Rekindling the Bond

Whether your patients’ veterinary care is current or lapsed, effective marketing to their owners delivers many happy returns.

Caitlin DeWilde

Socially Acceptable columnist Caitlin DeWilde, DVM, is the founder of The Social DVM, a consulting firm helping veterinary professionals learn to manage and grow their social media, online reputation and marketing strategies. She earned her DVM from the University of Illinois and is a recipient of its Outstanding Young Alumni Award. Before stepping back to focus on her marketing passion, she served as medical director for a large hospital in St. Louis. Today, she divides her time between practice, consulting and writing. She is the author of the “Social Media and Marketing for Veterinary Professionals” textbook.

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Personalization is one key to making pet owners feel valued.

The challenges of maintaining a financially healthy veterinary practice are more pronounced than ever. Competition is fierce, and pet owners are increasingly drawn to the convenience of urgent care and online services over preventive visits. Given those concerns, do not overlook the economics of client retention. Research suggests that gaining new clients can cost five to 10 times more than keeping current ones engaged.

So, the question arises: How can you maintain client commitment? The answer lies in strategic and consistent marketing. Beyond promotions and advertisements, marketing is a critical tool for retention, and ultimately, it leads to well-cared-for pets.

Why It Matters

Studies show that improving client retention by 5% can increase profits by up to 95%. Clients already engaged with your veterinary practice aren’t just customers. They’re also proven partners who trust your medical care and contribute to a stable, predictable business environment. Over time, you build strong relationships that transform first-time visitors into lifelong partners. The familiarity streamlines appointment scheduling (especially when you forward-book) and increases practice efficiency. Your team members benefit from a calendar filled with familiar faces and fewer uncertainties.

Marketing is more than showing what you do. It’s also about fostering relationships, being a source of critical information, and delivering a convenient health care experience. Nearly every piece of marketing content should add value and deepen the client’s connection to your practice.

Getting Started

To effectively engage in retention marketing, you must adopt a multimodal approach and  think beyond social media. Here are five ways to do it.

1. PERSONALIZED COMMUNICATION

Personalization is one key to making pet owners feel valued. Begin by updating each client’s contact information at the annual visit, even if you have seen the person for years. Ask how the client prefers to hear from your clinic. After all, you don’t want to spend time and money on a voicemail or email that is never checked.

While you’re at it, refresh automated client communication to make it as personalized as possible. For example:

• Reminders: Use your PIMS to pull in pet names and segmented information so clients receive clear communication about which pet needs a veterinary visit and why.
• Follow-ups: Whether you’re using software to automatically send a post-visit text or email, or your team manually reviews yesterday’s list of patients for contact today, such communication is a must for improving client retention. It strengthens the relationship and keeps revenue in-house, especially when your team can address questions, issues and additional patient needs before the pet owner thinks about an outside pharmacy or a visit to urgent care.
• Periodic check-ins: If your practice sends monthly newsletters or regular push notifications, review your segmenting options and personalize the content to make it more relevant to a distinct audience.

2. ENHANCED ONLINE PRESENCE

Having a mobile-friendly website isn’t enough. Your must-have online content should include:

• Staff bios: Let clients see and get to know all your team members.
• Readable information: One study found that more pet owners pursued veterinary services when pet health content focused on the benefits and that most practice websites posted content written above the American Medical Association’s recommended sixth-grade reading level.
• Online booking: At a minimum, offer an appointment-request form.
• Calls to action: Offer easy navigation to your online pharmacy, pet portals and downloadable practice app.
• Evaluations: Link to review websites to help build a consistent five-star rating.

Social media platforms provide a powerful way to enhance loyalty and nurture client relationships. By showcasing your team and life within your practice, you open a window into the compassionate care pets receive. Limit the channels to those you surveyed clients about and found compelling. Consider sharing pet care tips and highlighting convenient offerings like online booking, automatic shipping, after-hours care and telemedicine.

Also, ensure your Google Business, Nextdoor and Yelp profiles are optimized with up-to-date contact and service information and recent photos of team members doing the jobs they love.

3. POST-VISIT SURVEYS

Client questionnaires sent after a visit allow pet owners to share feedback, good and bad. Positive responses tell a veterinary practice it delivers a return-worthy experience. With fault-finding clients, a practice can address legitimate issues before the pet owner turns to public review forums.

4. LAPSED PATIENTS

Retention marketing also applies to clients in your database who fell behind on preventive care. Make sure you have a comprehensive marketing program to bring those pets back into your exam room. I recommend a personalized, multiple-contact, multiple-channel strategy carried out over three to six months. Be sure to tell people how to notify you if their pets now see another veterinarian for preventive care so that you don’t chase patients who might not be overdue for veterinary care.

5. LOYALTY PROGRAMS

Loyalty programs are one of the most sure-fire ways to improve client retention. Those that reward clients for their spending, compliance or other practice-set milestones have been shown to increase visits and revenue.

Implementing Your Strategy

Once you plan your retention marketing, implementation is the next step. You will succeed if you:

• Assign responsibilities: A team approach spreads the workload and helps prevent oversights. Create a task list and realistic deadlines.
• Choose the right tools: Start by working with what you have and know how to use. If you need new software, schedule a demonstration, beta testing and staff training before launching it to your client base.
• Be slow and steady: Retention marketing takes months to tell you whether it’s a success. Your practice is best served by creating quality, regularly delivered content.
• Monitor and adjust: Take time to look at the data. Pay attention to returning pet owners’ appointments and spending, your client reviews or net promoter score, and the lapsed patient percentage. Work with your marketing team to assess your website’s performance and your communications’ open and click rates to ensure the content resonates with pet owners.

Effective marketing focuses on attracting new clients and keeping the ones you have. Retained clients generate consistent revenue and enhance a veterinary practice’s reputation and success through loyalty and referrals.

Fonte: todaysveterinarybusiness.com