Overview
The Marketing Campaigns feature in Principle helps you plan and automate campaigns your patients will love — from recalls and reactivations to promotional messages. You can create multi-step campaigns, track engagement and conversions, and keep your books full with minimal manual effort.
Step 1 : Access Marketing Campaigns
You can find the Marketing Campaigns section in the sidebar.
This area includes:
Account summary information — such as marketing balances and invoices.
Marketing credits or deposits — you can prepay funds to use for campaigns.
Campaigns under $300 don’t require prepayment.
Campaigns over $300 will prompt you to add funds before launching.
Note: You'll want to set up your recall settings before getting started.
Step 2: Create a New Campaign
Click “Create Campaign”.
Choose a template (recommended) or start from scratch.
Templates provide a ready-made structure for common campaign types like recalls or once-off SMS messages.
Select your campaign type (e.g., 6+ month recall campaign).
Choose:
Sender (if your account has multiple practices),
Communication type:
Promotional (for marketing messages or offers)
General communication (for reminders or notices).
Once created, you’ll land on the campaign summary page.
Step 3: Configure Entry and Enrollment Rules
Before a campaign can run, define who enters the campaign and how they’re managed.
Entries
Each entry usually represents a patient.
For some campaigns (e.g., debt collection), entries can represent invoices. Explore the drop down to see further options.
Set re-entry rules:
Decide if patients can re-enter the campaign (e.g., every 6 months for recalls).
Define conversion conditions:
A “conversion” means a goal was met — for example, the patient booked their next appointment or the invoice was paid.
Once converted, they stop receiving further campaign steps.
Enrollment
Decide how patients will be enrolled into the campaign:
Usually via a custom report in Principle that identifies who qualifies (e.g., patients overdue for recalls).
Enrollment can be:
Automatic: runs daily and enrolls new qualifying patients.
Manual: you trigger the campaign when you’re ready. (Works for a once off bulk message.)
You can also cap the number of new entries per run (e.g., only send 100 per day). This is helpful to limit the number of responses/in-bound phone calls per day due to workload.
Step 4: Build or Review the Custom Report
You can edit an existing report or create a new one using Report Templates.
Once your report is set up, click Publish, then return to the campaign setup.
Step 5: Add Campaign Steps
Now, define what happens when a patient enters the campaign. Note there are templates with default messaging already loaded for you.
Click “Add Step”.
Choose your action — e.g., send SMS, email, or apply conditions.
Set timing for each step.
You can stagger messages (e.g., send an SMS 3 days later).
Add conditions where needed.
Example: “Only send SMS if the patient has a phone number.”
For simple campaigns like Once-off SMS, there will be just one step.
For more advanced campaigns (e.g., Recall Campaigns), you’ll see multiple pre-set steps with automated timing and logic.
Step 6: Review and Activate the Campaign
Before going live:
Review each step — check the SMS or email content and make sure it’s correct.
Publish the campaign and activate the steps once you’re happy.
Review the summary screen, which shows:
Entry and enrollment settings
Campaign steps and timing
Any payment requirements (if over $300).
Set the campaign live — automatic campaigns will start at their scheduled time (e.g., the next day).
Step 8: Run a Manual Campaign (Optional)
You can also trigger a manual campaign run:
Go to the Campaign Runs tab.
Click Run Now to generate a new run.
The system will use your linked report to identify patients and display a preview list.
You can approve or remove entries before sending.
Duplicate contact numbers (e.g., multiple family members using one phone) will be flagged.
You can skip or include duplicates depending on your campaign needs.
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If prepayment is required, you’ll be prompted to make payment before continuing.
Step 9: Monitor Campaign Results
After launching:
You can view active and past campaigns on each patient’s profile.
See if they’ve opted out of marketing.
Track engagement:
Whether messages were sent successfully,
If patients opened emails or booked appointments,
If they were converted or re-entered campaigns.
Campaign entries show a detailed progress log so you can see exactly which steps were completed, skipped, or converted.
That’s it!
You’re ready to start creating and running campaigns that automatically drive patient engagement and keep your appointment books full — without all the manual effort.