Tomorrow's WOW: What actually generates 5 star reviews for veterinary clinics?

You've heard of doom scrolling - something the current media climate leads us into doing far too much. Well the truth is, reading veterinary reviews (despite the news coverage you see) is often more like delight scrolling. For every 1 star review we see a practice receive, we see 51 five star reviews for them on PetsApp. People are generally more likely to leave a review after a negative experience, and yet only 1.4% of all reviews clinics receive on PetsApp are 1 star reviews. So negative reviews are rare, and yet think of the mind space they tend to occupy. So, what actually generates 5 star reviews for veterinary clinics? We've created a 10 step guide with additional learning tools for you to see how to generate tomorrow's WOW.

The Waiting Room

Imagine you are a pet owner who’s just entered your waiting room and been directed to take a seat while waiting for their consult slot. What brought you to this moment? How are you feeling? What are you thinking? What do you expect is about to happen? What is expected of you?

⭐ 1. Start with the Client’s Emotional Journey

Pet owners arrive feeling:

• Anxious
• Uncertain
• Overwhelmed
• Unsure what’s expected of them
• Worried about judgement, cost, and outcomes

Reviews are often emotively led, driven by how clients feel, not the clinical outcome.

🗣️ 2. Make the Invisible Work Visible

Clients can’t always immediately understand clinical expertise and if they can't see or understand what you are doing or have done, they can't value it.

Avoid saying: “She’s fine” Instead say: “I’ve checked her heart, lymph nodes, abdomen, and joints—everything looks normal”

Clearly explain:

• What you checked
• What you ruled out
• What you’re considering

🧠 3. Show Your Thinking (Not Just Your Decisions)

Share your clinical reasoning: “There are 3 possible causes—this is the most likely, but we’ll rule out the others”

Explain what you didn’t do: “We could X-ray, but I don’t think it’s needed right now”

Builds trust faster than outcomes alone

💬 4. Communicate Expectations Clearly

• Before the visit: Tell clients what to expect and bring
• During:Explain what’s happening in real time
• After:Give a clear plan and next steps

👉 Confusion = negative reviews 👉 Clarity = confidence + 5 stars

🤝 5. Treat Clients as Partners, Not Passengers

Help them understand costs Give them guidance for sharing decisions and explaining why to family members Provide layman's summaries, curated for the pet owner not just clinical notes

👉 Example:

❌ “Medication as directed” ✅ “We ruled out X and Y, believe it’s likely Z, and here’s the plan”

❤️ 6. Reduce Anxiety in Key Moments

Biggest emotional gaps:

• Waiting room uncertainty
• During procedures
• The car ride home

High-impact actions:

• Send a quick update (photo/video during procedures)*
• Follow up after the visit
• Check in with a simple message

*This simple action is the by far the highest 5 star review driver. A great example of how even the smallest level of effort can drive a high level of emotional impact.

📲 7. Design Moments Around the Consult

Don’t rely on the consult alone

Add touchpoints:

• A warm, guided welcome will help new clients especilly to feel at ease
• Use a Scribe for the consultation; facilitates a face to face consultation and will generate client friendly summaries for you
• Post-visit follow-up message
• Friendly “nudge” instead of transactional reminders

👉 The client experience happens before, between and after visits, not just during them

👩‍⚕️ 8. Highlight the Whole Team

Build trust by showing team expertise: “Sarah will take care of this—she’s excellent at blood draws”

Makes the clinic feel like: A team of experts (not just one vet). Support your team so they can deliver consistently.

Great experiences require:

• Systems + infrastructure
• Not just effort
• Empower staff to:
• Solve problems in real time
• Act without friction

👉 Happy teams → better client experiences → more 5-star reviews

⚠️ 9. Fix Communication Failures (Not Clinical Ones)

Most 1-star reviews are caused by:

• Poor communication
• Misaligned expectations
• Lack of transparency

👉 Not poor medicine

Clients can’t evaluate, they can only judge. They've no way to be able to evaluate surgical skills or diagnostic reasoning but they can review:

• Cleanliness
• Care
• Clarity
• Communication

👉 By judging what they see clients try to infer what they can’t

🌟 10. Create “WOW” Moments That Drive Reviews

5-star reviews come from:

• Feeling understood
• Feeling reassured
• Feeling cared for

Examples:

A thoughtful follow-up message A clear explanation A quick recovery update

🔑 Key Takeaway

Clients don’t review clinical quality, they review how you made them feel:

👉 Better communication → better understanding 👉 Better understanding → stronger trust 👉 Stronger trust → more 5-star reviews

It's good to note that 5 star reviews are not simply a vanity exercise to boost your ego! They are what organically help to bump you up that search engine list on Bing or Google every time pet owners in your area type: 'Vets near me'.