Email Campaign to Increase Uptake of myGeisinger

Geisinger Health

Status: Completed

Conditions: Health Behavior; Telehealth

Treatments: Behavioral: Less-is-better; Behavioral: Social proof; Behavioral: Standard email; Behavioral: Endowment / decision staging

Study type: Observational

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04332614

2020-0315

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of the current study is to test different email messages to determine the most effect way of promoting enrollment in Geisinger's patient portal, called myGeisinger.

Full description

Online patient portals are convenient tools that improve patient access to healthcare services while often reducing burden to both patients and providers. However, fewer than half of patients have enrolled in Geisinger's patient portal, myGeisinger.

The purpose of the current study is to assess what kind of messaging improves the effectiveness of an email campaign targeted at enrolling patients into Geisinger's online patient portal, called myGeisinger. Currently, Geisinger sends an email every month to patients who have started but not completed the enrollment process (they have had an activation code generated but have not yet used that code to enroll). This study will A/B test 5 email messages to assess if they perform better than the current standard email message.

Performance will be assessed based on whether patients open the email, click on the myGeisinger enrollment link, and enroll in myGeisinger. Statistical analyses will employ generalized linear models with a binary distribution and log-link function.

Enrollment: 14,099 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 88 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Geisinger patients whose myGeisinger status is "Pending", meaning an activation code has been generated for them, but they have not completed activation

Exclusion criteria

• Patients without email addresses on file
• Patients who received emails from this monthly myGeisinger marketing campaign within the last 2 months

Trial design

14,099 participants in 6 patient groups

Control

Description:

A standard marketing message encouraging activation and describing the benefits of myGeisinger

Treatment:

Behavioral: Standard email

Focused on provider communication

Description:

A simple message focused on one benefit of myGeisinger: communicating easily with providers

Treatment:

Behavioral: Less-is-better

Focused on scheduling

Description:

A simple message focused on one benefit of myGeisinger: scheduling and managing appointments online

Treatment:

Behavioral: Less-is-better

Focused on medical information access

Description:

A simple message focused on one benefit of myGeisinger: accessing medical information, like test results

Treatment:

Behavioral: Less-is-better

Social proof

Description:

A message similar to control, but including information about how many other patients are using myGeisinger

Treatment:

Behavioral: Social proof

Endowment / decision staging

Description:

A message similar to control, but framing myGeisinger as something that patients already have, and just need to take one more step to activate. Endowment: Give patients the impression they already have the account, so they value it more. Decision staging: Break down the process into multiple stages - "having" an account and "activating" that account- and giving the impression that they are almost there because the first stage is complete

Treatment:

Behavioral: Endowment / decision staging