Improving the cat owner experience

Owners increasingly regard their pet as a family member and expect the best quality of care when they choose a veterinary clinic. Alison Lambert reviews the potential for improving the customer experience for both cats and their carers.

Introduction

It is proven that many cat owners find coming to a veterinary practice stressful, and that visits are often postponed until deemed essential due to the problems associated with transporting cats and encountering non-feline-friendly processes and procedures once at the clinic. For example:

• A UK-based veterinary usage study undertaken in 2011 found 58% of cat owners agreed that their cat “hates visiting the veterinary clinic”, with 37% saying that even the thought of having to go to the veterinarian's caused stress for them ( 1 ).
• A study of 2,785 cat owners found that 27% of owners said stress to the cat during a visit to the veterinarian was a very important factor when deciding whether or not to vaccinate ( 2 ).

This article presents the outcome of two recent research programs commissioned by Royal Canin in the USA and the Netherlands, which revealed that whilst many elements of a positive customer journey are in place, there is much more to be done by practices if they wish to be seen as truly cat-friendly.

Understanding the customer journey

The concept of the “customer journey” as applied to veterinary practice is not new; the term describes the many “touchpoints” experienced between a client and a practice (Figure 1). Importantly, this journey begins long before the cat owner has set foot inside the clinic, with searches carried out online for reviews and information, recommendations sought from friends, family, and cat care professionals (groomers, catteries, pet shops, etc.), and impressions formed through local advertising and open days, not to mention clinic branding and appearance. Through this initial stage of intelligence gathering, known to marketers as the Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT), cat owners will form an impression of the practice and the likely levels of care it will provide for them and their pets. Based on these impressions they will make a conscious choice to contact one or more practices (usually by phone in the first instance), and at this stage, they will confirm or challenge their existing perceptions based on the conversation that takes place.  [...]