As veterinary care options increase for pet owners (think Walmart) and practices re-evaluate solutions to strengthen client retention and increase appointments, website forms and online appointment scheduling offer a simple and solid way to help accomplish this because they align with pet owner preferences.
Pet Owners Prefer Online Appointment Scheduling
In a digital world where 67% of people (per TechReport) prefer booking healthcare appointments online and 78% of health systems (per Physicians Practice) have adopted some form of self-service appointment scheduling, the AAHA recently (and unsurprisingly) found that 68% of pet owners prefer the convenience of online pet appointment scheduling, and Pumpkin pet insurance CEO Alex Douzet explains why.
In a January 2024 article for Forbes, Douzet says, “[Modern pet owners] grew up in the digital age, and their familiarity with seamless technology means they expect a digital-forward in-clinic experience.” Because of this, United Veterinary Services Association Executive Director Jackie King recently wrote in an article for Veterinary Advantage, “Digital services will play a greater role in how [pet owners] choose and retain veterinary services going forward.”
This Helps Explain the Shift in Practice Priorities
Given pet owner preferences for online appointment scheduling, more veterinary practices now view online appointment scheduling with a higher priority and are either planning to add website forms and online appointment scheduling to their websites or have already sone so.
According to findings in our 2024 State of Veterinary Marketing Report (free to download here):
- 37% of surveyed practices now view online client forms with the same importance as client reviews to attract and retain clients, and 15% of practices are planning to add online forms to their websites.
- 31% of surveyed practices consider online appointment scheduling to be the most importance veterinary website feature, and 11% are planning to add this.
- Online client forms and appointment scheduling took third and fourth spots (respectively) in 2024 as the website features considered most important by practices, moving up from 2023 when online appointment scheduling ranked fifth and online client forms ranked sixth.
Online Appointment Scheduling Also Reduces Admin Time for Practices
As practices continue to face staffing and retention challenges and seek ways to help reduce turnover (covered in our blog), online forms and appointment scheduling help reduce admin workload for staff and save time to focus more on caring for clients and patients.
Yes, there will always be pet owners who prefer the personal nature of a phone call, just as some practices will continue to value phone calls for the same reason. Yet if 60% of pet owners in your area prefer online forms and appointment scheduling, that’s still a significant time savings for busy practices when even a few extra minutes to breathe can make all the difference.
Beyond this, online forms and appointment scheduling appear to represent an opportunity for practices to differentiate themselves for pet owners deciding to choose a veterinary practice or stay with one.
Online Appointment Scheduling Appears to be Underutilized by Practices
It’s difficult to get an exact number. Some estimates say only 25% of practices have websites with online booking while research published by dvm360 estimates 45% of practices offer online booking.
Whatever the real number, the opportunity nonetheless stands clear. If all you do today is upgrade your website to include online appointment scheduling, you immediately provide pet owners with a convenience that competing local practices may not provide, and you immediately position your practice to both attract new clients and strengthen client retention.
This is especially relevant to your practice hours.
As American Veterinarian recently wrote, “As many as 40% of bookings take place when businesses are closed,” and this bears out in a recent case study by the AVMA.
After adopting online scheduling in 2022, Tom Gibbings, co-owner of West Coast Hospital in San Diego, found that 35% of appointments were made after hours,” and the reasons aren’t mystifying.
Like you, people have busy lives. Days are over before they know it. So, online booking serves them when things settle down after hours, which helps explain why the AVMA wrote in September 2023, “Online scheduling systems support maximum fill of available slots.”
Evidencing what was mentioned earlier, online appointment scheduling also helps practice team members breather easier by reducing admin workload. In the Tom Gibbings case study, West Coast Hospital experienced a 30% reduction in call volume. Plus, online scheduling:
- Reduced no-show rates
- Reduced double bookings
- Provided more time for reception staff to focus on waiting room clients
When combined with other essential website elements, like intuitive navigation and an overall design that instantly conveys trust and credibility, online appointment scheduling helps empower pet owners as active and supported participants in their pet’s optimal health.
How Do You Implement Online Appointment Scheduling?
There are a variety of options to set up online appointment scheduling for your practice.
External Appointment Scheduling Services
Google “pet appointment scheduling services for veterinarians” and you’ll find any number of companies offering appointment scheduling software, and most offer the same general list of practice benefits, including:
- PIMS configuration: Outside services will help you configure their online appointment scheduling software with your existing practice management software, meaning setup tends to be relatively painless.
- Easy appointment scheduling for pet owners based on available slots in your practice calendar.
- Automated appointments reminders and other pet health notifications for pet owners to keep your exam rooms full and reduce no-shows.
- Centralized pet health information for pet owners to help them manage their pet’s best health and empower them as active pet care participants.
- Some customization features and free use of appointment scheduling apps for pet owners to encourage use.
Many external appointment scheduling services also acknowledge what we previously mentioned. In an online world, many pet owners prefer the convenience of online booking.
The thing to keep in mind: As much as external appointment scheduling software serves pet owners, such software typically requires that pet owners to do several things:
- Download and install an app on their smartphones.
- Create an account.
- Connect with their pet care provider.
- Set up their preferences.
All of this represents commitment, meaning pet owners that download appointment scheduling software to their phones or other devices tend to already be practice clients or have decided to become clients.
It’s a different story for potential clients visiting a practice website for the first time.
They’re still in the consideration phase, meaning they have little incentive or reason to download and set up some external appointment scheduling software when they’re not yet committed to a practice. They may only be looking to book one or two appointments to evaluate a practice and their experience there. When you include online forms and appointment scheduling on your practice website, you give potential clients an easy, commitment-free way to do this.
