Solution

Pennard turned to PetsApp to improve the way they speak to customers and effectively deal with inbound client calls. Within minutes of signing up with PetsApp in March 2020, they were able to begin onboarding their pet owners.

Leading the Pennard Vets team was Caroline Collins (Vet & Director). “We decided to have a small team of advocates that worked together to manage PetsApp, with two client care and two nurse team members. This meant that they could handle all the messages for the group coming in whilst the clients - and our team members - adopted the app.”

They had dedicated training sessions - at a time suited to them - where their dedicated PetsApp Customer Success Manager encouraged the team to signpost pet owners to use the app in a way that would save both the clinic team and the customer as much time as possible - for example, those to looking to order drugs and food refills, or to book an appointment in-clinic.

With the addition of the PetsApp widget on their website, new clients were able to register their pets at Pennard without the need for a phone call. The front desk team could then see to registration at a time that suited them, meaning they could focus on more important tasks.

Outcome

"After introducing PetsApp, our missed call numbers dropped from an average of 1,400 across all sites per month to an average of 250," says Caroline Collins (Vet & Director).

Using PetsApp, Pennard were able to reduce their number of missed calls by 85%. Text chat through PetsApp has saved the Pennard team over 1,100 hours of inbound call time over 12 months - that’s over 3 hours saved every day, meaning more time to focus on other priorities.

This saved time and provided a more sustainable communications service to their customers. "The client care team saw a huge decrease in food and drug requests by phone, with more enquiries coming through our PetsApp. It's freed up our phone lines massively," says Caroline.

It's also proved to be a hit with pet owners, with Pennard scoring an average Customer Effort Score (CES) of 4.7/5.

PetsApp particularly came in useful for the Pennard team directly after the Christmas break, where they returned to over 50 food/medication requests on their PetsApp dashboard. Pet owners could relax after sending their orders at a time that suited them during the festive period, knowing that their request would be handled by the team upon their return. It prevented the inconvenience of having to wake up at 8am on opening day to sit in a long phone queue, instead taking moments.

Caroline remarks that this was a lot more effective than returning to rammed phone lines that morning: “Rather than handling a huge volume of calls, we dealt with them at a much quieter time for us, at a time that worked best for the team”.

"Better still," says Caroline, "clients sent us a chat at a time that suited them - including lots in the evenings. The best thing is that they were not expecting an immediate response out of work hours."

What are Pennard's pet owners saying about PetsApp?

“Had to re-order some prescription cat food. Whole process was simple and quick!”

“Good communication and a real sense of caring.”

“The simplicity of using the app, getting linked up to chat with someone straight away and recieving interim advice until I could get to the vets was invaluable. This app is so helpful, and puts my mind at ease.”

Learn more about PetsApp

Book your demo with us to find out how PetsApp can help your clinic today.