Following the trends in innovative business to meet the changing needs of your millennial clients
A survey delving into the world of 240 millennials and generation Z individuals highlighted the changes in pet ownership. The expectations of millennials and generation Z have changed, where ease of access and convenience to veterinary care is paramount. Fortunately, there are easy ways to implement such requests to acknowledge the changing needs of the clients while meeting business requirements. Adapting to client needs through technology satisfies the current customer market and allows practices to improve efficiencies and stay current with trends. Additionally, understanding what millennials and generation Z individual wants ensures that pets are well cared for and the pet owners needs are satisfied, which builds trust.
Build practice advocates to stand out
A large proportion of people in the millennial and generation Z category identified that referrals and reviews were important in making a decision on their veterinary practice. 67.9% look for a recommendation from family and friends, 42.9% rely on a referral from another professional, and 40% of people look for Google reviews that were 4 stars or more. This shows the importance of setting up an exceptional customer experience to build that word-of-mouth. Striving for excellence through meeting your customer needs encourages client engagement and promotes positive referrals and reviews. Additionally an online presence that has a high google ranking influences the decision of your clients as well as other professionals.
Related article: How to get 5-star google reviews
Optimize and prioritize your online website
The website is one of the first experiences that a client will have with your practice. The ideal goal is to have a website that works for you and converts visitors into clients. Driving client confidence is key in building trust and loyalty.
The survey's top website features that drive client confidence:
- Further veterinary qualifications and accreditation
- Google reviews and testimonials
- Professional and modern design
- Strong sense of community
- Online appointment system
- Online forms
Offer an easy experience
81.7% prefer completing an online digital veterinary form rather than the traditional pen and paper approach. This digital procedure of form filling makes it easy and convenient for the vet team and customer. It cuts waiting times at the reception, avoids unnecessary paperwork and allows the client to have comfort filling out forms from their home. Additionally, this procedure also enables clients to have time to ask any unanswered questions or troubled questions before their visit.
Enhance client education
The majority of individuals from the millennial and generation Z category preferred pet education through blog articles and Facebook. 43.3% prefer blog articles and 40.8% prefer a Facebook post. Uploading blog articles on a regular basis to your website not only improves client education but can also drive website SEO and ranking. This confirms that the veterinarian is still the #1 trust resource when it comes to pet health education. So, being able to improve access to the vet's knowledge is key to building client trust and driving business.
Personalize communications
Interestingly, we asked these pet owners how they best communicate with their veterinarian and key features of the responses were based on “personalization”. Phone calls were by far the leading way that pet owners wished to receive information about their pet, representing 70.4% of all responses. Whether this was discussing results or a treatment plan, pet owners wanted to hear this by phone. It was then no surprise when pet owners voted “digital pet health summaries” as the #1 feature that would improve the vet experience. This ultimately demonstrates the importance of providing personalized information that helps pet owners best care for their pet.
Drive convenience with technology
Understanding that millennial pet owners are looking for easy access to the vet and convenience, we asked them which technologies would improve the experience at their vets.
The survey's top technologies that would improve the experience at the vets:
- Digital pet health summaries
- Online appointment systems
- Payment plans
- Digital practice forms
- Digital check-ins
- Telemedicine
With millennial pet owners being the fastest growing pet-owning market, it's a good time to review your online brand and processes to ensure that you appeal to their needs.
VetCheck to support your changing client needs.
There are over 2000 VetCheck templates that also help veterinary teams save time in explaining treatment options, duration of treatment, potential outcomes and prognoses.