How QR Codes Can Help Promote Your Veterinary Practice
Scan the QR code on our banner above, for a free template that you can adapt to fit your branding and use to boost Google reviews for your clinic! Enjoy!
The fall and rise of the QR code
The origin of the QR code
The QR code, otherwise known as a quick response code, was invented in 1994 by Masahiro Hara, chief engineer of Denso Wave, and was originally used to track vehicles and parts as they moved along an assembly line. By 2010, although popular smartphone manufacturers introduced QR scanners and created some traction with the general populace, they quickly died down and were considered more of a fad than a business necessity.
QR codes in 2022
Fast-forward to 2022, a suddenly touchless world (thanks to COVID-19) in which nearly all industries communicate with customers using QR codes. A once-forgotten piece of matrix barcode has now become a staple in driving traffic toward businesses that now attract customers without having to spend millions on advertising.
How to use QR codes with veterinary marketing
Direct customers to online booking
With QR codes, you can enable pet owners to access your website to book an appointment simply by scanning a QR code. This eliminates the hassle of having to search for the website manually.
Note: In order for this to work correctly, it is important that your QR code is linked to a unique URL.
Vetstoria generates unique QR codes that can be easily integrated into your website, social media pages, and marketing material to ensure clinics like yours are at the top of their game!
We give clinics the option to either embed a link or a unique QR code into their website, which directs pet owners to the booking screen.
Leave a review
Give pet owners the opportunity to rate your business and mention the best parts of your services using QR codes linked to Google reviews or Facebook pages. The QR code can be placed on countertops, business cards, receipts, brochures, and basically any other promotional material!
Download a free editable template which can be used to get customers who visit your clinic to leave a review here.
Reminders for pet owners
Your QR code can be placed onto any printed postcard /digital reminders or provided to your marketing partner to incorporate into the assets they produce.
Clinics using Vetstoria have the option to include a link or a unique QR code on the reminders they send out to pet owners. The link or QR code directs the pet owners to the booking screen, where they can book their appointments with you.
Below is an example of a reminder booking postcard that includes a QR code:
Wellness plans
Create and share a QR code on your marketing materials that directs pet owners to fill out a form or learn more about the wellness plans and advice your clinic offers.
Social media
Include QR codes on your social media content and pages to direct pet owners to book an appointment on your website or redeem offers.
Does your clinic have a Facebook page? Clinics using Vetstoria can embed a link or unique QR code as a 'call to action' that directs pet owners to the booking screen.
Note: The QR code can also be used on social media content in order to drive traffic to your booking screen.
Offer discounts
Using discount coupons in physical marketing materials like flyers, posters, and even digital marketing channels can help maintain pet owner loyalty and bridge the gap between traditional and online marketing.
Paid promotional campaigns
Paid promotion of content involves paying for any media space or placement on digital media such as Facebook, Instagram, and Google. Paid promotions are also specifically targeted to an audience segment alongside a 'call to action' to ensure potential customers either click or engage with the ad.
To promote or not to promote? The answer is usually to promote, especially if your practice suffers from days of low footfall. This is where Vetstoria’s digital marketing feature comes in. It allows veterinary practices to take control of their promotional campaigns and track results, leading to impactful promotions that deliver positive returns on investment.
Once a digital marketing campaign is created, a unique link and QR code will be generated which can be used on your paid promotions.
Things to remember
Always test your QR code
After creating and generating your QR code, always make sure to test it on smartphones (Android and iOS) to ensure it works correctly. The last thing you need is potential traffic failing to reach your landing page due to an error. You can learn more about how to test your QR code here.
Optimise your clinic’s landing pages for mobile
Pet owners who scan QR codes to visit a landing page on your clinic won’t return to a non optimised website if they see hard-to-read text, misaligned images, and unclickable links. Google also deprioritises pages that are poorly optimised for search results so it’s extremely important to optimise your landing page for mobile devices to avoid these issues.
