Arrow Animal Urgent Care
Arrow Animal Urgent Care was the first dedicated urgent care clinic for pets in the Seattle area. With a robust team of veterinary professionals, the practice has been providing urgent care for dogs and cats since its opening in November 2021. Different from both a primary care vet office and an emergency vet, Arrow Animal Urgent Care provides immediate care for moderate to minor issues or ailments, including minor wounds, limping, coughing, UTIs, allergic reactions, and more. Similar to urgent care for humans, the practice offers walk-in style services for non-emergency issues that need same-day attention.
Early on in the pandemic, the Seattle area became home to more pets than ever, which made it increasingly more difficult for pet owners to book veterinary appointments within a reasonable timeframe. The team behind Arrow saw this need and decided it was time to elevate Seattle’s pet care industry — and almost immediately, the clinic was buzzing with patients.
However, in an effort to quickly and affordably get the clinic up and running, the team opted for a budget-friendly single-page website build that ultimately proved ineffective for their needs. In March 2022, the veterinarian owners of Arrow contacted Hummingbird Marketing Services to begin work on a website redesign. Our team of passionate pet moms knew how to transform the site into one that spoke to Arrow’s core audience: pet owners in crisis.
Industry
Animal Services
Collaborators
Andi Lucas, Founder & CEO
Julia Giordano, Content Writing & Social
Elizabeth Phillips, Web & Graphic Design
Services Provided
(Click to jump to each section)
Web Design
Project Brief
Bird’s Eye View
In March 2022, we began working on a website redesign that centered on the Arrow audience and business structure. We transformed the first simple website into one that truly spoke to pet owners, answered their many questions, and connected them to vet care swiftly and seamlessly. By September 2024, Arrow’s business had grown so rapidly that the team needed to move to a bigger space, and they found a great location that was double the size of their original building. This move influenced having a digital update to match, and so we delivered a website refresh that was clear and custom-designed specifically for Arrow’s new urgent care vet clinic.
Ruffled Feathers
Only months after opening, the Arrow Animal Urgent Care owners realized that their placeholder site was not the right fit for their new business. Its simple design lacked the information that the pet owners needed quickly, and it took weeks or longer for site updates from the original web designer. The walk-in style of the clinic was not clearly articulated, and it lacked a system for updating wait times. Further, the passionate animal-lovers who power the clinic were not highlighted. Overall, the site did not consider the humans looking at it (worried pet owners seeking reassurance) nor the humans behind Arrow (compassionate professionals ready to help).
Our Flight Plan
As pet owners ourselves, we understand that a dog or cat parent in crisis looking for urgent care services wants clear, concise information, and fast. Our plan focused on creating a website that was clean, informative, and ridiculously easy to navigate, so that even the most stressed pet owners could find what they needed immediately. In order to showcase the clinic’s heart, we also wanted to highlight the team behind it and create unique and distinct branding throughout the site.
Feathers in Our Cap: Top Accomplishments
We designed a fully functioning website that looks like an app to appeal to mobile users.
When we worked on Arrow Animal Urgent Care’s site originally, we delivered a functional and informative website that highlighted services and featured a lively display of its compassionate veterinary professionals. When we began working on a refresh in 2024, we were able to use data from more than two years of analytics. We found that nearly 80% of the website traffic was mobile, a significant jump from most websites, which have around 40%–60% mobile-user traffic. Pet owners in crisis were searching for care options on their phones, so why shouldn’t we design the website around them?
We created an app-inspired site using Progressive Web App Development (PWA), which is a fancy way of saying designing a site in the way apps are developed. We didn’t need to create an entire app for Arrow; however, we did need to create a website that is easy to find in a Google search and that navigates as smoothly as an app. And that’s exactly what we delivered. We included a fixed navigation bar at the bottom of the screen that stays put regardless of what page a user visits, and it has clear icon buttons that connect to vital options, including a link to call, get directions to the clinic, view wait times, and check the FAQ. And although the site was designed primarily with mobile in mind, we still ensured the design was clean and navigable for those 20% of desktop users.
We designed a fully functioning website that looks like an app to appeal to mobile users.
When we worked on Arrow Animal Urgent Care’s site originally, we delivered a functional and informative website that highlighted services and featured a lively display of its compassionate veterinary professionals. When we began working on a refresh in 2024, we were able to use data from more than two years of analytics. We found that nearly 80% of the website traffic was mobile, a significant jump from most websites, which have around 40%–60% mobile-user traffic. Pet owners in crisis were searching for care options on their phones, so why shouldn’t we design the website around them?
We created an app-inspired site using Progressive Web App Development (PWA), which is a fancy way of saying designing a site in the way apps are developed. We didn’t need to create an entire app for Arrow; however, we did need to create a website that is easy to find in a Google search and that navigates as smoothly as an app. And that’s exactly what we delivered. We included a fixed navigation bar at the bottom of the screen that stays put regardless of what page a user visits, and it has clear icon buttons that connect to vital options, including a link to call, get directions to the clinic, view wait times, and check the FAQ. And although the site was designed primarily with mobile in mind, we still ensured the design was clean and navigable for those 20% of desktop users.
