The website isn’t what’s important- it’s the response it creates in the audience that matters. To get more clients for your veterinary clinic through the website, it helps to understand some basic science about how we make decisions.

Surprisingly, the logical part of the brain (the Neocortex) does not control decision making! Rather, the part of the brain that controls emotions (the Limbic System) controls our decision making.

Source: http://cercor.oxfordjournals.org/content/10/3/295.full

triune brain

This means that in order to drive behavior, you need to speak directly to the emotional part of our brain. We need to feel compassion and responsibility for our pet, and we need to feel trust for you. Your website should strategically invoke these emotions through imagery. For example: use pictures that show us genuine emotion in action, like you (or your staff) caring intently for a pet.

Social proof is another way to make us feel. When our community trusts you, it’s much easier for us to trust you. Different client testimonials should be throughout the site to create trust.

Have a very visible path to action and a very simple means of completion. Your phone number and a request appointment button should be strategically placed to draw attention in the foreground of the images. Keep contact forms simple- what’s important is making the user feel like it’s easier to go forward than back.