This blog has been updated from an earlier blog to be even more useful.
COVID-19 didn’t change the importance of having a competitive veterinary website to attract more clients. In fact, with pet owners using the internet than before the pandemic, having a competitive website is now more important in 2020 because your website is the first stop that most pet owners are going to make in their search for a new veterinary hospital.
If you think your current website isn’t working as well for your practice as you’d like and feel it’s time for a change, here are three key website tips to attract more clients in the new normal:
Make Your First Impression Count
People form opinions about others in seven seconds, according to a study by Harvard Business School, and 55% of people base their opinions on how you look.
Similarly, a recent study by Northumbria University shows that people form opinions about businesses in seconds based on how their website looks, and 94% of website first impressions are design-related.
This means, if your website features common errors in website design like poor color schemes, confusing navigation, non-responsive design and other traffic killers, people are more likely to quickly form a negative opinion of your practice. When you showcase the professionalism and trustworthiness of your practice with a clean, easy-to-use website that follows established principles of design and best practices in user experience, you engender higher trust to help attract and convert more pet owners.
Tell Website Visitors Exactly What to Do
Whether your practice goals involve booking more appointments or increasing compliance with existing clients, clear calls to action for website visitors more effectively help you achieve business goals. So, gently guide clients toward the activities that you wish them to complete and make the process simple. If you want to increase appointments, for example, placing a clearly worded “Make an Appointment” button on your home page makes it clear and simple for pet owners to complete the action. Well-designed calls to action will leave website visitors feeling satisfied that they were able to achieve what they wanted—and leave you satisfied that the investment in your practice website is paying off.
Provide Valuable Pet Health Content
Studies show that pet owners still view veterinarians as trusted sources of pet health information. As an example: According to research by Packaged Facts, 62% of pet owners expressed the greatest degree of trust in pet food information from their veterinarians. In fact, during a presentation at Petfood Forum, David Sprinkle, publisher and research director at Packaged Facts, said, “Dog owners turn to vets for food advice nearly as much as for medication.”
Providing valuable pet health content on your website shows both existing and prospective clients that your practice is a primary source of trusted pet health information, which keeps people returning to your website to help improve engagement and boost appointments. Providing pet health content also helps increase compliance, improve SEO for increased online discovery, and more.
The challenge in any website refresh, of course, is time. As a done-for-you solution, LifeLearn WebDVM custom veterinary websites are designed to make you stand out from the competition and attract more appointments, and LifeLearn’s proven implementation process makes set-up a breeze.
To discover more about what a custom WebDVM website can do for your practice, book a free consultation. Drop us your contact info and one of our team members will get back to you.
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