Types of Participant Notifications – MyDataHelps™ Designer Help Center

MyDataHelps Designer allows custom notifications to be sent to participants via push, SMS, and email. See Participant Notifications Overview for general information on notifications and related articles.

Table of Contents

Push Notifications
SMS Notifications
Email Notifications

Push Notification Fields

Push notifications can be used to send brief messages to participants via their mobile device, as long as they have the MyDataHelps app installed and notifications enabled. These will automatically open the app when clicked, but they can also be configured to direct the participants to a specific survey or tab within the app.

PROPERTY	FUNCTION
Identifier	Used internally to identify the notification.
Description	Notes about the notification's purpose and delivery triggers. This field is not visible to participants.
Title	A title/heading shown above the message body.
Body	The main body of the message, in plain-text format.
Sound	The sound the participant hears when they receive a push notification. Can either be set to no sound or default. Null values for previous notifications will be interpreted as the platform default (on iOS the default is no sound, on Android the default is to play a sound).
Image	Optional image to be displayed with push notifications. Can select the existing organization logo or upload a new image. Requires iOS 15. See Apple Developer Documentation for the list of supported image types and maximum file sizes. Non-square images may be cropped. For transparent images, we recommend checking to be sure they display ok on both light and dark backgrounds.
Link	Optional action that is triggered when the participant clicks the push notification. This can either take the participant to complete a survey via the app, or direct them to a specific tab within the app. See Completing Surveys with Survey Links for more information.

SMS Notification Fields

SMS notifications, or text messages, can be a good communication method for projects that require the participant's phone number, but don't require interaction with the mobile app (i.e., if the participant is expected to use the app, you may prefer to use push notifications).

PROPERTY	FUNCTION
Identifier	Used internally to identify the notification.
Description	Notes about the notification's purpose and delivery triggers. This field is not visible to participants.
Body	The contents of the SMS/text message, in plain-text format.
Link	Optional link to add to the end of the SMS message. This can either take the participant to complete a survey via web browser (no login required), complete a survey via the app, or directly to a specific tab within the app. See Completing Surveys with Survey Links for more information.

Email Notifications

Email notifications are a great method for communicating with participants. These can be especially useful for projects that don’t require participants to use the mobile app.

The following sections cover the various fields you can define when configuring email notifications and the pre-configured email template options available to help you quickly build out your content.

Regardless of the template used, it is a recommended best practice to test the delivery of your email notifications using real emails, on various email applications, before sending to participants.

Standard Fields

When first creating an email notification, you will be presented with the following fields:

PROPERTY	FUNCTION
Identifier	Used internally to identify the notification.
Description	Notes about the notification's purpose and delivery triggers. This field is not visible to participants.
Subject	The email subject.
Template	Choose from None, Call to Action, or Informational. Depending on the template selected, you will be presented with additional fields.

Template: None

If you do not wish to use a pre-configured email template, select “None.” This option is recommended for study teams that want the most flexibility in creating/coding their email notifications.

This template will present you with the following additional field:

PROPERTY	FUNCTION
Body	The body of the email message. You may use the default rich text editor or code your email using HTML (click the </> symbol within the editing bar to open the code view).

To upload an image from your computer to your email notification, either drag and drop it into the rich text editor window or click the image icon in the toolbar. This image will automatically be hosted by CareEvolution. To view the "Source" URL of the hosted image, click on the image, then click the pencil icon.

Template: Call to Action

The Call to Action template is meant to guide participants to complete a specific action. This can be very effective for directing participants to complete a survey or to visit a link with resources.

This template will present you with the following additional fields:

PROPERTY	FUNCTION
Banner Image	Optional banner above the body content.
Body	The body of the email message. You can click and drag this field to adjust the size when editing.
Call to Action Link	Where participants will go when they click the call to action button. For more information on the types of survey and tab links available, see Completing Surveys with Survey Links.
Call to Action Text	Text on the call to action button.
Button Background Color	Color of the call to action button.
Button Text Color	Color of the call to action text.
Footer	Text underneath the call to action button.

Template: Informational

The Informational template provides the foundation for quickly creating a simple email, including a banner image at the top. This can be used for many purposes, including congratulating participants on a milestone or confirming information.