How Veterinary Loyalty Rewards Programs Can Improve Your Practice

Retaining patients in the highly competitive veterinary industry isn’t easy. Loyalty campaigns continue gaining popularity as they allow you to reward loyal customers for their business, ultimately encouraging continued support. Developing profitable, attractive veterinary loyalty rewards programs requires careful planning, however.

So, how can you build a well-designed loyalty program to foster strong relationships with existing and new customers?

What Are Veterinary Loyalty Programs?

Veterinary loyalty campaigns involve rewarding customers any time they spend money on products or services at your practice. Clients might earn loyalty points for scheduling visits, purchasing pet products, or engaging with the clinic online.

So, how do loyalty and rewards programs differ? A reward-centered, point-based system is just one type of structure for loyalty campaigns. Here are different ways your loyalty program might work:

• The points system structure: With this reward structure, clients earn bonus points for each dollar spent at your veterinary practice. Their points could be redeemed for discounts on dental cleanings, free pet toys, etc.
• The membership rewards structure: With the membership structure, customers must pay a monthly or annual service fee to enjoy exclusive benefits, such as free resources, lower costs for services, priority appointments, etc.
• The tiers system: The tiers system combines both of the above ideas, allowing customers to increase their membership level as they earn points through each transaction they make. For example, they might pay for a dental cleaning to qualify for tier two, unlocking their next reward of 20% off bloodwork.

While a general loyalty campaign caters to customers’ behaviors and buying patterns, veterinary clinic campaigns must focus on happy pets, health, and customer relationships. Any reward or required purchases should benefit the patient to ensure that you’re building strong relationships, as this leads to loyal customers.

The Benefits of Implementing a Veterinary Loyalty Program

With a carefully executed veterinary loyalty program, your practice can benefit from the following:

Increased Client Retention

Your campaign will encourage repeat services, ultimately fostering long-term relationships with your clients. As your existing customers feel inclined to get rewarded by listening to their veterinarian’s recommendations, you’ll see increased retention rates.

Enhanced Client Engagement

The right program can also boost client compliance and engagement as your interested customers will feel incentivized to regularly interact with your veterinary practice. You can encourage repeat visits, social media interactions, product purchases, newsletter subscriptions, referrals, and more.

A Sharpened Competitive Advantage

Veterinary loyalty rewards programs set your practice apart from other businesses in your area. By offering unique discounts, free services, and other perks to clients who remain loyal, your business can appear more attractive than the other practices in your area.

Increased Revenue

The above benefits may sound great, but can a loyalty program actually make your business more money?

Yes, according to the Global Customer Loyalty Report 2024. The study found that 90% of businesses using loyalty programs report an increase in their ROI (return on investment). The average redemption rate of loyalty programs is just over 49%.

Given the high cost associated with customer acquisition versus the potential to retain a large number of your current clients, it makes sense that such programs offer phenomenal returns.

By increasing retention and incentivizing clients with perks, you can boost your average transaction value to ultimately increase revenue for your practice.

Key Elements of an Effective Veterinary Loyalty Program

So, how can your practice create a successful loyalty program? We recommend integrating the following elements when creating your campaign:

A Simple and Clear Structure

Your program must be simple and easy for clients to understand; otherwise, they likely won’t participate. For example, if clients need to spend a certain threshold to earn perks, choose rounded dollar amounts like $100.

Attractive Rewards

Pet owners won’t participate in the loyalty program unless you offer attractive perks like discounted services, free toys, or special visit offers. Be sure to customize perks to your particular veterinary practice by considering your most commonly purchased services or products.

Personalization With Client Segmentation

A cat owner will not care about free dog treats. To avoid such issues, segment clients based on their animal’s needs and preferences. You can deliver personalized gifts to various groups based on breed, animal age, time spent at your clinic, and more.

Digital Integration for Ease of Use

With a digital app, clients can easily manage their accounts, track their points, and redeem them. We recommend integrating whatever app you choose with your EHR or other platforms for ease of use.

Continuous Evaluation and Improvement

To see the best results with veterinary loyalty rewards programs, you must routinely review performance and make necessary adjustments to keep things relevant and effective.

Promoting Loyalty Programs at Veterinary Practices

After you develop a loyalty program, you need to promote it to clients. Here are some ideas:

In-Clinic Promotion to Existing Clients

First, you can promote the loyalty program within your clinic to your existing clients. To do so, you may hand out informational brochures, posters, or veterinary business cards explaining the campaign. You should also conduct staff training on encouraging sign-ups.

Digital Marketing Tactics

You can also promote the loyalty program digitally through email campaigns, social media posts, and website landing pages to reach as many people as possible.

Client Education and Onboarding

Proper education helps clients learn about the program’s benefits, how to enroll, and how to redeem points. Effective program onboarding ensures high participation rates. You can educate clients in the office, through a social app post, or via email.

How Weave Can Support Your Client Loyalty Program

At Weave, we help you successfully implement your loyalty program with an all-in-one app for email marketing, automated reminders, review management, and more, allowing you to enhance engagement and satisfaction. With our integrated platform, you can easily manage your loyalty campaign, track client participation, streamline promotion efforts, and personalize winnings.

Veterinary loyalty rewards programs can make all the difference for your practice when you carefully design the campaign for your particular brand. Watch our Webinar to see how Weave can help you implement a successful veterinary loyalty program — and drive retention and practice growth.

Webinar: How to Build Brand Loyalty