Before we dive into whether veterinary practice clients like your clinic (and why you should care!), let us pose you a question.
Do you see your friends more often because you like them?
Or…could it be…
That you like your friends because you see them more?
The latter is probably not a perspective that feels too comfortable. But the concept that familiarity breeds liking is well-established in behavioural science.
Think of a Netflix series that you've watched recently. Did you start off feeling indifferent about the characters, but by the end really like them?
Or how about if we do your grocery shopping this week but buy different brands of your favourite foods. What will you think of the new brands? Most people won’t like ‘different’ brands as much as their usual brand… until they have them more often and they become familiar.
Behavioural scientists call this the mere exposure effect.
And you might well be thinking, "So what?".
Well, whether we like something, or someone affects other judgments which we make about it/them. So, because I like you, my subconscious mind will associate all sorts of other positive judgments with you. For example, I might believe that you're trustworthy, honest, correct, and credible.
It's not rational.
But it is how our minds work, and how clients’ minds work.
And that means it’s important for any veterinary team to understand.
Get better patient outcomes and higher client satisfaction
- Maximise client contact
Ensure that your clients have as much contact as possible with your clinic brand, your team, and your messages. We’re talking lots of different touchpoints. A slow drip, drip of contact over time. Avoid them only interacting with you once a year.
Not only will this help them become familiar with your business and your team, but it will also help your messages feel familiar too. It takes a coordinated effort across many channels, such as social media, your website, email, SMS, and WhatsApp, to name just a few.
- Consistent, repeated messaging
Repeating key points, such as the recommendations your team make, is another way to increase their familiarity.
Ensuring that your team makes consistent recommendations and that information shared on social media and through your website is also consistent with the verbal recommendations will help achieve this.
- Ease of Understanding
You can also increase the perception of familiarity simply by making it easier for your clients to process, read, or understand information…..Is that a surprise too?
We’ll fill you in on that one next month.
Creating a sense of familiarity is just one way that behavioural science can help your team and business be liked more by your clients. And being liked more is just one way that behavioural science can help your veterinary business:
- Create better patient outcomes
- Increase client satisfaction
- Build happier teams
Do you wish you could equip your team with more of the power of behavioural science? Visit our Workshop page to find out how.
