Case Study
Animal Ark's revenue skyrockets by £292k over a 3-year period with Vetstoria
2,154
out-of-hours appointments booked through Vetstoria
520
new clients acquired through Vetstoria scheduling
£292k
additional revenue generated through Vetstoria
*over a 3-year period
With the growth of digital devices and increasing consumer trend and preference for using online facilities to book services, Animal Ark took a strategic decision to gear themselves for the future.
Challenge
Like many other vet practices, Animal Ark had the goals of attracting and retaining clients, saving time for practice staff and improving the level of service delivered to clients. However, with their old ecosystem, they were ill-equipped to meet their expectations in the digital age.
The key factor that held Animal Ark back was an over-reliance on traditional means to connect with clients, such as phone calls. This created three distinct issues:
-
- By only offering phone calls as a method of engagement, the practice was providing less flexibility and convenience to clients
- As phone lines were only open during practice opening hours, Animal Ark was missing out on potential clients that wished to book out of hours
- As phone lines were busy (including appointment bookings), front desk staff had less time to focus on providing a better in-house service or working on more important tasks
Solution
Animal Ark implemented Vetstoria, enabling their existing and new clients to schedule appointments in real-time directly via their website, Facebook and Google. Every time a client landed on the Animal Ark website, they could easily schedule an appointment in real-time without needing to pick up the phone.
What’s more, with the guidance of Vetstoria’s customer success team during the onboarding process, Animal Ark enabled direct booking via Google and Facebook using their dedicated Vetstoria booking page.
What is a Vetstoria dedicated booking page? It is a simple landing page that is automatically created when you sign up to Vetstoria, and is easily customised by you (with no technical experience required).
This led to a more seamless online scheduling experience and maximized the potential of generating appointments through Google and Facebook, two very important channels used by practices to acquire new clients.
A tailored online scheduling experience
Animal Ark leveraged the power of Vetstoria to completely tailor the online scheduling experience to meet the needs of their practice. They were able to block certain types of appointments (such as emergencies) from being scheduled online, limit the appointment types available based on the expertise of each vet, and allocate specific time slots for routine proceedures to manage footfall.
Furthermore, they were able to easily update their preferences within Vetstoria’s dashboard in real time.
Practice management system integration
Vetstoria seamlessly integrates with over 20 practice management systems, including RxWorks. This meant that the appointments slots available online for Animal Ark clients were updated in real-time. It also meant that appointments scheduled online (along with all patient details) were synced into Animal Ark’s RxWorks practice management system in real-time.
Results
Over a 3-year period since implementing Vetstoria, Animal Ark saw 2,154 out-of-hours appointments scheduled and 520 new clients acquired through digital channels.
Based on an average appointment value of £93 (approx $120) and an average of two appointments per year, this amounted to an additional £292k (approx $380k) of revenue for Animal Ark over a 3-year period (over 10x return on their investment in Vetstoria).
Animal Ark no longer relies on hiring additional front desk staff to answer calls as the platform takes care of the appointment scheduling process in the background. This frees up time for the front desk team to provide clients with a more attentive service, resulting in increased customer satisfaction.
Finally, due to the successful implementation of Vetstoria, Animal Ark continues to grow at a higher rate than the industry standard.
About
Founded in 2002, Animal Ark is a UK-based 10-vet independent veterinary practice that treats companion animals.
Website
Locations
1 practice in Essex, UK
Practice Type
General – Companion Animals
Practice Management System
Key Features Used:
✅ Real-Time Online Booking
