Case study

How Thrums Utilised PetsApp to Evolve Their Customer Service Experience

Established in 1948 by Jim Baillie, a vet from Brechin to support local farmers. Thrums is now a thriving mixed practice, treating pets, horses and farm animals throughout Angus and Perthshire

21%

Increased Revenue with PetsApp

70%

Increase in Online Appointment Bookings

40%

Decrease in Their Health Plan Cancellations

50%

Increase in Wellness Plan uptake using PetsApp Reminders

Living by the ethos of providing dedicated, professional care – not just for the animals in their care, but their clients and every member of their team too. The team at Thrums pride themselves at standing within their community and are committed to playing a pivotal role in providing the best care possible to all species. Established in 1948 they were a large animal venture, set up by Jim Baillie, a vet from Brechin to support local farmers. Now a thriving mixed practice, treating pets, horses and farm animals throughout Angus and Perthshire from four locations in Kirriemuir, Blairgowrie, Scone and Forfar.

In the year that they celebrated their diamond anniversary, the team at Thrums Vets decided that their customer service had another level to reach by better utilising data.

Thrums have been with PetsApp since soon after we launched and already made great use of our inpatient updates and direct messages to create wow moments in client care.

That’s why we were delighted to help them to expand their PetsApp offering, with their appetite for evolution coinciding with some of our latest features becoming integrated with their practice management system, Robovet.

They worked alongside veterinary marketing consultants Practice Made Purrfect to improve their service for clients and to continue to evolve their service in their 75th year.

How Quickly Can PetsApp Clinics See Results?

Thrums integrated online booking and reminders in May, and reported exciting results from June to December – a major step up in performance in just six months.

These included:

1) Practice revenue increasing by 21%

2) Online appointment bookings increased by 70%

3) Pet Health Plan uptake increasing by 50%

4) Pet Health Plan cancellations decreasing by 40%

5) 52% of all of clients using PetsApp on a regular basis, and those who do love it – with a customer effort score of 4.66 out of 5.

“We love the fact that PetsApp puts us firmly in control of setting up our own reminders – we have configured over 50 different reminders so far. The team recognise that reminders are a fundamental function of our business and love the fact PetsApp empowers us to proactively manage that. We’ve always been with PetsApp, but when they introduced upgrades that allowed us to integrate even further with our practice management system, that was an opportunity too good to miss!”

Gavin Durston, Director of Thrums Vets

Introducing Thrums Vets

Introducing Thrums

Thrums are Scotland’s largest independent veterinary group and a leading member of the XLVets community.

Established in 1948 as a large animal venture by Jim Baillie, a vet from Brechin who wanted to support local farmers, Thrums is now a thriving mixed practice, treating pets, horses and farm animals throughout Angus and Perthshire from four locations in Kirriemuir, Blairgowrie, Scone and Forfar. Their forward-thinking approach can – in our opinion – be best shown by their excellent use of PetsApp, embracing our service to communicate with clients since we launched, and now leading the way in using the app to its full potential to deliver excellent care for pets and owners. How to Run a Successful Campaign on PetsApp

Thrums have used PetsApp to push a number of campaigns which should be great inspiration for other practices.

“The customer success team at PetsApp are excellent, their enthusiasm for the product and implementation to help Thrums achieve their goals were exceptional.”

The Thrums Team

They’ve configured automated nudges to check in with pet owners the morning after a patient undergoes an anaesthetic, further improving their level of patient care.

They aim to reduce antibiotic resistance by sending messages to maximise compliance and ensure clients return unused medication for secure disposal.

And they’ve created post-consultation nudges, enabling their vets to send information directly from consult rooms to follow up a diagnosis, enabling clients to digest information about potential treatment options in the comfort of their own home.

The balance of incorporating digital communication while maintaining bricks-and-mortar clinics as the centre of their business is essential for meeting the needs of both clients and vets. Seeing the positive reaction from Thrums team members and clients to using PetsApp convinced the leadership team that going all in with our app was the best way forward for their practice.

“We cemented the client firmly at the centre of our business by leading the way on adopting the very best digital communication tools. Using the features offered by PetsApp we were able to make a dramatic shift in how we communicate with our clients – with spectacular results.”

Gavin Durston, Director at Thrums Vets

The New Veterinary Business Model

To activate PetsApp’s business model in your clinic, check in with a member of the pack today and see for yourself just why the most successful veterinary teams use PetsApp.