Don’t get swamped every year in pet license renewal notices
Many pet licensing organizations (PLOs) across North America provide pet licenses that expire on the same date annually regardless of the day they are purchased. In the pet licensing industry we call this a “calendar based” licensing system. With this system in place, thousands of records are typically processed all at once, resulting in organizations quickly becoming swamped and overburdened administratively every year.
How can your organization overcome this annual headache and maximize your pet licensing program performance? DocuPet has learned a few key points to mastering a calendar based licensing system: build the value of your license, expand your renewal notices and consider seeking a partner.
Build the value of your pet license by communicating year round
The moment a pet owner has purchased a license, the annual renewal cycle begins. At the point of purchase, always be sure to collect emails and phone numbers and do not forget to provide a “thank you” for supporting local animal care and control. Collecting electronic forms of communication will enable your organization to reach pet owners en masse without the manual labor required to produce hundreds of mailed letters.
By thanking pet owners, you are calling attention to the animal care they support and they immediately have a deeper understanding of the value tied to their pet license. Use emails, phone calls, local news and advertisements to remind pet owners of this throughout the year. As an example, take the time to share a story about the work your municipal shelter does directly with sheltered pets several months after renewal season has ended so they can see how your year was improved by the license they bought.
All of this has the added benefit of helping overcome one of the biggest pitfalls of calendar based licensing systems: the problem of value loss if a pet owner needs to purchase their license late in the year. These strategies are preferred over implementing complex policies and variable fees that complicate things further for pet owners and lead to lost revenue for your organization.
Expand the number of renewal notices
With your expanded database of electronic forms of contact information, your organization is provided ample opportunity to reach pet owners in a more systematic and creative manner. Now that you have demonstrated the value of a license throughout the year, pet owners are primed to be asked to renew their support for the following year.
Begin your annual renewal notices with an email to all pet owners on file. Let them know that their current license has supported X amount of adoptions this year, or that X amount of pets were returned home safely by your animal control officers. Anyone who hasn’t renewed after that email should receive a letter with specific information about the ramifications of not licensing and how that will impact your organization’s funding for the following year.
Take the time to plan some phone calls near or on expiration day as well, with clear instructions on how and where to renew. If time and labor does not provide for the opportunity to send another letter after the expiration date, send another email to those who did not renew alerting them to potential fines or enforcement action as these are likely pet owners who are less concerned about the philanthropy associated with their annual license.
Consider a partner that grants you economies of scale
As a social enterprise, it is important to us at DocuPet to provide insights on how PLOs can improve and expand their pet licensing programs. It is also important for us to partner directly with organizations like yours to help implement these strategies.
By outsourcing your pet licensing service through DocuPet, you will gain valuable time to focus more on animal care and control priorities. This will reduce your costs while we get to work at implementing automated renewal systems, expanded community marketing, improved records access, support for third party license vendors and increased license sales and revenues.
If you would like to learn more about how a partnership with DocuPet can eliminate your annual renewal headaches and expand license sales for your organization, please click below and request a demonstration with us directly.