More Google reviews for your veterinary practice

An owner who has just moved into the area, adopted a cat or is fed up with their old practice opens Google Maps and types "vet". A handful of practices show up with a rating next to the name, and the choice is often made within a minute. Your building, your opening hours and your expertise only come into play once you make it through that first filter.

• Rating: the number shown next to your name on Maps.
• Count: how many owners stand behind that rating.
• Freshness: is the most recent review from last month or three years ago?
• Replies: whether you respond, and how.

Most practices are already running near capacity because of the staff shortage. A review rarely fills an empty slot. What it does is win over the owner who just moved here or left another practice and still has to choose.

In the waiting room, the next owner is already sitting with a barking dog or a meowing cat on their lap. After the consultation, you walk to reception, the bill gets paid by card, and the animal heads home with its owner. After a routine vaccination, an annual check-up or a puppy's first visit, that is a light moment: the owner is reassured and still has a second to spare for a QR code by the till.

A veterinary practice cannot, unlike a hair salon or a restaurant, just message everyone after every visit. You or your receptionist decide, patient by patient, whether the visit earns a request. That takes a few seconds at the desk, no more.

The chair of the Orde der Dierenartsen described the sector in the Flemish press as "overstretched and understaffed". You can feel that at reception: one receptionist, or the vet themselves between consultations, handles payment, the next appointment and the medication all together. Asking for a review on top costs a sentence at a moment when there is not a second to spare.

Because of that, many small practices run on a handful of reviews a year. A practice with fifteen reviews feels one negative review far more heavily than a practice with two hundred. Without a fixed way of collecting them, that one review stays right at the top.

A review that talks only about price is the one that keeps vets up at night. It says nothing about the animal's diagnosis or treatment, and yet it lands like an attack on your profession. So reply briefly: thank them for the feedback, explain in one sentence that your prices are discussed upfront, and invite them to call. Do not get into what exactly was wrong with the animal or what was on the invoice.

A standard daytime consultation of 15 minutes costs €42.89 on average in Flanders, a weekend consultation €98.49 and a night consultation €157.78, according to a survey of more than 65 Flemish practices by huisdierenverzekeringen.be. Without knowing that difference in advance, a weekend or night bill can catch some clients off guard.

A review about price says something about the client's expectations, rarely about the quality of care.

• QR code: one sign at reception or by the till. No app for the client to install.
• WhatsApp or text: for a client whose number you already have to reach them, for example after booking an appointment, with an opt-out in every message.
• Follow-up: one reminder after a few days, then it stops.
• Team: your receptionist can follow up without needing your phone.

Who you ask stays your call. The app does not message your entire client list automatically: you or your receptionist decide, visit by visit, whether it earns a request, and simply leave the rest unticked.

Nobody scans in bulk, and that is fine. The difference comes from habit: a practice that shows the same QR code at every suitable moment collects reviews all year round. A practice that tries to remember now and then forgets on exactly the busiest days.

Set a target that fits your practice, and measure it against your own previous month rather than a figure from a leaflet. Google names prominence as one of the three local ranking factors, alongside relevance and distance, and your reviews are the part of it you can actually influence.