According to VetSuccess, there has been an increase in the number of lapsing patients within veterinary hospitals. The transaction data that VetSuccess has been able to record practice performing data through reports and dashboards. This transactional data has recently found a trend of large percentage of lapsing clients, as shown here from VetSuccess aggregate data.
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VetSuccess > Blog > Featured > Sound the alarm, lapsing patients on the rise: 5 veterinary marketing tactics to bring back lapsing clients
Sound the alarm, lapsing patients on the rise: 5 veterinary marketing tactics to bring back lapsing clients
By: Kelly Baltzell
September 6, 2022|FEATURED, LAPSING CLIENTS
When a veterinary hospital has lapsing clients and patients, it’s kind of like a box of beautiful apples sitting on the kitchen counter that one day attracts fruit flies. As you check the apples one by one, you find that a few are rotten at the bottom—even though they look perfect from the top. Just like veterinary clients who are starting to look for alternative care, everything looks good at a glance, but the reality is that another story lurks below.
Monitoring practice performance data through reports and dashboards can catch problems before they become full-blown coffee-spitting moments when found. This is true with finding the percentage of lapsing clients and patients in a practice’s active client and patient base. Recently, the trend has been an increase of lapsing patients, as shown here from VetSuccess aggregate data.
While many veterinary practices claim they still feel busier than ever, when overall visits are down and lapsing patients are up, we know that busy feeling likely has more to do with a staffing shortage than an actual increase in business. Before this lapsing clients and patients trend becomes a critical business issue, it’s time to do something about it and claw some of those pet owners and pets back to the practice.
Tactics to bring back lapsing clients
Luckily, there are a few ways to connect with lapsing clients
Email/Newsletter—Emailing your top clients and lapsing clients individually is a powerful way to reconnect with them. Include something personal in the message so they know it is not a mass mailing. If you only have time to send a quick newsletter to all lapsing clients, create an educational and informative message about why coming back to the hospital is essential. You want them to understand that it’s important to get veterinary care before small health issues blow up to disasters. Consider opting into the VetSuccess RETRIEVER program to automate emailing your lapsing clients and patients.
Texting—People live and die by their phones. Meet your pet owners where they “live” and send a text message or two about scheduling an appointment to come in and get caught up on the health care of their pet(s). Make it easy by including a way for them to schedule immediately—with either an electronic system or a message to text or call you at that exact moment. Consider signing up for the Vet2Pet client engagement system to simplify this process.