Six Ways Video Can Help Boost Veterinary Compliance

1. Raise Awareness

Better compliance starts with raising awareness with clients. Select areas that could benefit most from a compliance boost (dental cleanings anyone?), and then find engaging video content on the topic to post on social media, add to your practice TVs loop, and embed in your email campaigns. When “raising awareness” your goal should be simply that…to raise awareness. Awareness videos should be short and sweet, the content should be easy to understand, and the call to action should also be small (“contact us to learn more”).

2. Increase Understanding

Sometimes non-compliance is due to a lack of understanding. A client can know, they “should” do something, but unless they understand the “why” behind the “should”, they may fail to respond. There are a lot of competing priorities for pet owners, so start by investing effort into the categories you find are most important to your clients. Then, find (or create) video content that digs beneath the surface of that topic. Where videos that raise awareness need to hold most viewer’s attention, a video with the goal of increasing understanding can be a little more thorough, as it’s target audience has invested interest and will have a longer attention span. These videos can be shown in the exam room after diagnosis, sent in a followup email, or included in a client education section on your website.

3. Let Clients Know “What to Expect”

Even after a client understands the “why” behind following a recommendation, unanswered questions about the process can still hinder compliance. This is especially true with procedures that involve potentially scary things like anesthesia. Video is a great way to communicate to clients what they can expect from a procedure, walking them through each step of the process, complete with video footage of the areas where things take place, and in some cases, footage of other patients undergoing the procedure. The goal of a “What to Expect” video is to acknowledge and address client’s concerns, making it more likely for them to follow through with your recommendation. We recommend you start with creating videos for common procedures like general surgery/anesthesia, spay/neuter, and dental cleaning, and then expand to other more specialized procedures.

4. Communicate Value

There’s nothing that gets in the way of compliance more than the cost of care. Sometimes the value of a product or service is clear to clients, but other times, the value can be more difficult to communicate. Video can be a great tool for communicating this value as it can visually communicate things that are difficult to communicate with words alone. For instance, the two previous videos visually capture the technology that’s involved, the number of staff it takes, and other details clients might not expect. It’s important to use visuals more than words when communicating value. Show, don’t tell. This will help keep your content relatable (not too much technical/clinical speak) and avoid sounding like a sales pitch.

5. Connect with Client’s Emotions

Science shows that humans make purchase decisions using their emotions before “thinking about it”. Emotions are powerful and shouldn’t be ignored when trying to boost compliance. It can be tempting to pack videos full of information, but resist the temptation! While each of the video types outlined above contain a varying amount of information, be sure that the information included is appropriate for the intended audience. Balance information with emotional substance, and consider the possible emotional touchpoints for each video’s target audience. Then, adjust your script, visual style, music selection, and other production decisions around those emotional touchpoints.

6. Stay Top of Mind

Sometimes a “no” or a “maybe” today is a just indication that a client needs more time to process the decision (or discuss it with their significant other). But in the busyness of practice life, follow-ups rarely happen unless automated. And, for clients, the decision in question becomes a distant memory if not made shortly after an appointment. Using a video as a part of your follow-ups can be helpful, as videos stand out more than a simple text email and engage clients differently than in the exam room. We recommend two follow-ups – a day after the appointment and a week after the appointment, ideally using two different videos. Tools like Mixmax can be used to schedule these emails right after the appointment, so you don’t have to remember to do it later. Beyond that, regularly posting related video content on social media (and including in email campaigns) will help keep the topic top of mind for clients after the compliance sweet spot has passed.