INTRO

VetterCare was my final year project in university.

PROBLEM

The vet industry could do with a little shake up. It’s old and dusty and we’re hopeful and full of ideas. Bright AI ideas. Robust science ideas. Ideas that integrate technology to change the way things are done. So pets and their people can benefit from accessible and affordable care.

The final project idea I indicate to act on was aimed at all pet owners in need of a better way to contact their vets or reach for reassurance. 

MY EXPERIENCE

I came to this idea from personal experience with my pets. When my dog passed away during the pandemic. I found this a bad vet experience. Benny had heart failure and was being heavily medicated. We had no idea what each medication was targeting until googling the medications after leaving the vet, at that we found that the medications were much cheaper online.

When taking benny to the vet it was a very inhuman procedure with the nurse calling to find out which car, we were in to then come out and collect my dog - this gave us no opportunity to talk directly to a vet that was providing the tablets, it also did not provide us with any reassurance that Benny was being cared for properly as we were not able to go into the vets with him. Benny passed away 2 weeks later from heart failure - even collecting Bennys ashes was a horrible experience due to the covid regulations. I want to solve some of the issue I faced with Benny’s vet, to prevent other pet parents, having to go through similar situations.

SHARED EXPERIENCES

Another reason how I came to VetterCare was that some of the subjective experiences other pet owners were sharing with me through my research shocked me.

I found that out of 100 pet owners only 17 participants felt relaxed when dropping their pet off at the vet, with 20 feeling uneasy, the other pet owners were coming in between feeling both uneasy and relaxed.

I found that a whole 66% of pet owners have bad experiences with expensive pet bills. Most pet owners own dogs and cats with (91% participants having dogs, 27% having cats)

I was then able to determine the main problems pet owners are experiencing with their veterinary care - Communication and Cost.

PROPOSAL

When starting this project my initial proposal for VetterCare was to design a digital system that provides better communication between pet owners and their vets / to closely monitor and keep up to date with their pet's veterinary services and progress.

• To manage payments, to ensure their pet is being looked after at a manner they are comfortable with

• To provide better communication without endlessly calling and emailing, to keep pet owners in a constant loop that their expensive pet bills are going towards the best care for their pes

COMPETITOR ANALYSIS

Before diving into understanding my users I thought it I would take some time to understand the market availble”.

I wanted to understand why customers choose to use their services and how they market and campaign their products. This helped me improve my own marketing by identifying market gaps.

I looked at a few different competitors - Some are only related to an aspect of my product, some really relate and some that don't deal with the same solution, but they have a good user experience.

I analysed the features available, pricing, reviews, target market: My top 5 findings included:

1. Many of the services available did not have a great user experience and users were only able to navigate when they were used to using the application.

2. Many applications did not let users enter data for the same pet.

3. Many applications did not give users the ability to connect the service to their vets for appointment creation and tracking.

4. Many users did not feel like their experience was personal to their pets weight, breed age for an accurate diagnosis.

5. Many users felt like they did not receive constructive assistance, feeling as though the service was always directing them to a paid video call with a vet.

UNDERSTANDING THE VETERINARY MARKET

The global veterinary services market was valued at about USD 101,150 million in 2020, and it is expected to reach 140,285 million in 2026, with a CAGR of 5.5% over the forecast period.

Due to the recent outbreak of COVID-19, a short-term negative impact is expected on the market due to the decreased visits to veterinary hospitals and clinics. However, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as there are stringent restrictions on travelling and strict lockdown policies globally, there is an increasing focus on veterinary telehealth services and initiatives undertaken by the government and non-government organisations for animals, which may help in driving the market growth during the pandemic. For instance, in March 2020, Wiggles, an Indian Pet care start-up, launched online veterinary consultation for pets across India.

Some facts and figures that influenced my project:

• 4,058 vet practices in the UK alone

• Vet services industry worth 42 billion and growing 1.7 billion per year

• 17.2 million pets in the UK in 2021

• The veterinary market size is worth £4 billion

• Number of veterinary businesses: 7,235

• Industry employment: 80,546

• 27.2 thousand vets in the UK in 2021

Pet owner statistics:

On average 18% of owners medications cost £109 per month, £1,310.28 per year

• £25.5 billion spent on dogs per year.

• £9.6 billion spent on dogs per year.

• 95% of owners consider their pets as “family members”.

• On average £240 is spent per month on a dog.

• On average £100 is spent per month on a cat.

• 58% of dog owners did no research prior to buying their pet.

• 83% of cat owners did no research into buying their pet.

USER SURVEY: Understanding the user

To start planning my user survey I pinpointed questions I found necessary to understand for the development of my project.

I targeted this survey to a range of different pet owners to better understand how pet owners feel about their vets. I wanted to find out how often pet owners would visit the vets, what specific reasons ie medications, monthly injections, whether they have had any bad experiences with their vets etc.

Re-evaluating questions avoiding bias and misleading

Note: 💡 As I am a pet owner, I found when writing my UX survey that my questions were quite misleading, due to my own experiences. Misleading questions on unbalanced scales will sway answers by limiting users' choices.

Additionally, I found my initial questions would be too long for a user survey. I found my questions could be grouped into 4 different categories:

From there I decided to set myself a target to refine my user survey into 8-10 simple but effective questions targeting each of the categories.

100 responses!

This Google survey played a massive importance in my survey as the results really shocked me. I started to get so interested in how pet owners using the veterinary service were faced with so many issues, it drove me to develop my project further, digging deeper into the user research.

RESULTS

Maybe this actually be the start of a really useful start up?

USER RESEARCH

Fact Stat: Over half of start-ups fail because there's no market need: AKA do not create a solution in need of a problem.

I have identified the biggest gap in the market for new and all ongoing and new pet owners with cats and dog owners. I know there are a lot of pet owners that are very unsure about what general care their pets need. In terms of exercise, ear drops, eye cleaning, teeth cleaning. Veterinary cost is expensive, and in most cases, the owner's insurance will not cover them.

Why is this my user?

I have identified the users in need of VetterCare through my user survey and secondary research. Out of 100 participates in my pet user survey a majority of owners own cats and dogs. The majority of participates had issues with veterinary costs. With the majority of pet owners visiting the vets on a regular basis. This app is aimed at making sure pet owners can treat their pets at a more affordable price, it also enables them to take control of their pets health, without the need of a vet.

How will I test on the desired user?

On the wide user survey, I will ask for people's emails and permission to contact them for further research purposes. I will also build connections and contacts on the above channels in order to be able to gain feedback for those who fit my user persona.

Understanding my users

UX User Survey

Empathy Map

User Journey Map

• Secondary research : Survey 

• Service blueprint

• Analysing top vets

• Stakeholder interviews

Workshopping Features 

Pitching 

The Brand 

Sketching and wireframing

Lo Fi Designs

User Flows

Prototyping 

How do pet owners most commonly pay for their pet's vet bills when they don’t have pet insurance?

💡51% use savings.

💡 39% use a credit card.

💡 29% take out loans.

💡 23% borrow money from family.

💡 8% end up putting their pet to sleep!

Some questions that were removed due to to biased re-evaluation.

1. After an appointment at the vets do you feel as though you took in ALL the relevant information supplied about your pets medical needs? (Reasons for all prescribed medications, what did that booster actually do, treatment upkeep for diagnosed illness etc)

2. Do you feel uneasy leaving your pet off at the vet? , if yes please state your reasons for concern.

3. Does your pet have any regular medications that need to be strictly followed?

Who is my user?

• Pet owners

• Ages 16-80+

• Specialised and standard med pet owners

• Mostly cat and dog owners

• Pet owners that feel misinformed by their vets