We married design and content writing, making information crystal clear to in-crisis users.
In our refresh project, we found that many customers had a hard time parsing out key details on the site, despite being featured in multiple locations. We decided clear writing was not enough; we’d need to implement design changes to make information easy for pet owners to findin a rush. By designing a crystal-clear chart for the homepage that boldly outlines the difference between urgent care and emergency care, pet owners could quickly determine what service they needed, without needing to make a phone call.
We also found new and better ways to communicate the walk-in nature of the clinic as well as the check-in process. By creating a system that allows the clinic to easily update wait times, visitors on the site can always see accurate wait times with just one click. We also included a pop-up so that this information was accessible the moment a person visited the site. By replacing small text with varied fonts and sizes, we transformed the once-overwhelming plethora of information into bulleted, bold, easy-to-read details, cutting down on confusion at the clinic’s front desk and helping dogs and cats to receive the appropriate care for their situation swiftly.
We showcased the human element of the clinic and created a calm user experience for concerned pet parents.
Having a sick or injured pet is stressful and scary. As dog and cat moms, we know firsthand how horrible it feels to be worried about your pet’s health and safety, and how relieving it is to know your pet is in great care and getting help fast. These inherent truths drove our design and content writing. We wanted to showcase the people behind the clinic, so that pet owners can feel at ease knowing their pets are receiving care from experienced animal experts.
We designed the site to mimic the welcoming environment of the clinic and included staff bios to introduce the faces that run the clinic. Using photos that emphasize the human-animal connection and the team of passionate providers illustrates to pet owners that their animals are in safe hands.
In addition, we expanded on the Arrow Animal Urgent Care logo to create distinct branding. As for all our website redesign clients, we constructed a custom Website Brand Kit for the Arrow team; it includes an expanded color palette and a variety of fonts. To create a calming effect, we replaced red and black on the site with more green and used red sparingly to highlight crucial information. Instead of using all capital letters, some headers are in all lowercase to reduce stress and appear more welcoming.
We showcased the human element of the clinic and created a calm user experience for concerned pet parents.
Having a sick or injured pet is stressful and scary. As dog and cat moms, we know firsthand how horrible it feels to be worried about your pet’s health and safety, and how relieving it is to know your pet is in great care and getting help fast. These inherent truths drove our design and content writing. We wanted to showcase the people behind the clinic, so that pet owners can feel at ease knowing their pets are receiving care from experienced animal experts.
We designed the site to mimic the welcoming environment of the clinic and included staff bios to introduce the faces that run the clinic. Using photos that emphasize the human-animal connection and the team of passionate providers illustrates to pet owners that their animals are in safe hands.
In addition, we expanded on the Arrow Animal Urgent Care logo to create distinct branding. As for all our website redesign clients, we constructed a custom Website Brand Kit for the Arrow team; it includes an expanded color palette and a variety of fonts. To create a calming effect, we replaced red and black on the site with more green and used red sparingly to highlight crucial information. Instead of using all capital letters, some headers are in all lowercase to reduce stress and appear more welcoming.
Ready to Take Flight
Other Flutterworthy Features
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Sleek Design Filled with Information
Given the nature of an animal urgent clinic, we wanted to create an easy-to-read website design without sacrificing any details, so we compressed the information into a clever design, delivering a site full of guidance, without the bloat.
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Social Media Connected Straight to the Site
Featuring ways to connect on social media as well as an Instagram feed on the site was a big goal for Arrow Animal Urgent Care, so we made it a priority. We also included social media training to help the team reach new targets for brand awareness and follower count. Plus, having social content on the site meant more showing off the team’s expertise and passion for animals.
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Marketing Outreach Brainstorm
Sure, the Arrow Animal team came to us for website design, but it’s the Hummingbird way to go above and beyond for our clients. We always give a little extra. For Arrow, we helped create marketing strategies, including community outreach strategies. Since then, the team has been active in many events throughout the community to expand on brand awareness (and Arrow even sponsors a local Little League team)!
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Event Marketing
When we learned about Arrow Animal Urgent Care’s open house event, we were happy to help promote it. We created invitations, built an RSVP form, and sent out and followed up on invitations, all of which continued to build brand awareness.
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Digital Moves to Match a Physical Move
When Arrow moved to a new location, we supported its evolution every step of the way. From navigating the challenges of changing a Google Business location to creating pop-ups and social posts to inform past and future patients, we ensured the clinic’s digital presence was up to date with their big move.
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Photo Gallery
Love Notes
Dr. Laurie Wieringa, DVM, and Dr. Beth Guerra, DVM
Co-Founders, Arrow Animal Urgent Care
“We have been so delighted with Hummingbird Marketing Services! We are a new business in a competitive environment, and we needed a standout website. Andi and her team listened to all of our requests and created a fun and functional site for our clinic. They also provide us with regular updates about traffic on our website and suggest ways for us to increase visibility. They are very responsive when we need last-minute changes and additions to the site. Andi also created lovely invitations to our open house and researched ways for us to reach out to the community through farmers’ markets, festivals, sponsorship opportunities, and social media.”
