It’s important to try to reengage inactive clients.

A review of databases from approximately 5,000 companion animal veterinary practices in the U.S. showed an increase in the number of inactive clients. In 2012, 46% of dogs and 51% of cats in these practices had not had a visit of any kind in at least 18 months. By the first quarter of 2015, those numbers had increased to 53% of dogs and 59% of cats in those surveyed practices.

Partners for Healthy Pets (PHP), an alliance of 100+ veterinary associations, veterinary colleges, and animal health companies focused on preventive care led by AAHA and the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), is offering free, downloadable tools to help your practice implement the Inactive Client Program to get inactive clients back in to see their veterinarians for regular checkups.

The Inactive Client Program’s success is tied to the very specific messages and engaging images in the emails. The messages are empathetic to the owners’ challenge of getting their pet to the vet and expresses sincere concern from the practice for the patient because they need their annual checkup.

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. 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 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. The program brought in an average of 128 lapsed clients per practice.

The tools on PHP’s website include step-by-step instructions to implement the program and provides email templates that can either be customized for your practice and for each specific client or include an offer for a $25 discount.

Participate in the program and make use of the free, downloadable tools that offer proven success in bringing clients back to your practice. The Inactive Client Program may be a reminder program, but it’s not like any reminder program you’ve seen before.

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