Will your customers scan the QR code?
The use of a QR code in 2022 still remains relevant and will continue that way into the future. The important task, however, is to ensure that the placement of your QR codes is easily reachable for customers to access and scan.
Clearly communicate what will happen post-scan
Consider your pet owner's comfort with scanning QR codes. Make sure your QR code provides a clear 'call to action' that informs pet owners what will happen post-scan and how they will be directed. For e.g. - “Scan to book!”
Are QR codes here to stay?
In the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, QR codes once again rose to fame, but now they are incredibly popular because people are quite accustomed to using them, which makes QR codes one of the most effective marketing tools available today.
With the widespread use of smartphones with cameras for quick scanning and the increasing global use of contactless payments, it is safe to say that QR codes have come a long way from their inception and are definitely here to stay.
The Difference Between Requesting And Booking An Appointment Online
Since the introduction of automated bookings on online scheduling software, requesting and booking an appointment online have often been misconstrued as the same thing. The key to understanding the difference between the two is that booking an appointment online happens in real time and grants pet owners immediate confirmation, whereas appointment requests are submitted online through a form on a website or an app and typically takes a while for front-desk staff to manually confirm the appointment, degrading a pet owner’s customer experience.
Below are two scenarios that describe the difference between requesting and booking appointments.
Scenario 1: With appointment requests
Imagine front-desk tasks without automated bookings:
- You walk into work on a Monday morning.
- You spend hours listening to voicemails, checking forms, and filtering through emails received over the weekend.
- After completing those tasks, you spend more time following up by phone to confirm appointments.
But hold on a minute! All those people are at work or otherwise unreachable. Instead of confirming the appointment, you are forwarded to their voicemail, and it could be hours, days, or even weeks before they return your calls or respond to your emails. Sounds frustrating, doesn’t it?
Scenario 2: With online booking
Now, imagine front-desk tasks with automated online booking:
- You walk into work on a Monday morning.
- You’re relieved to find that all appointments have already been booked with the relevant parties and no callbacks are necessary. You now have more time to spend with in-house customers and pets.
Congratulations! You and the front-desk team have just regained hours of lost time which can be used to tackle other admin related work — or even grab yourself a coffee to start the day!
Here’s a concise breakdown of the differences between requesting and booking appointments online:
| Requesting an Appointment Online | Booking an Appointment Online (e.g. with Vetstoria) |
|---|---|
| Front desk must confirm manually | Automated confirmation |
| Time-consuming | Saves time |
| Does not sync with calendar in real time | Syncs with calendar in real time |
| Pet owners must wait for confirmation | No waiting time for confirmation |
| No customizations for appointments | Enable customizations for appointments, such as:
|
| Can only be facilitated during business hours. | Real-time online booking can be facilitated outside of business hours, including evenings and weekends |
In a world where automation is the forerunner in almost every type of business, why not use it to make everyday life at the practice easier? Automating workflows allows you to focus on the most important ingredient of your business — providing quality pet care.
Veterinary practices can use an online scheduling software to offer their clients the option to book appointments themselves, saving their employees time and helping clients and veterinarians balance their busy schedules.
Why streamline the process?
We conducted a survey to understand the impact of online booking on clinics and collected 104 responses from independent and corporate-owned practices based in the U.S., the U.K., Australia, the Netherlands, Germany, and South Africa. Here’s what we found out!
53% said online bookings saved their team 5 to 30 minutes of admin time per day.
61% said automating the booking process has given them more time to engage with clients in-house and over the phone.
47% said online bookings have had an extremely positive impact on the level of service their team was able to provide pet owners.
Not sure how to streamline the appointment-booking process at your veterinary practice? Vetstoria is here to help!
“Vetstoria has had a huge impact on the way we work at Calder Vets. The booking system has reduced the pressure on our phone lines and associates. We have seen an increase in positive comments via our feedback service since introducing Vetstoria, mainly in relation to ease of booking and response rates.”
