More than 22 million Americans are affected by sleep apnea, a sleep disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep. Fortunately, Inspire Medical Systems, an innovative medtech company, provides a solution for people who can’t use CPAP that doesn’t involve a mask or hose-like traditional treatment. To support and connect with potential patients among the millions out there, Inspire uses Sprout Social.

Using Sprout’s Smart Inbox to send the right message

The unique nature of Inspire’s sleep apnea treatment drives a lot of interest and by extension, a lot of questions. Inspire has a small social team, but the Sprout Smart Inbox makes it possible for them to review and react to every inbound comment, private message or mention. Whether reacting means responding directly, assigning the message to a colleague or simply checking it off their review list, it’s all done within the Smart Inbox.

“Before I started at Inspire, the team had been monitoring natively. It’s so easy to miss things and let important conversations slip through the cracks that way,” said Inspire’s Social Media Community Manager Emily Allen. “When I joined the team, I recommended using Sprout to ensure we could be attentive on social. Initially I spent about 90% of my day in the inbox answering and saving all our audience’s questions, which was a great way to learn the business.”

Allen started as a team of one but gradually got more support, including an additional teammate and two agencies to assist with Inspire’s paid and organic social. Each person with a seat in the platform has the ability to task and tag messages in the inbox. If Allen’s teammates run into a question or comment they’re unable to address, they can simply task it to her.

Additionally, the team has Inbox Rules set up to automatically tag messages that align with a specific theme like insurance or cost, for example. Then, they can report on trends and commonalities within those message themes, identify the most frequently asked questions from potential patients and inform the focus of their content.

Providing critical customer care, stat

To address FAQs, Inspire relies on Saved Replies, available on the Advanced plan and stored in Sprout’s Asset Library. Once they’ve selected a scripted response as their jumping-off point, they customize their responses to incorporate their own personality, add emojis and sign their names. All of these capabilities enable seamless collaboration and more accurate and efficient customer service.

In an industry like healthcare, where patients will reach out with concerns related to their care, responding quickly is crucial. When the coronavirus pandemic began, patients faced new challenges with accessing care, so Allen set up Sprout’s COVID-19 Inbox Rule Template to identify all relevant messages. Understanding common concerns and roadblocks patients were facing helped Allen and her team develop new assets and response scripts covering telemedicine and patient safety.

Some of the VIP lists require immediate attention. The Inbox Rules we have set up ensure that any time someone from that list comments, I get an email so I can address it right away.
Emily Allen
Social Media Community Manager

VIP lists are another Sprout automation that ensures that important messages are addressed quickly.

“We love the VIP list. It helps us pay special attention to interactions with patients who reach out frequently, promising leads, brand ambassadors, our doctors and even people who bring unpleasant messages into our community,” said Allen. “Some of the VIP lists require immediate attention. The Inbox Rules we have set up ensure that any time someone from that list comments, I get an email so I can address it right away.”

The payoff is inspiring

The attentiveness and intentionality behind Inspire’s customer service is exceptional, and they had a 71% reply rate in Q2 2020 to prove it. Bolstered by Sprout’s robust capabilities, Inspire continues to provide the top-rate care people need to breathe normally and sleep peacefully.

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