When you think of client education, what comes to mind? Take a moment to consider your associations with the concept—do you feel stressed by its time-consuming nature? Excited by its potential to improve the patient experience? Worried you’re simply not getting through to pet owners?
Whatever your response, client education is essential for ensuring positive patient outcomes and maintaining pet health outside the clinic. The trouble is, pet owners don’t always speak your language. What seems thorough and informative to your veterinary team may appear bland and overwhelming to the average pet owner.
So how can you revamp your educational content to better engage clients? We have a few ideas up our sleeves—give them a try at your veterinary practice.
Aim for more transparency
Today’s pet parents want to know everything they can about the care of their furry family members. In order to trust the necessity of a veterinary recommendation, it often helps for clients to understand the why factor too.
For example, a new rabbit owner may opt out of an expensive spay surgery for their female bunnies since they cannot reproduce. If the client had known that non-spayed rabbits are at risk for ovarian cancer, false pregnancies, and aggression, they might have made a different choice.
Rather than simply instructing pet owners, the ideal client education remains transparent in an effort to build trust, and bridge gaps in communication.
Clarity over quantity
Improving transparency doesn’t necessarily mean sharing everything you know about a particular illness, injury, or treatment. After all, you want to avoid overloading your clients with details they are likely to forget. Instead, keep things simple and stick to the essentials.
When you break down complex concepts into smaller tidbits, they become easier for pet owners to process. Try providing pet owners with a sort of compliance cheat sheet that outlines the pet’s treatment plan step-by-step to help guide clients once they are at home.
Send reinforcements
For pet owners looking for further information, you can offer more detailed reading materials or link them to relevant content on your veterinary blog.
The truth is, you treat and examine heaps of patients every day—don’t let client education fall through the cracks due to a hectic schedule. Instead, send pet owners home with the materials they need to understand and follow your medical advice. Using a tool like ClientEd, you’ll gain instant access to over 1,800 client-friendly articles—all at the push of a button.
Reinforcement is the key to a client’s ability to retain information and follow-through—so be sure to show, tell, and reiterate your instructions often.
Have a bit of fun
Educating pet owners is a serious business but that doesn’t mean you can’t have some fun. According to a recent study, incorporating elements of fun and games into educational materials can improve engagement, and increase retention of essential information.
There are plenty of ways to make pet care tips more engaging and by encouraging clients to have fun while they’re learning, they’ll be more likely to stick to your recommendations for good.
Need a hand boosting compliance at your veterinary practice? ClientEd can help restore signs of life to your client education efforts—visit our website to learn more!
