Boosting Staff Happiness, Revenue, and Efficiency: The Impact of PetDesk’s App and Booking Solutions
See how this corporate group lowers their staff’s stress level while saving them time by implementing an app and booking solution.
%
out of hours bookings in the last two months
appointments made in the last two months
of all appointments came from their online booking widget
hours saved on average per practice for the month of June by utilizing digital appointment reminders
PetDesk’s online booking statistics from 2024 (Numbers averaging from all clinics combined)
community
Meet Community Veterinary Partners
- PetDesk Mobile App
- Online Booking System
Community Veterinary Partners started in 2009 as a place where veterinary practice owners and their teams could get the support they needed so they could focus on providing great veterinary care. Today, there are more than 3,000 unique veterinary care providers whose job is to bring joy to families by caring for the pets they love. They do that by providing extraordinary care for all our members, no matter how many legs (or wings) they may have. At the end of the day, they are more than just pet people.
‘Practice Managers feel the call volumes drop immediately when the PetDesk link goes live.’
Bonnie Benew, Project Manager at Community Veterinary Partners, has been amazed by the positive feedback from other Practice Managers about PetDesk’s online booking. One practice manager even mentioned she wasn’t getting emails and wondered if it was running correctly. She realized it was working perfectly—there was no need for the back-and-forth to find appointment slots. The feedback has been very promising and helpful.
“We had a call this morning with all our practice managers. Dozens of them reported that call volumes immediately dropped, and appointments started happening within hours of the link going live. While this is anecdotal, and we don’t have data yet, the feedback is promising. Overall, the practice managers definitely feel a reduction in pressure on the phones.”
Not just the practice managers but also the clinic staff have been raving about the tools.
“In our call this morning, when we talked about it, people just said, ‘We love it!’ There’s a bit of trepidation because it’s the unknown, but how it seamlessly handles all of the health service reminders and truly reduces contact volume has made everyone very pleased with it so far.”
‘The team evaluated several options and PetDesk’s online booking was at the top of the list.’
Bonnie told us that the team’s main goal was to improve access through online appointment scheduling. Before she joined CVP, the team had evaluated several options, and PetDesk’s online booking was at the top of the list. Upon joining, she realized the disjointed experience from a clinic’s perspective. PetDesk’s online booking platform was used for appointment scheduling, while their existing PIMS at the time was used as a communication platform, which made the process manual and pretty time-consuming for their clinics. There was no consistent way to manage requests, and the retention calendar took up much time.
“This led to us adopting a fully integrated solution from PetDesk (the client engagement platform and the online booking system) that reduces the back-and-forth with clients to find suitable appointment times. This helps streamline our processes a lot. Having both tools from one company helps us keep the process consistent.”
‘The medical team is very happy to have such an integrated form system!’
Bonnie has loved the flexibility PetDesk’s tools bring to the clinics. The ability to manage deposits and the customizable forms have all been major highlights.
“Even our medical team is thrilled to have all the forms within our PetDesk dashboard. Previously, some hospitals used different systems, including random PDFs they created. Seeing the functionality of these forms within the reminder system has truly impressed everyone.”
The templates and the ease of two-way texting have also been met with enthusiasm. Additionally, the loyalty program has been a game-changer.
“Previously, many hospitals managed loyalty programs independently, but now, PetDesk provides a centralized view, making it easier and less time-consuming at the hospital level.”
“This led to us adopting a fully integrated solution from PetDesk (the client engagement platform and the online booking system) that reduces the back-and-forth with clients to find suitable appointment times. This helps streamline our processes a lot. Having both tools from one company helps us keep the process consistent.”
Of clients who had over 5 appointments in the last 3 months, 41% are PetDesk app users
Out of 6,914 appointments, 3,631 were booked through the PetDesk app—that's nearly 52.5%!
In June 2024, 9,407 digital appointment confirmations were made, saving veterinary teams 784 hours
(assuming that each confirmation call the team didn’t have to make is approximately 5 minutes long).
