Reach veterinary clients how they want to be reached

I was working with a veterinary clinic recently on using marketing to fill in vacancies on their appointment calendar.

We sorted the clients recently contacted by postcard and started making calls to the clients on that list who had been compliant in the past, but seemed to drop off the radar.

We made four appointments in just six calls! Success, but more important than the appointments we made we gained strategic marketing information while talking with the clients. It seemed that the clients we talked with had all set aside the postcard and forgot about it. Three of the clients told us if we sent them an email instead of a postcard, they would be more responsive in the future.

What they were saying was “talk to us on the channel of communications we prefer.” When I asked the front desk staff if they asked new clients how they preferred to be contacted for reminders they said everyone gets a postcard and a follow-up phone call if there’s time to do them. They had never thought of sending an email instead of a postcard.

Younger clients, in particular, have grown up with text messaging and email. To many of them, it’s how they expect to stay in touch and ask friends for referrals. If your clinic is not using email and text messaging to reach clients who prefer this form of communications you may find clients drifting away to clinics where they get the information they need online.

If you are interested in learning more about veterinary marketing, please contact me at randy@bizgal.com.