— Danielle Cooper, Practice Manager at Calder Vets
Want to learn more about appointment scheduling with Vetstoria? Click here.
Vetstoria Now Integrates With ezyVet By IDEXX
We are excited to announce our integration with ezyVet. If you are a practice using ezyVet you can now save time, improve pet owner experience, and grow your revenue by allowing pet parents to book appointments from your website straight into your ezyVet calendar!
This latest addition to the 29 veterinary practice management software with which we natively integrate enables veterinary practices using ezyVet to offer real-time scheduling.
This also allows pet owners to book directly and in real-time via reminders, social media, mobile devices, and search - all without needing to log in or download an app.
“ So far, Vetstoria is working really well for us. Clients say that it is very easy to set up a new client profile and existing clients’ appointments. The link between the emails and the booking to confirm is also very helpful with matching clients to appointments and setting up accounts before the new client comes in. All in all, we are very happy with Vetstoria.”
— Judi Wilson, Practice Manager, Southern Highlands Veterinary Centre, NSW, Australia
The real-time sync between ezyVet and Vetstoria eliminates double bookings and enables your practice to gain full control of the schedule by leveraging rules and customisations according to your preference. This can save your front-desk staff hours every week while providing pet owners with an enhanced scheduling experience.
This integration will:
Give you control of your schedule and reduce admin stress.
Control availability and accept appointment bookings without the back-and-forth emails or phone calls to save your team hours of work every week.
Improved client experience
Acquire new clients and improve the client experience by removing the need to register for a login or download an app.
Enable you to run promotional campaigns.
By using our digital marketing feature, you can embed custom smart links that can be used in highly targeted campaigns that drive bookings, promote your practice, measure its performance, and optimise marketing efficiency.
“We are excited to integrate with one of the world’s leading cloud-based PIMS and to continue working with IDEXX, a collaboration that began over seven years ago. ezyVet is the fourth IDEXX PIMS we are integrating with and we're delighted to get started with them.”
— Dr. Julien Renard, CEO of Vetstoria
Integrating with ezyVet brings us closer to our goal to better the veterinary industry and make the lives of veterinarians around the world easier. If you want to learn more about our integration, check out this page.
Watch the video below to see how Vetstoria integrates with ezyVet.
About ezyVet
ezyVet was founded in 2006 to offer intuitive, affordable, and customisable software that caters to veterinary practices of all shapes and sizes. Working in partnership with vets, ezyVet has grown to be a next-generation, cloud-based practice management software that is feature-rich, customisable, and easy to use, serving the veterinary industry all around the world.
How To Use TikTok To Promote Your Veterinary Practice
Table of contents
Introduction to TikTok
What makes TikTok a trend you should get behind?
How does TikTok work?
Setting Up a TikTok Business Account
How To Use TikTok for Veterinary Marketing
Advertising on TikTok
Get More Online Bookings With TikTok
Summary
Introduction to TikTok
Since its inception in 2016, the infectiously watchable social media platform has taken the internet by storm. Users upload short videos, called TikToks, ranging from a few short seconds to three minutes in duration. In just a few short years, TikTok has become a staple of Gen Z and millennial internet culture, and the app has surpassed 3.5 billion downloads. But what does TikTok have to do with your veterinary practice? Can it help with veterinary marketing? Read on to find out.
What makes TikTok a trend you should get behind?
In your veterinary practice, you know it’s important for pet owners to feel confident about bringing in their pets for checkups and medical attention. It’s possible you already have a loyal clientele. But what if you could expand your reach to more pet owners every day? While a lot of user content on TikTok includes lip-syncing and dancing, companies that target younger audiences are using TikTok to connect and relate with potential customers.
Many young millennials and Gen Zers are future pet parents, and since 66% of TikTok’s users are under the age of 30, developing a bond with them will pave the way for a future connection when they have a pet of their own. Your existing clients may also be some of the millennial pet parents who are already on the app.
