When Calculating Lifetime Value per Pet: Desk Duties are the Number One Detractor

When calculating lifetime value per pet, desk duties are often the number one detractor, hampering a veterinary teams ability to advocate for their patients in the ways they'd best like to. PetsApp helps veterinary teams reduce the need to be tied to their front desk and instead maximise those key patient advocacy moments and in return increase their customer lifetime value and loyalty here's why and how.

In the realm of veterinary care, the concept of lifetime value per pet has emerged as a crucial metric for assessing the long-term impact of the relationships nurtured between a clinic and their pets. However, amidst the administrative burdens of desk duties, including the constant need to answer the daily avalanche of calls, veterinary professionals often find themselves unable to fully advocate for their patients in the way they'd like to. The result? Lots of missed opportunities to improve pet owner compliance and surface all the needs of the pets they're trying to support. Being tied to the front desk and forced into a constant game of telephone tennis can impede effective patient advocacy leaving veterinary teams feeling like they are gate keepers rather than care providers.

Understanding Lifetime Value per Pet

Lifetime value per pet represents the total sum of opportunities to advocate for a pet through out its lifespan. This encompasses not only routine check-ups, vaccinations, and treatments but also the potential for increased pet owner compliance and patient advocacy through offering a full tool kit of additional services such as referrals, wellness plans and long-term client loyalty rewards. By calculating this metric, veterinary practices can better tailor their services to maximise the value they can offer the pets they support, through out the year as well as throughout the pet's entire lifetime as a whole. But being held hostage to answering telephone calls (which could potentially be emergencies but more often than not are basic enquiries) prevents veterinary teams form being able to offer the level of detail in the care they can physically provide.

The Role of Patient Advocacy in Veterinary Care

Patient advocacy lies at the heart of veterinary medicine, encompassing a range of responsibilities aimed at safeguarding the health and well-being of animals. From preventive care and disease management to client education and ethical decision-making, veterinary professionals serve as advocates for their patients, ensuring that their needs are prioritised and addressed comprehensively. But in order to do this the right pet's need to be surfaced at the right time and sufficient time made to accommodate their individual needs.

The Importance of Time Allocation in Pet Care

Time allocation is paramount in providing comprehensive and personalised care to each pet. Every animal is unique, with specific health needs, behaviours, and concerns that require individualised attention. From routine check-ups to complex medical conditions, veterinary professionals must dedicate adequate time to thoroughly assess, diagnose, and treat each case effectively. Whilst also layering in general care to support an animal correctly according to its life stage.

Furthermore, building trust and rapport with pet owners is an essential aspect of quality pet care. Taking the time to listen to their concerns, answer questions, and provide guidance fosters a positive relationship and enhances the overall experience of veterinary care. After all we need both pet owners and pet to be happy to come into clinic. It was previous calculated that on average each pet through out a single year will have around 20 issues that they need addressing. However, only around 12% of those issues are seen and treated by a vet. Restrictions due to work, family commitments and lack of mobility all contributing towards making visits to the vet often very difficult to accommodate. The result is often a rush of calls from the pet owner, desperately trying to get through to any clinic with a free'd up telephone line or worse a trip to Dr. Google to self prescribe and order unqualified treatments online.

Challenges Posed by Desk Duties

Despite the importance of patient advocacy, veterinary professionals often find themselves bogged down by desk duties, such as administrative tasks, appointment scheduling, record-keeping and more often than not answering the telephone. These responsibilities, while essential for clinic operations, can detract from valuable time that could be spent directly supporting patients in clinic. Moreover, the administrative burden imposed by desk duties can lead to burnout, poor record keeping and decreased job satisfaction among the team as a whole.

Impact on Lifetime Value per Pet

The negative impact of desk duties on patient advocacy extends beyond immediate concerns to long-term implications for lifetime value per pet. When calculating lifetime value per pet, desk duties are the number one detractor of the total value. This is because when veterinary professionals are unable to devote sufficient time and attention to patient care due to administrative constraints, the over all quality of service they can offer suffers, leading to decreased client satisfaction, reduced client retention, and ultimately, diminished lifetime value per pet.

Strategies for Enhancing Patient Advocacy

The brain child of Dr. Thom Jenkins, PetsApp has been designed to overcome these challenges faced by veterinary practices and their teams. An intuitive and user friendly app, PetsApp is the only health app globally that can boast a 5/5 rating in the app store. Why? It's chat functionality to boost patient advocacy is at the heart of the product, which houses all the necessary engagements features a clinic could need, all under one roof. From Appointment bookings and reminders, vaccine profiles and marketing campaigns to wellness plans, AI assistance and loyalty point collection plans all built in and managed from one easy to navigate dashboard. There are no multiple, fragmented communication channels to manage and clinics have seen missed call rates reduced by as much as 85% and teams gaining back as much as 9 hours per week from freed up phone lines. PetsApp's streamline processes mean that many elements such as appointment scheduling, billing, and even wellness plan adoption can be automated and even offered with an element of self service. Automations and the chat functionality also allow veterinary professionals to focus more real time on the level of patient care they can offer in person. Making for happier pets and veterinary teams and creating a better work life balance that involves veterinary teams getting home on time and not having to forgo their lunch break just to keep up with demand. Pet owners are happier as they are also able to surface their issues instantly via the chat, and not kept on hold struggling to get through.

Ultimately PetsApp's clicks and bricks approach means that veterinary teams don't have to pick between prioritising patient advocacy or desk duties, instead veterinary practices can now focus on continuing to level up and enhance the quality of care they provide, increasing the average lifetime value per pet they support in order to foster long-term success and sustainability for all as well as maintain a more efficient level of administrative duties without having to be chained to a desk.

About the Author

Leading the Growth team at PetsApp Naomi is an experienced marketer within both the veterinary and pet care space. Sitting as a Non Executive Board Member for Flexee, Naomi has also previously been a key speaker at Vetstagram and PetsApp Together and worked on campaigns and contracts for the likes of Purina, Cath Kidston Pet, Over the Counter Magazine, Veterinary Woman, PetMedix and VetzPetz.

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