The price of veterinary care has grown significantly over the years. According to the article from the Washington Post, the American Pet Products Association has reported that the cost of vet visits has risen 47 percent for dogs and 73 percent for cats. The total amount spent on pets by their owners has grown from $8 billion in 2000 to over $14 billion in 2013.
While rising costs are necessary to cover constantly growing expenses, such as facility maintenance, pharmaceuticals, equipment and supplies, and staff salaries, they hardly make life at a veterinary practice any easier. Many customers can’t afford the unexpected high costs, often causing practices to lose revenue not only due to the lack of pharmacy sales but also pet owners’ reluctance to put their pets through basic treatment due to the risk of financial burden — all of these factors lead to an unfavorable situation for both sides.
Fortunately, there are ways to alleviate this financial pain. One way your practice can help is to offer recurring payments. Recurring payments through a payment gateway allow veterinary practices to accept credit card payments by facilitating a secure transaction between a payment portal (think your website or mobile phone) and the front-end processor. With recurring payments, a veterinary practice is able to store their client’s information, upon their permission, in a secure customer vault and withdraw payments on an agreed schedule.
Assuming your veterinary practice allows it, enrollment in recurring payments will help your customers spread out their bills, especially for more expensive procedures, making them much more manageable. This will also help them prevent additional costs in the form of late fees or payments, and overall have more control over their budget.
But the benefits of recurring payments aren’t just limited to your customers. Your veterinary practice will see many improvements as well in the form of increased revenue, more predictable cash flow and no paper receipts or invoices to keep track of. Plus you will enjoy stronger retention from your clients, who will undoubtedly appreciate your flexibility with payment acceptance. After all, money shouldn’t be a life-or-death matter for our pets, so let’s make this goal a reality!
Ready to enhance your veterinary practice with recurring payments?
Make the move and experience the difference.