When Business Gets Personal: How Mass Customization is Transforming Customer Experiences

There is something to be said about the age of convenience, in which mass production has given people access to affordable, off-the-shelf and off-the-rack goods. Mass production enabled greater efficiencies and cost savings but also resulted in the loss of personalization. These mass-produced items replaced formerly common practices, such as making clothing by hand or preparing daily meals from scratch. Even homes nowadays come pre-fabricated. Practices that were once commonplace are have since become luxuries of time and money.

All of that has changed significantly over the last century and continues to evolve with surprising speed, year after year. In recent years, we’ve seen digital technology and data-driven solutions enable the reemergence of services that put custom items – from handmade quilts and tailored business wear to individually formulated cosmetics and build-your-own packages of cable channels – within reach of everyday people. Today, people have come to expect and demand personalization and customization in many aspects of their lives – and are increasingly seeking out services that deliver customized experiences. And technology-enabled platforms are helping companies and individuals deliver customized products more easily to more people. The popularity of mass-production is being balanced out, and in some cases, even replaced by mass customization.

Why is this shift important? Customized goods and services often offer better value, better quality and better outcomes than their mass-produced counterparts. I am a firm believer that, when done right, customization can enhance rather than detract from quality of life. The trend toward mass customization is making highly tailored goods and experiences more accessible, while keeping them affordable and within reach for more people in more places around the world.

What does customization have to do with veterinary medicine?

Clearly, veterinary care is already customized to each pet we see, based on age, medical history, current conditions, budget constraints and more. That’s a direct reflection not just of the way veterinary care should be given, but also of Banfield’s commitment to doing whatever it takes to help pets, and give their owners peace of mind. But the ways our clients are able to manage care is changing, as is creating a whole new experience for clients looking to get the very best possible care for their pets.

As the world’s largest general veterinary practice, and alongside other Mars Petcare brands, Banfield is exploring and piloting new services and offerings that have the potential to bring more options for custom care directly to millions of clients and patients in our practices across the United States and Puerto Rico. Here are just a couple examples of how we’re investing in reshaping how veterinary care is managed and delivered.

Wellness plan customization

Banfield’s signature service is the Optimum Wellness Plan, created nearly 30 years ago to help improve access and affordability to veterinary medicine. At Banfield, we deeply believe preventive care is critical to the health of a pet in the same way that preventive care is critical to humans in the prevention and early diagnosis of diseases.

As such, Banfield wellness plans include the recommended care a pet needs annually for a discounted monthly price, including unlimited office visits, routine bloodwork, core vaccinations and dental cleanings. We offer a variety of plan options, so our clients can work with their veterinarian to decide which is best for their individual pet based on his or her life stage and preventive care needs.

We continue to improve our plans as best practices and evidence-based veterinary medicine have evolved – and based on feedback from our clients. We’ve customized our plans over the past five years to make them more flexible, for example, clients can choose to add services like flea and tick preventive, heartworm preventive, adult spay or neuter and an additional dental cleaning.

Comprehensive remote triage

Pets can’t tell us when they need help, or what’s wrong with them. For pet owners, figuring out whether your pet needs urgent care or whether you even need to visit the vet at all can be a challenge. Especially when veterinary hospitals are closed and the only option is emergency care, pet owners are faced with tough decisions: am I worrying over nothing? Can I wait to see my regular veterinarian? Or does my pet need immediate care?

At Banfield, we’ve listened to our clients who want ease of access to veterinary expertise when they’re concerned about their pets’ wellbeing, no matter when they need it. As a start, we’ve partnered with a 24-hour remote veterinary triage service, which is available to our Optimum Wellness Plan clients in select regions, to offer ready access to veterinary professionals who can offer immediate, comprehensive assistance by phone or text to evaluate a pet’s symptoms and advise on whether clients should follow up with their veterinarian or seek urgent care.

We’ve also rolled out small-scale programs to offer support in moments of extreme need, to clients who are facing serious hardship and are unable to visit the vet. In the aftermath of several natural disasters last year, including Hurricanes Harvey, Maria and Irma, Banfield offered a text service to clients in impacted areas, so they could get the urgent support they needed.

But it doesn’t stop there. We continue to test and explore the possibility of expanding telehealth capabilities in the coming years – and even mobile veterinary services – so we can provide pet owners nationwide the options they desire to ensure their pets receive adequate care when they need it.

What’s next for veterinary medicine?

My vision for Banfield, and our shared goal as part of the Mars Petcare family, is to leverage our size, resources and innovative thinking to usher in the next era of veterinary medicine.

Late last month, we came together in pursuit of that goal at our first-ever Banfield Leap! Hackathon event. A 24-hour sprint toward innovation, the hackathon included 25 teams of associates from our headquarters with varying backgrounds, who joined forces to develop ideas that could have big impacts on Banfield, the veterinary industry, and our associates, our clients and pets.

We chose five winners, with the biggest award going to a team that proposed completely revolutionizing the comprehensive exam report that veterinarians share with clients at the end of every visit. The new, digital report will give our clients not just the outcomes of their exam, but also even more tailored insights into their pet’s health, as well as veterinary advice for managing their pet’s specific health and wellness needs. I’m beyond excited about the results of the hackathon, and about activating the winning idea! You can read more about this event in a detailed article from our chief information officer, Jesper Frederiksen, here.

By continuing to challenge ourselves to innovate and enhance veterinary care, we are living the Responsibility and Mutuality principles we live by at Banfield – and are delivering on our purpose: A Better World for Pets®. Every pet, every associate and every client is unique, and we’ll continue to push ourselves to bring innovative, custom solutions to each and every one of them.