Our adopter engagement strategy looks like this:
E-mail on day 1 (includes basic resources and how to get in contact with us)
E-mail 1-2 weeks later*
E-mail 2-3 weeks later
E-mail 1 year later
All our puppies (under 6 months) come with a 6 week training course that is included in the adoption fee.
All other dogs can sign up for our recommended basic training and get a 20% off the costs.
We have personal behavior consults available for adopters that are really struggling. We determine if this is necessary after they let us know at one of those 4 touch points that they are struggling.
*We will call daily (1-3 days or more if it makes sense) for those hard to place crazy dogs or cats.
I wish we could do follow-ups via phone but we have found most people don't answer their phone anymore and then the back and forth is hard to manage so we transitioned to only e-mail. I would say reaching out doesn't increase returns because it gives you an opportunity to educate or provide resources that they may not have thought of already. What we did do though was remove questions from our follow-up that were specific to illness or behaviors or returning because that did seem to lead us into difficult situations. It's more open-ended and that seems to be working well for us. I am wondering from your question if you are concerned with too many returns. Another thing we implemented is simply asking adopters why they think they may return and then addressing those concerns/fears or providing education. I hope that helps!
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