As a talented and experienced veterinarian, you’re passionate about providing excellent patient care and top-notch customer service. Your skills are sharp and your bedside manner can’t be beat—but what about your tools?
A modern veterinary practice needs modern tools. These include the digital systems that help you run your practice smoothly while providing clients with helpful, timely communications.
Are you a late adopter of digital engagement tools? Or, is your current software performing below expectations? If so, then we’re here with a quick primer on all you need to know about the latest client engagement tools for vet care. In the sections below, we’ll describe the most common and helpful veterinary digital engagement tools and discuss their value in improving care and customer service.
What Are Digital Patient Engagement Tools?
Digital patient engagement tools are software-based tools that streamline communications and transactions between a healthcare provider and a patient (or a veterinary client). Engagement tools are often cloud-based. They’re typically accessed via a website, app, or a digital kiosk inside a practice’s facility.
Examples of digital client engagement tools include:
- Online appointment scheduling
- Paperless digital patient intake forms
- Digital appointment check-in and virtual waiting rooms
- Two-way texting and mobile alerts during waiting
- Self-service kiosks
- Telehealth systems
- Online billing and payments
- Digital sharing of client education forms and satisfaction surveys
These tools replace slow traditional communication methods and help clients feel more in control of their appointments and care.
Engagement Tools Improve Veterinary Customer Service
Digital engagement tools improve customer service by making it easier for clients to complete appointment activities like scheduling, intake, and payment. Clients can complete these tasks from their computer, phone, or tablet. This means less paperwork, less waiting, and 24-hour access to some activities.
One area in which digital engagement offers tremendous benefits is the waiting room.
Traditionally, a client shows up early for their appointment and hopes to be seen on time. They fill out paper forms, which then must be manually entered into the system by reception staff. Then, they pass the time in a crowded waiting room, unsure of when their appointment will actually begin.
Mobile check-in and virtual waiting remove uncertainty, relieve stress on clients and pets, and create a more pleasant appointment experience.
Mobile Check-In
Mobile check-in allows a client to check in to their appointment from a personal device. If intake forms are required, these are easily completed via the client’s device or on a self-service kiosk. These processes don’t require printing, scanning, or paperwork—resulting in a simpler, waste-free, hygienic check-in process.
Virtual Waiting
After check-in, a client and their pet move into a virtual waiting room. On their phone or on a screen in the waiting room, they can monitor their place in the queue as well as their appointment’s projected start time. Start time estimates are automatically updated each time an appointment ends.
Best of all, clients and pets don’t need to wait in the physical waiting room. They can pass time in their car or around the grounds.
By removing the need to idle in a crowded waiting room, digital engagement tools provide relief for the most stressful part of a veterinary appointment. The waiting room experience becomes streamlined and enhanced by helpful communications, representing a huge customer service win for all parties.
Engagement Tools Enhance Veterinary Patient Care
Digital engagement tools don’t only make life easier for clients and veterinarians. They also benefit patient care by creating a more comfortable appointment process.
Pets are often nervous and irritated in the waiting room. With a traditional waiting room system, it’s difficult to alleviate pets’ anxieties. Clients don’t know exactly when their appointments will start, so they’re stuck. Throughout the day, the waiting room contains a revolving group of multiple pets—and they aren’t always enjoying one another’s company.
With patient engagement tools, the intake process is streamlined and the waiting room experience is flexible. For pets, that means less time in an anxiety-inducing space. In turn, pets are more relaxed when they enter the treatment room, leading to a calmer and more productive appointment.
Improve Client Engagement at Your Veterinary Practice
At ER Express, we equip veterinarians with easy-to-use digital engagement software that improves communications and customer service. Our software solutions save time, boost efficiency, and improve the veterinary experience for pets, pet owners, and staff.
Our user-friendly software-based tools and features include:
- Mobile check-in
- Paperless digital intake tools
- Virtual waiting rooms
- Automated messaging and two-way texting
Ready to explore the very best digital engagement tools for your practice? Contact ER Express today to schedule a screenshare product demonstration.
