The short answer
Vaccination, parasite treatment and health check reminders are the recurring revenue and the recurring welfare benefit. Sending them on a fixed schedule to everyone is the default and it underperforms.
Timing, channel and who gets a phone call rather than a text are where the improvement is.
Reminders that land
- Send when the client is most likely to act, not on a fixed day
- Use the channel that client has responded to before
- Make booking possible directly from the reminder
- Escalate to a call for high-value or overdue cases
- Stop reminding for animals that have died or moved, which needs a process
The last point sounds administrative and matters enormously. Continuing to remind about a deceased animal is distressing and entirely avoidable.
Spotting clients before they lapse
| Signal | Reading |
|---|---|
| Missed last recall | Early warning |
| Lengthening interval between visits | Drifting |
| Stopped buying preventatives | Often buying elsewhere online |
| Only emergency visits | No preventative relationship |
The third row is common and worth acting on. Clients buying parasite treatment online have not left the practice, and a conversation about price or convenience frequently retains them.
Appointment utilisation
Empty consult slots are the direct loss. Predicting which appointments are likely to be missed lets you target reminders, and a short-notice list turns cancellations into attendances.
Use prediction to target support rather than to refuse bookings, which creates a welfare issue as well as a reputational one.
Stock and dispensing
Medication stock is capital sitting on a shelf with an expiry date. Forecasting usage by season and by practice pattern reduces both expiry write-offs and the stockouts that send clients online.
Seasonal parasite demand is predictable enough that most practices can improve on ordering by experience alone.