Pet owners don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.
This powerful statement is one of the cornerstones of successful veterinary practice. It’s also the basis of PHP’s Inactive Client Reengagement Reminder Program and has shown to be highly effective in bringing lapsed clients back to veterinary practices.
PHP is providing you with an opportunity to utilize emails from this program that offer proven success in reengaging clients who have been absent from their veterinary practices.
How is this program different than other reminder programs?
There are two main points that set apart the PHP Inactive Client Reengagement Reminder Program from other typical reminder programs:
1. This program is based on the client’s visitation history, not a timetable for a specific service (i.e., for heartworm testing). The program asks practices to identify pet owners who have been inactive for a specific period.
For example, many practices target those pet owners who have been absent from the practice for 14 months or longer.
2. A service-specific reminder (e.g., for heartworm testing) is used by many practices, but it’s been shown that it may not be the most persuasive message because it overlooks altogether the relationship between the pet, the owner, and the veterinary practice. Instead of service-specific reminders, the PHP reminder program consists of an empathetic message that emphasizes three specific points to pet owners:
- Recognition that pet owners want to provide great care for their pets but they have busy lives and it can be difficult to get their pets in for regular exams
- Sincere concern from the practice for their pets’ health.
- Yearly checkups are as important as food and love
The proven impact of the PHP program
During 2015-2016, PHP partnered with Vetstreet, a leading provider of integrated veterinary marketing solutions, to provide a client-centric email reminder program to reengage inactive pet owners. Vetstreet software was used to enroll 1,612 practices in PHP’s program which targeted pet owners whose pets had not been seen by a veterinary practice for 14 months or greater. The data results convincingly demonstrated the program’s ability to reengage inactive clients.
Within 180 days of sending a reminder message, practices that used the PHP program:
38% of returning patients had been inactive for more than 24 months!!
- Had an overall 8.5% inactive-client response rate (the percentage of clients who responded to the email and brought their pets in for an appointment), which is considered high by overall industry standards.
- Brought in an average of 128 lapsed clients per practice.
- Had an outstanding reengagement response from cats and senior pet owners!
Most importantly, the program motivated a large population of previously inactive patients (126,576 total patients), which were reconnected to the 1,612 participating practices and began receiving essential services needed for optimum health and wellbeing.