Either way, you can create captivating content that positions your brand as a superlative and compassionate veterinary practice. The younger generation can have a compelling influence on their parents too, so don’t be afraid to reach out to them when the opportunity arises. TikTok can also be used to reach out to prospective students who wish to follow their dreams of becoming a vet or technician, and graduate students already in DVM programs can become prospective hires once they graduate.
Thanks to the TikTok algorithm, users frequently spend quite a long time scrolling through curated content. With an unrivalled opportunity to film, edit, and post engaging videos, your vet clinic can leverage the platform to post original content and share it via other channels like Facebook or Instagram, where you may already have dedicated followers.
How do you start?
We’re glad you asked! Let’s walk you through some basics of using TikTok and maximising the visibility of your vet practice.
How does TikTok work?
Unlike other social media platforms, TikTok does a great job of displaying content to users that is tailored to their unique interests. The TikTok algorithm curates a user’s feed based on their interaction with past content, considering the hashtags the user follows, accounts they’ve interacted with, videos they’ve liked, and comments they’ve made.
Setting Up a TikTok Business Account
- Download and open the TikTok app.
- Use your email, Google, Twitter, or Facebook account to create a TikTok account.
- Tap “Profile” in the lower-right corner, then tap “Edit Profile.” Here, you can add a profile picture, bio, and links to other social media accounts.
- Back on your profile, switch to a business account by tapping the three lines in the upper-right corner. From there, tap “Settings and privacy” and then “Manage account.”
- Tap “Switch to Business Account.”
- Now, pick the category that best describes your brand and tap “Next.”
- Add a website and email address to your profile.
You’re all set! Congratulations on creating your new TikTok Business Account!
How To Use TikTok for Veterinary Marketing
Content Ideas
- Show the behind the scenes of your vet practice.
Posting about the behind the scenes of your staff looking after pets — and busting out a dance move or two — can showcase the tone and mood of your practice to potential clients and create an inviting atmosphere for prospective veterinary hires.
- A day in the life of a veterinarian.
Not many people know the stress and effort that comes with being a veterinarian, so why not share this with your clients? It’s a way to capture the essence of what it takes to be a veterinarian and, at the same time, uplift your vet practice to potential audiences.
- Educational and informational content.
Posting educational content and creating awareness of pet care/health that pet owners can understand and relate to has the potential to go viral among pet owners, increasing the visibility of your vet practice and eventually attracting future clients.
Not sure about it? Check out a TikTok that one of our clients at Vetstoria had created!
Advertising on TikTok
TikTok Ads Manager
Within the interface of the TikTok ads manager, you are able to manage how you optimise your TikTok ads by setting up goals, budgets, audiences, targeting, and call to actions to direct traffic to your website and create brand awareness. Once an ad is launched, you can access detailed analytics and metrics to track your ad’s performance.
Influencer Marketing Using TikTok
If your vet practice currently works with influencers who already promote the practice, this would be a great way to leverage their social media presence and create high-quality, authentic content that appeals to pet owners. You can also get influencers to share your branded content on their TikTok profiles to reach an even broader audience. This can be a great way to get more results out of your veterinary marketing spend.
Get More Online Bookings With TikTok
As a vet practice that uses Vetstoria for your online bookings (or wants to), you can paste your unique booking link into the TikTok bio alongside a call to action (CTA) when running TikTok ads for a specific campaign. By using TikTok, you are creating a new channel through which to reach potential pet owners and instantly direct them to book appointments on your website.
Summary
TikTok is a growing trend worldwide. By using TikTok to promote your vet practice, you connect with a whole new audience of pet parents or future pet parents who are all potential clients. If used creatively and wholesomely, TikTok can be the next best thing in establishing a vet practice’s brand identity, using for effective veterinary marketing and showcasing a different, fun side of your practice’s extremely busy work schedule.
