A lot of a practice’s marketing focus is on getting new clients and their pets in the door. But you may be overlooking a very key group—your current clients. In an age when Internet reviews are the norm, are your current clients satisfied enough to spread the word?

Not necessarily.

In fact, only 62% of pet owners rated their vet visits high value, according to a 2007 American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Public Perception Survey cited in Practice Makes Perfect: A Complete Guide to Veterinary Practice Management. Key drivers for that satisfaction included staff confidence, friendliness, and compassion. Other high value drivers included the information received, the inexpensiveness of the visit, and cleanliness.

Conversely, in The 1995 AAHA Report: A Study of the Companion Animal Veterinary Services Market, also cited in Practice Makes Perfect: A Complete Guide to Veterinary Practice Management, clients who reported a bad experience noted a veterinarian’s poor attitude, poor care, a dirty facility, nonprofessional behavior, and inaccessibility.

Practice Makes Perfect: A Complete Guide to Veterinary Practice Management outlines how to make your practice “perfect” when it comes to client satisfaction, both in print and in person.

Print communications cited by the authors include wall displays, hospital forms, patient care plans, and check-up and immunization schedules. In person, client satisfaction goes up if staff can effectively talk with clients, even if they’re angry or grieving.

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