Client engagement and education plays such an important role in marketing a business. Stephen Toms, veterinary digital marketing expert from GoVet, joins the conversation to offer his take on these touchpoints. “It’s all about being front of mind and building that loyalty, building that trust.” because “around 76% of pet owners in Australia consider their pet to be a part of the family. The vet may take this for granted a little bit, but when it comes to their pet, clients place so much trust in their vet. I think they want to hear more frequently from their vet, not just about practice updates or what the vet wants to say, it’s about what the client wants to hear.”
Educating pet-owning clients “really is about helping those pet parents be better at being pet parents. Walking away with an animal, there can be so many unknowns, especially a first time puppy or kitten owner. They’ve got so many questions, and you want to have the vet being their single source of truth. You don’t want them hopping onto Google and finding out all this other information and getting even more overwhelmed and confused. So, in regards to that education, if you can add value and your content can add value and make them a better pet parent then you’re going to get better engagement and better education. If you’re just going to email them about your business and about your practice, it does not apply to them.”
“Making sure vets are conscious of their clients' love for their pet and making them more approachable will help when there is a problem and people feel comfortable to pick up the phone and ring the surgery or practice and they will just fix it up.”
For those wondering if channeling your audience through social media is a useful tool to reach clients, Stephen says that “the average post will get a max reach of 5% of your overall followers, so for every hundred people only 5 people see your post. So, using social media as your main channel is not going to be very useful.” But, “social media is still important. Because it is what we call hub content, it’s everyday content that gives people a reason to follow your content, form that community. So, there is that need for it, and I would be posting say 3-4 times a week definitely. But I wouldn’t use it as your main communication channel to your clients, I would be using email because email has an industry average of 22% reach. You could get a 30-40% reach for sending content out, but at the same time you’re only sending out an email a month or maximum of two emails every six weeks.” Sourcing high-quality social media libraries from VetCheck, pharmaceutical companies and pet nutrition companies are an easy way for vet teams to save time and increase social media engagement.
Stephen suggests you prioritise your communication to optimise your marketing strategy by “going through all their digital assets and start ranking them to see what they think is and is not performing well. It’s about picking through every digital point and asking where can I optimise and where can I improve. Another big tip I have for vet’s is to get off Facebook, use Facebook as your secondary social channel and use Instagram as your first. You get a far bigger reach on instagram, around 8, 9 or 10%. Engagement levels are higher and posts perform better.”
Although client complaints are something no vet wants to hear, Stephen urges vet’s not to ignore these as “our sentiment to our negative review is diminished if there has been a response”. He continues by saying that “customer satisfaction is a big thing around complaints - this is where email comes in again, if you’re emailing really good content, your client’s will feel connected and trusted.” In fact, Client Complaints or bad reviews should be addressed within 48 hours to avoid client escalation.
Veterinary teams that enrol in client education platforms do better, “leaflets are too dated, they get put into the car and do not leave the car, it’s not environmentally friendly either. Electronic information can be sent in an email where they can then go back to it in their own time. It’s easily accessible and it’s all there for them when they need it. I think that is so important, because usually people will not take notes and usually nod to get out. Having really good education that is simple and accessible is a must.” This can be in the form of pre-treatment information sheets, discharge instructions, home care videos and treatment plans.
He also explains that vet’s do not have time in their busy schedule to create and update their own content and often spend countless hours a week on callbacks or dealing with client confusion. Vets should be doing what they do best in treating pets and using education platforms to support their recommendations. With clients only taking in 40% of what is said in the consultation room, it’s no surprise that 80% do not follow through with vet recommendations due to confusion.