What are the differences between mass emails, direct messages, and automatic communications?

What are the differences between mass emails, direct messages, and automatic communications?

Mass emails are emails that are sent out to a mass amount of clients/patients, based on the selected triggers/filters. When sending a mass email, you have the option to send the mass email now or schedule a time for it to go out. You can cancel the sending of a scheduled mass email up to 2 hours before it is scheduled to send. 

Automated communications include emails, text messages, and postcard reminders. These communications allow you to send appointment and medical reminders to your clients without having to remember to send the communication. They are sent off of different triggers and filters and include different content in each communication. 

Direct messages allow you to reach out to a certain client via email or text message. These communications do not send automatically, so it does require you to send the content out. Certain templates​ can be selected and used for both text messages and emails to allow a fast, easy way to send information to a client.