In addition to this, some young pet owners are ditching smartphones.
Per a recent story by CNBC: In a move to limit screen time, save money, and alleviate stress caused by technology, some Gen Z populations are now abandoning smartphones in favor of “dumb phones”—old-fashioned press-button flip phones that aren’t connected to the internet. This means that while they may visit practice websites on devices like laptops, they can’t (or won’t) download apps like external appointment scheduling software. “Dumb phones may be falling out of fashion on a global scale,” writes CNBC, “but it’s a different story in the U.S.,” where Gen Z now represents 16% of U.S. pet owners.
Other potential downsides to external appointment scheduling software:
- Customization limitations. Some external appointment scheduling software may not accommodate the specific needs and preferences of your veterinary practice.
- Changes in service: Practice operations and client service may be interrupted if an external appointment scheduling software provider changes its policies or platform.
- Data breaches: Sensitive practice and client information may be at risk if an external appointment scheduling software provider doesn’t have the right security in place to shield against hackers.
- Cost control: If an external appointment scheduling software provider changes its fees, tacks on fees for extras, or changes its billing period, practices have little choice but to absorb costs if they wish to continue with an appointment service provider.
- Service support: If you encounter technical issues with external appointment scheduling software, the quality and responsiveness of service support can vary, potentially leading to delays in resolving issues and client dissatisfaction.
When you add it all up, online forms and appointment scheduling on your website should be viewed as core website features that should always be there regardless of what external appointment scheduling software you may choose to offer clients.
Here’s a walkthrough of how to create online appointment scheduling on your practice website so pet owners can book their own appointments.
Step-by-Step Guide to Create Appointment Scheduling on your Practice Website
Step 1: Choose Booking Software
When choosing booking software (whether free or paid), consider what features the software offers, whether they align with your practice needs, customization, ease of use, cost, and integration capabilities. Some popular options include:
Step 2: Set Up Your Booking System
- Create an account with the appointment scheduling software provider you’ve chosen.
- Configure your schedule. Set your available hours, types of appointments, and any specific rules or limitations (e.g., buffer times between appointments).
- Add details about the services your practice provides. Where applicable, add appointment durations, costs, and pre-appointment preparatory instructions for pet owners.
- Set staff availability. If you have multiple veterinarians or staff members, input their schedules, and assign services accordingly.
- Customize notifications. Set up email or text notifications for both staff and clients to confirm bookings and set reminders.
Step 3: Generate the Embed Code
Most appointment scheduling software will provide an embed code (usually in HTML or JavaScript) for integrating an appointment scheduling into your website.
- Find the embed code. Look for an “embed” option in your appointment scheduling software’s dashboard. The embed code is often found under Settings or an Integrations tab.
- Customize the embed code. Some appointment scheduling software enables you to customize the appearance of online forms (colors, fonts, etc.) before generating an embed code to better match your practice’s brand image.
Step 4: Embed the Appointment Scheduling Form on Your Website
To do this, access your website’s HTML/CSS. Navigate to the page where you want to add your appointment scheduling form. Ideally, this is your homepage so potential clients can easily find the form, but this could also be a dedicated Book an Appointment page.
Insert the embed code.
For WordPress:
- Open the page editor.
- Switch to the HTML or Text Editor mode.
- Paste the embed code where you want the appointment scheduling form to appear.
- Save and publish the changes.
For Wix/Squarespace:
- Use the Add or “+” button to insert a new element.
- Choose HTML or Embed from the element options.
- Paste the embed code into the provided field.
- Save and publish the changes.
For custom HTML sites:
- Open the HTML file of the page in a code editor.
- Find the spot where you want the appointment scheduling form to appear.
- Paste the embed code.
- Save the file and upload it to your web server.
Step 5: Test Your Appointment Scheduling Form
Go through the online appointment scheduling process as if you’re a pet owner to ensure a seamless user experience.
- Check notifications: Verify that confirmation messages and reminder notifications are correctly sent to staff and the client (meaning you as the test subject).
- Review the booking. Ensure that the appointment appears in your practice scheduling system and is assigned to the correct staff member, if applicable.
Step 6: Monitor Forms and Adjust as Necessary
- Track usage—how often website visitors use your online appointment scheduling form.
- Gather feedback—what pet owners like about your online appointment scheduling form and what they don’t—and adjust form settings as needed.
- Monitor for any security vulnerabilities and update forms as needed to ensure client information protection.
Summary
To attract more appointments and keep clients engaged by providing them with the kind of online appointment scheduling convenience they now want and expect:
- Choose an appointment scheduling software provider that can fully serve your practice needs.
- Set up your booking system.
- Generate an embed code.
- Embed the appointment scheduling form on your website.
- Test your form to make sure it works seamlessly.
- Monitor your form, collect feedback, and adjust as needed.
Lastly, Repeat This Process for Other Online Forms
Online appointment scheduling forms are certainly a key website feature to serve pet owners better while saving admin time for your staff. Yet pet owners are looking to do a range of things that easily lend themselves to time-saving website forms, including:
- Pet medication refills
- Food order requests
- Boarding requests
- New client/patient registration
- Email and other consent forms
When you make optimal use of online forms relevant to your services, you attract more pet owners and strengthen client retention while streamlining time efficiencies for your staff, and if time isn’t on your side to set everything up and get it all in place, we’re here to help with that.
Core forms like appointment scheduling come built into all WebDVM custom veterinary websites and advanced online forms like prescription refills, food order requests, new client registrations, and custom forms come with WebDVM Plus.
WebDVM Plus also comes with ongoing website service—including form updates—so pet owners are ensured a seamless experience while you stay focused on patient care.