Analytics through PetDesk Service Reminders Integration
‘The receptionists’ mornings are much less stressful, and they do not feel overburdened by tasks’
After implementing PetDesk’s online booking and client management platform at their clinics, Bonnie tells us that the receptionists feel that they can focus more on patients and clients in front of them rather than navigating responses. She has never felt that the receptionists were overwhelmed by technology and really loved having the tools as part of their routine.
“There’s a much more seamless flow for them now. It’s not about taking jobs away; it’s about improving efficiency and allowing them to provide better service.”
“The receptionists tell me that their mornings are much less stressful because there’s no pressure to get everything done immediately. They can focus on saying ‘yes’ more often and aren’t bogged down by trying to keep track of everything. For example, we had a clinic where their phone system went down. Thanks to PetDesk, they were still able to book all their appointments online, which minimized the impact on their day. Without these tools, it would have been a much bigger disruption.”
“The Practice Managers tell me that from the day they go live, they immediately see call volumes go down. More importantly, the two-way texting through PetDesk has received glowing reviews. Somehow, it’s categorically better. The ability to tie it into the medical notes so easily has made a significant difference, reducing steps and clicks between systems.”
‘Since going live, we’ve quickly seen an average of 40% of appointments being booked after hours.’
Bonnie and her team at CVP have also seen a massive improvement in out-of-hours booking immediately after the clinics go live. This means that the morning backlog of requests is significantly reduced, which has helped them massively attract new clients and retain old ones. This customization has been key. The increase in existing clients shows that the health service reminders are working better.
“For some quick numbers, we measured data from 5 weeks before and 5 weeks after going live at our pilot locations compared to the region. We saw an improvement of almost 11% in new clients and nearly 2% in existing clients. We also saw a near 4% increase in revenue in 5 weeks! This indicates that the health service reminders and ease of communication are more client-friendly and, ultimately, more clinic-friendly. We’re engaging clients in a way that allows them to connect with us on their terms rather than just when we’re available.”
‘Clients come back to us organically because they love how PetDesk works’
We asked Bonnie if they had heard much from pet owners about how they feel when they use PetDesk’s app and online booking system and she told us about a team member who is also her client and how she returned to one of the CVP clinics with her pets.
“I will tell you about our head of field operations. She had two older Boxers that she took to a non-CVP hospital their whole lives. Recently, she got a puppy and started taking it to our sister location, which went live with PetDesk three weeks ago. There was no oppressive email campaign or anything like that. She liked it so much that she decided to bring her Boxer and her Chihuahua too to this clinic and used the PetDesk app to keep a track on all of them. That move felt organic rather than a push. It was seamless and natural.”
‘We have been thrilled with the customer experience at PetDesk’
The team at CVP have loved their experience with PetDesk. All their questions have been answered promptly, ensuring someone is always there to help with their queries.
“Oh, we are so happy! From the beginning to where we are now, the level of service has been great. All the implementation specialists have been truly amazing. They’ve worked through some tough situations with a real sense of service to CVP. It makes our hospitals feel like you’re giving us exclusive attention, which is awesome and speaks to the quality of your teams. We’ve been really thrilled.”
‘Having a team who can give you an exceptional customer experience like this, I think, is a great return on investment.’
‘We have more and more hospitals getting onboarded with PetDesk’
The CVP group has more and more hospitals being onboarded with PetDesk, and everyone speaks highly of it. The support they have received is very different and much better than what they had before.
“We’re in the middle of it right now. We have 39 live and 36 in the onboarding process. In about a month, we’ll have 30 more starting. Hospitals are eager, asking what they can do to prepare, and we tell them, ‘You’re good, just wait.’ The level of responsiveness, not only to the corporate team but also to the individual hospitals, has been wonderful.”
“…The level of responsiveness, not only to the corporate team but also to the individual hospitals, has been wonderful.”
‘Even without marketing, the results have been promising.’
Bonnie tells us that the team is in the middle of a digital transformation, rolling out new systems to 40 locations with a new partner. They are doing this in tandem with the existing use of PetDesk, just starting this process, which they believe will amplify their results.
“Despite not putting a ton of marketing behind our efforts so far, the results have been very promising. We’re confident that we will see even more improvements in the coming weeks and months. Our new partner will also be supporting our digital and social media initiatives, helping us to learn and grow further.”
