How are you leading pet parents through the experience?

When a pet parent schedules an appointment, it’s not a single event: it’s just one step on a journey. If your team charts a path through the appointment experience then no-show rates will go down, satisfaction will go up, and your reputation will grow. A perpetual cycle of growth can begin simply by treating your appointments as part of an ongoing process.

Consider these six stages of the appointment experience, and evaluate the tools you’re using to optimize each: 

1. Educated Choice: Pet owners should understand why you’re the one to treat their furry friend. Do your website, social media, sales funnels, and email campaigns align to help pet parents learn about the excellence you and your staff deliver?
2. Convenient Scheduling: Customers are already booking hotels, restaurant reservations, and medical visits online. They expect the same when it’s time for the next appointment for their pet. Do you offer online scheduling through your website, so people can book their pet’s next visit from their living room on Saturday night?
3. Touchless Intake: COVID-19 has highlighted the benefits of paperless tools. But paper and clipboards started fading long before the pandemic began. Do you save staff time by asking customers to complete intake paperwork before their visit?
4. Easy Payment: Collecting payment at the time-of-service is ideal, but doesn’t always work out. Consumers pay their utility bills online, and they prefer to do the same with their vet bills. Do you offer a secure platform that integrates with your CMS so your customers can make payments 24/7?
5. Immediate Reviews: A successful appointment ends with customers letting others know about their experience with your talented team. Reviews, referrals, and surveys work together to perpetuate a stream of new customers. Do you send automated requests to customers after their appointments with links to review pages?

Putting these steps into place for pet owners will help guide them through their appointment experience and encourage them to return when it’s time for their furry friend’s next treatment. Looking for tools to help you optimize the journey? Vet Hero offers these tools and more to ensure that pet parents get what they expect at every step.