to have the card taken out of our mailing system.
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Are there any setup fees?
No. This is extremely important as some companies will charge you literally hundreds of dollars to setup your service.  Most will also "nickel-and-dime" you for every little option such as signature scanning and envelope printing—one company we know of charges to print your recipient address and then charges you again to print your return address. These little costs will definitely add up in the end. We try to make our billing system as simple as possible to avoid any confusion.
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What are the minimum requirements to sign up for a program?
Birthday Program: 75 contacts 
Sphere of Influence program mailing (holiday cards, etc.): 50 contacts
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Can I order personalized cards in bulk and have them sent directly to me?
Yes you can.  Just let us know which card you'd like and we'll ship them out to you to do with as you wish.  Volume pricing for greeting cards sent directly to you is the same as they are for using them our programs minus postage. Shipping extra.
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What about privacy?
You may read our Privacy Policy on this website. We meet HIPAA requirements by storing your patient address data on 128-bit secure servers. In accordance with HIPAA guidelines please do not include any personal patient data when composing your greetings. Personal patient data would include any information describing the patient's specific reason for visiting you. You will meet HIPAA accountability requirements by not referencing specific medical needs in your greeting cards. For example, you CAN say 'Congratulations on your New Smile!" You SHOULD NOT say, Congratulations on Your New Smile! The new veneers look great!"
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Please contact customer service with any additional questions you may have.