How Veterinary Practices Can Use Two-Way Texting To Improve Client Communication

Two-way texting is the best way to stay in immediate contact with your clients. Whether you’re communicating updates about a simple issue like appointment times or a crucial one like the status of a beloved pet undergoing health treatment.

For veterinarians, this can mean juggling two phones, sacrificing their personal phone number to their practice, or using an off-hours answering service to create some semblance of work/life balance. However, none of those scenarios are effective at delivering effective patient care and giving vets (and their office staff) the type of flexibility needed to run a complex communication system via text.

Enter Vetter, a DaySmart company.

With Vetter, vets can harness the immediacy of text messaging without having to sacrifice their personal number, manage multiple phones, or rely on an answering service.

How does Vetter do it? We took a moment to chat with Vetter founder Sagi Solomon to find out.

Why do you recommend text messaging so highly to veterinarians?

Texting is a great alternative channel for engaging with clients. For example, you can use texting to coordinate care with clients who are waiting in the parking lot or to quickly send a status update regarding a hospitalized patient.

It also allows you to quickly contact a group of your patients in the event of an emergency regarding your practice, such as a power outage or inclement weather. You can easily send a text message alert giving your clients status updates as you have them.

How does it work?

Two-way texting works just like texting on your phone, but instead of using your personal phone, you use your Vetter account. Your practice is issued a toll-free number specifically for this purpose so that all messages can be routed to a central location for your team to address, and you get back some much-needed work-life balance.

This approach also allows you to easily manage multiple conversations simultaneously while having access to relevant client and patient information alongside each conversation. In addition, images can be sent back and forth to assist in addressing the client’s concern.

If these are medical conversations, are they logged somewhere?

Yes. All communications are automatically saved to the client’s communication log. All you need to do is close the conversation, and the content of that conversation, along with any attachments, is automatically saved. That’s the beauty of using a single system for practice management and communications.

How does this replace the need for an after-hours answering service?

You can configure an automated response to messages that are received outside of the practice’s business hours. You can even configure an automated alert that an after-hours message was received to members of your team so that they can determine whether they need to respond to the message that night.

Are clients receptive to texting with their veterinarian?

Yes! Texting is a terrific way to communicate with clients in real-time. It also opens the door for engaging with customers in the way they want to be engaged, while allowing your broader team to participate in managing conversations. Texting is a fantastic way to engage with clients in real-time, whether they’re waiting for their appointment time in the parking lot or because they’re dealing with an animal emergency. For vets, it can help them more easily communicate with pet owners, making it easier to see and treat animals who need care. Vetter allows veterinarians to automate and simplify the delivery of services to meet clients where they are—their phones.

With Vetter, you can give clients access to their veterinarian within their pocket.