Today's Veterinary Practice

MAY-JUN 2014

Today's Veterinary Practice provides comprehensive information to keep every small animal practitioner up to date on companion animal medicine and surgery as well as practice building and management.

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May/June 2014 Today's Veterinary Practice 73 PracTice Building | BeyOnd THe yellOW PageS—ParT 1: clienT engagemenT TOOlS tvpjournal.com VSMArt VSmart (vsmart.4act.com) is the evolution of VSurv, a product of animal care Technologies in denton, Texas. VSurv is an automated survey tool that allows practices to track and monitor client satisfaction on an ongoing basis (see Measure Satisfaction through Surveys). VSmart is integrated into the practice management sys- tem and operates as an automated communication sys- tem. Based on trigger settings determined by the practice team, a clinic branded email is sent to each client 24 hours after a visit, thanking them for their loyalty and inquiring on key attributes of their visit. Key Features VSmart surveys are configurable, allowing practices to inquire about customer service issues most important to them. a practice may choose questions out of the VSmart library or choose to create their own custom questions. Some of the common attributes that prac- tices track include: • How did a client perceive wait time? • How was a client greeted? • How did the technical staff treat the client's animal? • Were all of the client's questions answered? • is the client likely to recommend the practice to a friend or family member? Custom Surveys. VSmart allows the user to config- ure different surveys for various types of patient visits. For example, surveys can be specifically designed for dog and cat owners, multiple pet owners, or surgery patients. any feature that can be configured from a field in the practice management system can be used to create a distinct survey. Satisfaction tracking. VSmart hosts an online cli- ent dashboard that allows the practice team to active- ly track customer satisfaction metrics, such as trend graphs, recent client comments, alerts, email collec- tion rates, survey compliance, and graphed survey results. Alerts. One of the most compelling attributes of the VSmart system is the alert system, which allows a practice to set threshold values for survey results that trigger an automatic alert every time a survey scores below these values. The alert—assignable to one or more members of the practice team—is delivered by text and/or email. This real-time customer satisfaction assessment enables the practice team to identify potentially unhap- py clients and act on issues before the consumer shares a negative experience with family or friends, posts a negative review online, or decides to leave the practice. Positive reviews Online. The most recent fea- ture of the VSmart platform is integration of the client survey tool with the ability to create positive online review content. client surveys can be customized to "steer" clients to online review sites based on responses to individual surveys. if a client meets the pre-determined positive experience threshold at the end of a survey, they are immediately asked to share their experience at one of the practice's pages on google, yelp, yahoo, Bing, or other major search engine review sites. In Our Hands The VSmart platform is a very sound tool for the prac- tice that wants to stay in tune with its clients' experi- ences. • as an automated feature, it operates primarily in the background and doesn't require significant mainte- nance other than defining survey parameters and fields. • The alert is our favorite tool, as it enables a practice owner or manager to identify and resolve a poten- tially negative outcome before it becomes a nega- tive review that lives perpetually online. Measure Satisfaction through Surveys Proactively measuring customer satisfaction, while common in other industries, is an emerg- ing practice in the veterinary industry. however, it is rapidly gaining adoption as practice owners increasingly appreciate the relationship between client loyalty and patient experience. surveys created for veterinary practices are similar to ones you may have taken as a patient of a dentist, optometrist, or chiropractor. after your appointment (often before you return home), a short email survey asks about your experience. Questions are often brief, inquir- ing about wait time, how you were greeted, or if you have any questions. the survey is complet- ed within minutes—through your computer or mobile device. TVP_2014-0506_PB_Marketing_PART1.indd 73 5/24/2014 11:23:41 AM

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