If checking your email is one of the first things you do in the morning, you’re not alone. Email is one of the most preferred methods of communicating, especially for conducting business. If a pet parent provides his or her email address, it signals a desire to engage with you, giving you the power to promote your practice and influence their actions.

Phone calls should still be used when absolutely necessary but for everyday interaction, phone calls can be burdensome. Why?*

1. Misunderstanding or forgetting the information discussed. Clients can often misunderstand or misinterpret the information discussed over the phone, leading to another phone call, showing up at the wrong time, or other issues. An email can be reviewed multiple times.
2. Phone calls require immediate action. Your client either answers the phone, or does not, whereas written communication allows clients to respond when they are available, rather than feel as if they need to return a phone call immediately.
3. It wastes your staff time. Not just because they’re calling and leaving messages, then waiting for a return call, but what if your client is a talker? Small talk is a huge issue when it comes to phone calls, and written communication resolves that problem.

Ok, you’re ready to make your client email list a top priority. Great! If you’re not collecting email addresses or updating them, we’ve put together two ideas to get you started.

1. Review the last client email blast you sent. Locate and download clients who had an email which bounced, then provide that list to your front desk staff. The list displays which clients have invalid email addresses, so you’ll need to collect new ones from them. Your staff can begin updating them when clients visit the practice, or they receive a call from them.
2. Create an email collection sheet when clients sign-in.  If you already have a sign-in sheet, just add an additional column to it. If you do not have a sign-in sheet, create one with your client’s name, pet’s name, arrival time, appointment time, and email address.

Creating a strong client email list isn’t going to happen overnight, so be patient. But keep at it because you can stay connected with your clients year-round, communicate with them in a way they prefer, and increase the productivity of your front-desk staff.