It has been two months since the World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. So much has changed within this short timeframe, with many veterinary practices adopting a new ‘business as usual’. With an increasing number of safety measures put in place for the protection of staff, clients and patients, it is likely that these new procedures cause obstructions to a practice running as efficiently as they would have pre-pandemic.
ezyVet’s Customer Portal (also known as the e-Booking integration) may just be the tool to add a bit of efficiency where possible in certain client interactions whilst adhering to new social distancing protocols.
🖱️ Pre-Appointment & Scheduling
Through their own devices, clients can schedule appointments on the Customer Portal which automatically syncs with available time slots on your ezyVet Dashboard. The Customer Portal guide that assists clients with their booking can be configured to all appointment types and include questions and answers along with informative messages to prepare them for their visit.
With ezyVet’s new virtual appointment feature and Zoom integration, you can include telemedicine in your offering. This can be set up as an appointment type. In order for you to conduct virtual appointments, you would need to have the Zoom integration set up and a Zoom Pro account.
You can approve appointments before they are confirmed in the schedule, which enables appointment triage. You’re also able to customize the Customer Portal to showcase your company logo and colors.
Advertise the Customer Portal on your website home page, in a position that is clearly visible and easy for your clients to locate. New clients are also able to sign up for your services using this platform.
💰 PayPal Pre-Payment of Deposits
Setting up Paypal -a popular payment gateway- in the Customer Portal gives your clients the ability to make approved payments through PayPal. Invoices can be generated and sent from ezyVet directly to your clients and kept as a record on their Customer Portal account. Depending on how you operate, you can encourage pre-payments or deposits prior to your client stepping foot on your premises. This eliminates the client-staff touchpoint for financial transactions whilst helping to maintain cashflow injections into your business.
📑 Digital Consent Forms & T&C Acceptance
Encourage your clients to complete digital consent forms via the Customer Portal. You can obtain clients’ agreement on any Terms & Conditions as well as confirmation of their adherence to any recently established on-site policies and procedures prior to their arrival. Your team can configure emails to be sent to your client for appointment confirmation, new clients and cancelled appointments, within ezyVet.
🛍️ Create an Online Store
Create an online shop through the Customer Portal where your clients can purchase essential items for their pets. This is a great avenue to generate sales and keep your inventory moving. Your clients can jump into the Customer Portal to request prescription medications refills and order products such as flea/tick treatments, pet food, pet accessories and apparel. Once an order is placed, a customer order automatically gets created within ezyVet for your team to process. You can opt to dispatch client care personnel to deliver orders or coordinate a ‘click-and-collect’ set up.
💌 Post-Appointment Follow Up
Important documents pertaining to the care of their pet can be easily accessed by your clients through just a few clicks. You can allow them to view patient information such as vaccination history, Standard of Care dates, diagnostic results, and discharge summaries, all from the comfort of their own home. Post-appointment, your clients will have access to invoices and statements after their pet has been discharged and can pay for services or treatments post consult through PayPal if you choose to have it configured.
🔄 How referral practices can take advantage of the Customer Portal
The Customer Portal integration is usually overlooked by many referral clinics as an irrelevant feature seeing as they do not cater to general ‘customers’. Referring clinics can easily set up an account as a customer would and send over their referrals which your team can then confirm via the Dashboard on ezyVet.
Another tip could be for referral practices to organize doctor to doctor consults as the referring doctor can view available slots through the Customer Portal without taking time out of their busy day emailing or phoning in.
❤️ Stay strong
The Customer Portal is one of ezyVet’s many features that can be adapted to how practices choose to manage their workflows and clients, during COVID-19 and beyond. We continue to be in awe of our customers who have shown immense resilience and adaptability with their operations which will undoubtedly lay the groundwork for a speedy recovery ahead.