Convenience strongly influences veterinary practice choice
Today, many pet owners highly prioritize convenience, opting for a clinic that best fits their immediate needs, making convenience a critical factor in recruiting new clients and retaining loyalty.
Convenience makes a veterinary practice stand out in a market where many pet owners see vet visits as purely transactional and feel less loyalty to a specific clinic. This trend is largely driven by the wealth of online options that make it easy for clients to explore and switch between different providers.
Here are some popular convenience-focused tools that benefit veterinary practice by saving time for your front desk staff
1. Online Scheduling:
Online scheduling allows pet owners to book appointments without calling the practice, reducing front desk workload. This also makes it more convenient for them and for your office staff avoiding the need for phone calls that take up valuable time. You can control which appointment types (health service, urgent, surgical) or what time slots are available. The scheduled times are subject to your approval before they are added to the calendar. Plus, you can include essential paperwork in the online scheduling process, further streamlining the workflow.
2. Forms included with Reminders:
Integrating online forms into the reminders that you are already sending, improves the likelihood of having them filled ahead of the appointment. This reduces pet check-in time and often delivers more thorough and accurate information than office staff would have collected by hand. For instance, for surgeries, the system can automatically trigger a specific set of reminders asking clients to complete procedure-specific paperwork before their pet’s appointment.
3. Two-Way Communication:
Two-way communication allows your staff to efficiently reply to client questions in-between other tasks like awaiting prescriptions or coordinating schedules and reduces their time on the phone. The clients will appreciate the flexibility of answering at their convenience, and you’ll improve your office workflow. This convenient technology also enables staff to communicate wait times when the office gets very busy or provide pet status updates. Staff members can inform pet owners via text of the scheduling delays so they can wait at home until the practice ready to provide care or release the pet. Whether it’s texting, sharing pictures, or sending emojis, it’s a great way to engage clients. Multiple staff members can collaborate in the same conversation from one shared text inbox which also allows greater ownership of the data and does not require employees to use their own devices.
In summary,
Veterinary practices that reduce friction in scheduling and communication are more likely to attract and retain convenience-driven pet owners.
At AutoRemind, we have worked with thousands of veterinary and medical offices and learned what works best in each category. Our best practices are just an email away - reach out to us to set up a zoom to discuss how we can help.
AutoRemind is a leading Patient Engagement and Practice Automation Platform for dental, medical and veterinary practices.
