Trying to keep up with the challenges facing the veterinarian world can be difficult, as practices face staff shortages, the drive to add new treatments and new approaches to care, while also working to grow their businesses and continuously respond to clients’ evolving needs.
This sponsored article is brought to you by MWI Animal Health.
On top of all that, today’s veterinary practices need to ensure the new generation of millennial customers are getting exceptional care for the animals they love, in a way that meets not only their technological needs, but also their expectations of the care experience and relationships with the practice.
So why does this demographic and its changing demands matter? Millennials now outnumber Baby Boomers as the largest living adult generation in the U.S., according to population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. According to Ypulse (a research company that specializes in millennials and Gen Z), some 76 percent of millennials own pets, and are three times more likely to be pet parents than they are to be parents of children.
It’s not just about the number of owners. Millennials consider taking good care of their pets a priority and are willing to commit time and significant financial resources to ensure their companion animals are healthy.
Although millennials have a reputation for loving flashy tech, that may not be the best fit for every clinic. Rather than focusing on “tech for tech’s sake,” veterinary practices should use technology to improve outcomes for their patients, provide more benefits to practice teams, and to deliver specific benefits such as extended reach, removing barriers, automated processes, supporting decisions, and accelerating action and feedback.
A new approach for a new generation
Veterinary medicine is a service profession, which means the practice offers proactive customer communication that both educates and reminds people about the practitioner-recommended care their pets need.
Millennial clients look for a consumer experience that offers ease and instant gratification. The standard routine of calling a clinic, being placed on hold and then trying to sync schedules based on availability no longer fits. Other historical norms, such as maintaining paper medical records, can bog down the efficiency of staff and negatively impact the pet owner’s experience. But there are multiple proactive communication touchpoints that – if digitized, can revolutionize your business.
Millennials want pet health care to resemble the high-touch experience of human health care. Simple measures, such as sending out appointment reminders to customers via text, are well received, as indicated by a recent survey of millennial pet owners, which showed that the majority of respondents wanted to receive such notifications. However, practices need to strike the right balance in terms of communicating with customers, prioritizing the quality of their outreach versus the quantity. This generation of pet parents are savvy, and can recognize a generic, blanket email by the subject line. If your practice’s communications aren’t tailored targeted enough, they’re likely to be left ignored and unread, leaving customers with a subpar impression.
Rather than requiring veterinary team members to remember everything about every patient and who needs what treatment, preventative, or wellness visit next, your practice can automate routine connections, which will help keep your clients happy and your patients healthy.
Having the right tools
In our role of partnering with veterinary practices to give them the tools they need, AllyDVM provides the most sophisticated suite of software services in the veterinary industry to support maximizing patient outcomes, client satisfaction, client retention and practice growth.
These include:
- Our Retention Calendar, which helps grow revenue through improved client retention.
- Our Client Communications product, which allows practices to communicate via email, text and/or postcards to enhance staff-client communications with direct messages from the practice.
- Our Pet Owner Rewards Program, the industry’s first automated rewards program for pet owners, enables practices to compete with box stores and commercialized websites, which are steering clients away from their local practices.
- And PetPage, which helps bridge the gap between veterinary practices and their clients, enhancing transparency and improving client retention.
A unique relationship
It’s important to note that millennials value trust and loyalty highly in their relationships with their veterinarians. Digital tools support that relationship by giving pet owners the confidence that their veterinary practice will be available for them whenever they need.
Technology does not replace the good relationships that drive the success of your veterinary practice. But it can enhance the interactions between your veterinary team and pet-loving owners that make exceptional healthcare possible for the millions of veterinary patients who cannot speak for themselves. It also frees staff from frustrating, stressful and time-consuming administrative activities, which can be achieved through technology.
Choosing tools that meet your practice’s needs for millennial pet owners is a game changer, impacting everything from your clients to your team to your revenue stream. The right tools increase client retention, engagement and compliance, and streamline processes for your staff. All of this results in happier clients, happier pets, happier staff members and, we hope, happier veterinary practice owners.
Learn more about AllyDVM’s sophisticated suite of software services here.