Does your practice have a high unsubscribe rate? Do you even know how many clients open your emails?

We have all been on the tail end of an email that bombards your inbox. No one likes receiving information that isn't relevant to their needs or desires. This is why targeting marketing is vital to practice success. According to Jupiter Research, “Customer segmentation conversion rates (whether via direct mail or email) improve 355%, leading to increased revenues of up to 781%, if you segment based on customer data such as customer spend, brand interaction, and customer life cycle management.”

 Veterinary practices historically have been overwhelmingly reliant on the revenue from annual wellness exams to keep their doors open. Not just the primary revenue from the visit itself, but the dentals and procedures and lab work that arise from that visit. I’m increasingly of the opinion that this fairly predictable revenue stream is slowly but surely going away.

Why? As with every trend, there are many factors. Some are larger than others, but in this case it seems as though the factors that tend to reduce client compliance are more powerful than those that enhance it. Here is a non-exhaustive list of factors that, I believe, are leading to a fundamental change in the business of veterinary medicine.

Your practice has the power to kill two birds with one stone, if you will. Instead of making a phone call, which we've established is generally inefficient and unnecessary (view previous blog here), send your client a text message stating that their pet is finished, happy, healthy and ready for pickup. Go the extra step and provide them with a photo of their pet post-surgery. This provides both relief and documentation of the surgery. It can also be beneficial if their pet needs a prescription or additional supplies after surgery. Instead of trying to relay the information over the phone, pet parents can easily access the information in writing, making it more convenient for them and reducing the chance they will forget something. Text and picture messaging is beneficial to your practice because it's:

In last week’s blog we brought up a question, “The solution isn’t better phone skills for your front desk team, it’s more that you should completely rethink the job of your client service representatives (CSRs). How can you help them handle 75% fewer phone calls every day?”