Vaccination reminder letters sent by post with a 15% response rate -- the practice manager knowing that digital reminders would bring more animals in but having no system to send them?
Post-consultation instructions printed on a sheet that gets lost before the client gets home -- owners calling the next day to ask what dose to give and when?
Veterinary Client Communication Software Development
Custom client communication software for veterinary practices who need vaccination reminders, digital discharge instructions, and two-way messaging working together -- not as three separate tools with different login screens.
Postal reminders and printed instruction sheets were the standard for a reason: they were the only option. Digital communication built on patient record data changes the return rate on reminders and eliminates the post-discharge phone calls that interrupt clinical staff.
Automated vaccination and health check reminders by SMS and email
Digital post-consultation instructions delivered immediately
Two-way client messaging from the practice dashboard
Review request automation with recovery for unhappy clients
RaftLabs builds custom client communication software for veterinary practices. We develop automated vaccination and health check reminders by SMS and email, digital post-consultation instructions delivered at checkout, two-way client messaging from the practice dashboard, and review request automation with routing for unhappy clients. Fixed cost, 12-14 week delivery.
100+Products shipped
·24+Industries served
·FixedCost delivery
·12-14Week delivery cycles
Client communication that runs from the patient record, not a separate system
The reason postal vaccination reminders have a low response rate is not that clients don't care about their pet's health. It's that a letter arriving six weeks before an appointment is easy to misplace, and there is no follow-up when it goes unanswered. A digital reminder sequence -- sent at the right interval, with a direct booking link -- removes the friction between receiving the reminder and booking the appointment.
The same logic applies to post-consultation instructions. A sheet of paper handed over at checkout competes with the distraction of a worried or excited animal, the stress of paying a large invoice, and everything else happening during pick-up. Digital instructions sent at the moment of checkout, accessible on the client's phone, and structured around the specific procedure the patient had, are more likely to be read and followed.
Building client communication on the patient record -- rather than as a generic marketing tool -- means the content is accurate, the timing is right, and the practice doesn't need a separate team to manage it.
What we build
Vaccination and health reminders
Due date calculated from each patient's vaccination record in the practice management system. Automated reminder sequence sent at four weeks and one week before the due date -- SMS and email with the patient's name, the vaccine due, and a direct link to the online booking portal. Opt-out management stored against the client record. Overdue reminders for patients who have passed their due date without rebooking, sent at one week and four weeks overdue. Reminder effectiveness reporting shows booking rate by reminder type, campaign, and species so the practice can see which communications drive appointments and which don't.
Appointment communication
Booking confirmation sent immediately when an appointment is made -- online or by phone -- with the appointment details, preparation instructions for the procedure type, and the practice address and parking information. Twenty-four hour reminder by SMS and email with a cancellation and rebooking link to reduce no-shows without requiring a receptionist to call every client on the list. Post-appointment check-in message sent 48 hours after the consultation asking how the patient is recovering -- flagging clients who report concerns so the clinical team can follow up before a problem becomes serious or a client leaves for another practice.
Digital post-visit instructions
Discharge instructions generated from the consultation record -- medication name, dose, frequency, and duration pulled from the prescription; wound care steps from the procedure notes; dietary restrictions specific to the patient's condition; and the criteria for returning to the practice. Sent to the client via SMS or email at the moment of checkout so the instructions are on their phone before they leave the building. Accessible without requiring the client to log into a portal. Instruction templates built for each procedure type -- the post-spay instructions differ from the post-dental and the fracture management -- so the content is accurate rather than generic.
Two-way messaging
Clients send queries and photos of their animal from a mobile device -- a wound that looks different from yesterday, a question about medication timing, an observation about the patient's behaviour. Vets and nurses respond from the practice dashboard. The conversation history is linked to the patient record so any member of the clinical team can see the context before responding. Triage logic routes urgent messages to the on-call vet and routine queries to the nurse or receptionist based on content flags. After-hours auto-reply confirms the practice's response hours and provides the emergency line number for urgent situations.
Review automation
Review request triggered at discharge with a short delay -- typically 24 to 48 hours after the visit -- sent by SMS with links to Google and other review platforms. Negative sentiment routing: clients who respond with a low satisfaction score are directed to the practice manager for a personal follow-up before a negative review is posted publicly. Positive responses are directed to the review platform links. Review volume and rating tracking in the practice dashboard so the manager can see which vets and which appointment types generate the best and worst reviews. Automated pausing of review requests for clients currently in dispute or with a recent complaint on file.
Client portal
Vaccination history and upcoming reminders accessible without calling the practice. Consultation summaries where the practice chooses to share them -- a brief note of what was discussed and the agreed plan. Invoices and payment history downloadable from the portal. Repeat prescription request submission with practice-side approval workflow. Appointment history and current upcoming bookings visible in one place. Accessible from the client's mobile browser without requiring an app download -- reducing the barrier to adoption for clients who won't install another app for a vet practice.
Frequently asked questions
Vaccination due dates are calculated from the patient's vaccination record in the practice management system. When a vaccination is administered and recorded in the clinical note, the next due date is set based on the vaccine protocol -- annual boosters, three-year protocols, and booster schedules are all configured per vaccine type. The reminder system reads these due dates nightly and generates the reminder queue for the coming week. Clients whose patients are due receive the automated sequence without any manual action from the practice. If the practice management system can export vaccination data via API or file, we integrate the reminder system to it. If we're building the practice management system as well, the integration is built in from day one.
Yes. Clients can send a photo or short video of their animal along with a message describing the concern. The message arrives in the practice's communication dashboard alongside the patient record, so the responding vet or nurse has the patient's clinical history, current medications, and recent consultation notes visible when they reply. Photo messaging is particularly useful for wound checks, skin conditions, and post-operative monitoring -- the practice can triage whether the patient needs to be seen urgently or whether a management change by phone is appropriate. Volume of incoming photo messages is visible in the dashboard so the practice can manage the workload without photos going unreviewed.
When a review request is sent and the client responds with a low satisfaction score -- typically below four out of five -- the system routes that response to the practice manager as an internal alert rather than directing the client to a public review platform. The manager receives the alert with the client's contact details and the appointment context and can make a personal follow-up before the client posts publicly. Clients who respond positively are directed to Google or another review platform with a single tap. The routing logic is configurable -- some practices set the threshold at three, others at four -- and the recovery message to the manager includes a suggested response approach based on the appointment type and the client's response.
A focused client communication system covering vaccination reminders, appointment confirmations, digital discharge instructions, and review automation typically takes 12 to 14 weeks from requirements sign-off to go-live. Adding two-way messaging, client portal, and integration with an existing practice management system extends the timeline to 16 to 20 weeks depending on the complexity of the existing system's data model. Cost is fixed and agreed before development starts. We configure the reminder sequences and instruction templates with your clinical team before launch so the content is accurate for your protocols before the first message is sent.
