Targeted email marketing can transform the client experience.
Do your clients take action when you send them an email? If not, personalization can help.
“Nurture” campaigns are a relatively easy way to personalize communication, build trust and empower pet owners to take better care of the pets they love, says Robert Sanchez, CEO of Digital Empathy, a website and marketing company.
This type of campaign typically consists of a sequence of automated emails that are sent to clients over a period of time. A veterinary practice can have several different types of nurture campaigns running at once. For example, you may create one nurture campaign for new clients, another for those caring for a pet with diabetes, and another for owners of new puppies.
Send the emails at least a few days apart. Sanchez suggests these potential uses and ideas:
New Client Email
When a pet owner has recently become a new client, they are in a fragile stage of the relationship; there hasn’t been enough time to build a substantial amount of trust. Creating a new client nurture campaign can help them understand what your practice is all about, why they made such an excellent decision in partnering with you, and how you can work together to help their pet live the longest, happiest life possible. A new client nurture campaign should contain three elements, and might look like this:
1. Our “why.” This email speaks to why your practice exists. It might look like a personal email from your founder who shares where their passion comes from and how it colors everything they do. This email should feel emotional, it should connect with what will matter to your new client, and it should be authentic.
2. Unique value proposition. Every veterinary practice is unique. You have important and special attributes that make your practice uniquely valuable to your clientele. This email should tell the story of your differentiators and connect it to how you will address the new client’s needs and solve their problems.
3. Meet your care team. It’s important that pet owners feel connected to your full team. This email should give them a “behind the scenes” feel for the people who will be caring for their pet. It can be a short paragraph about each team member that speaks to each one’s personal “why” and shares something personal, such as their favorite activities or passions outside the practice.
Disease Email
When a client’s pet is diagnosed with a disease, the client often forgets much of what is said in the exam room. This can leave the pet owners feeling additional distress; they may turn to Google or call you later in the day or week.
Build out a nurture campaign for the most common diseases of your patients. The campaign can cover the basics of the disease; talk about medications, symptoms of progression or pain to look out for; and provide other helpful and informative tips that you would regularly provide in the practice. An example of a disease nurture campaign could look like this:
- An introductory email that expresses sympathy for the diagnosis but builds confidence that you are going to make sure their pet gets exactly the care it needs, and that you will educate them about everything that they need to know to care for their pet.
- An email that covers the basics of how the disease works.
- An email that explains helpful tips on caring for pets with this disease.
- An email that shows what signs or symptoms to look out for and when to get in touch.
Life-stage Email
Many pet owners are unprepared for the challenges and choices they are met with at new stages in their pet’s life. For puppies, pet owners often need guidance on everything from training to behavior and socialization. For senior cats, pet owners may need to learn about the most common diseases, how to make the house more comfortable for them, and why routine diagnostics are so important.
Consider creating nurture campaigns for new puppies, kittens, adult dogs and cats, and senior dogs and cats. An example for puppies could include:
- Training tips
- Advice on nutrition
- How to socialize your puppy
- The “why” behind vaccines
- Avoiding common mistakes
All of your nurture content should also live on your blog (where it will dramatically boost your SEO). Keep the content short—studies have shown that shorter emails have higher response rates. Additionally, there are other types of nurture campaigns you may want to explore—such as breed-specific campaigns. Think of all those French Bulldogs!