SitPup guide
How to Get More Pet Sitting Clients
Before spending anything on ads, it is worth checking how many enquiries you already lose. For most sitters that leak is bigger than any new channel would be.
8 min read
Related SitPup page: Pet Sitting Booking Software
Start with the enquiries you already get
More clients is usually framed as a traffic problem, and it often is not. If someone asks whether you are free and you answer six hours later, a chunk of those people have already booked someone else. Pet owners asking about next weekend are rarely patient.
Two things fix most of this, and neither costs money. Reply faster to the first message, even if the answer is a link rather than an availability check. And make the first reply do the work: a booking link that shows prices and availability converts better than a message that promises to check and get back to them.
Worth measuring before you do anything else: of the last twenty enquiries, how many became bookings, and how many went quiet after your first reply? If a lot went quiet, that is the cheapest thing to fix.
Be findable where owners actually look
Pet owners do not browse. They search when they need someone, usually with a date already in mind, and they ask locally.
- 1
Set up a Google Business Profile
It is free, and it puts you in the local map results people see first when they search for a sitter in your town. Add your services, hours, photos and your booking link.
- 2
Be active in local groups before you need them
Town Facebook groups get sitter recommendation requests constantly. Someone who has seen your name helpfully answering questions gets recommended; a cold ad usually does not.
- 3
Build relationships with vets, groomers and pet shops
They are asked for recommendations weekly and they remember whoever they have actually met. Leave cards, and introduce yourself properly rather than dropping them at reception.
- 4
Make your Instagram bio a booking link
Not a link to a linktree of five things. One link, to a page that shows what you offer and takes a request.
Make it easy to book outside your working hours
A lot of pet care enquiries happen in the evening, when someone finally sits down and realises they need cover for a trip. If booking requires you to reply, every one of those waits until morning, and morning is when they compare you to whoever answered overnight.
A booking page or a widget takes requests while you are asleep, walking a dog or with your own family. You still confirm each one, so nothing is booked without you; the difference is that the request is captured rather than postponed.
This is exactly what a SitPup booking page or widget does: it takes complete requests around the clock, in eight languages, and you confirm each one when you get to it.
Look after repeat clients before chasing new ones
A returning client costs nothing to acquire and usually books longer stays than a new one. In pet care, retention is unusually strong when the experience is good, because owners are genuinely reluctant to hand their animal to someone new.
Small things do most of the work here: sending a photo update mid-stay, remembering the dog's routine without being told twice, and asking about the next trip when a client picks up. Ask about the next booking while they are standing in front of you and pleased, not by message three months later.
- Message returning clients before the obvious dates: summer, Christmas, school holidays
- Keep notes per animal so the second stay is visibly easier than the first
- Tell regulars when your calendar for a busy period is filling, honestly and once
SitPup keeps every past booking with the animal's details, so a returning client's second stay is quicker to set up than the first, and you can add their booking manually if they just phone you.
Ask for reviews and referrals properly
Most sitters know they should ask and do not, because it feels awkward. The awkwardness is mostly about timing: asking weeks later feels like a favour, asking at pick-up while the client is thanking you does not.
Be specific about where. A review on your Google Business Profile helps you appear in local searches; a comment in a Facebook group reaches people already looking. Vague requests to leave a review somewhere get ignored.
Referrals work the same way. A happy client will recommend you if the recommendation is easy, so give them a link they can paste rather than asking them to explain how to find you.
Price and availability shape demand too
If you are turning work away every weekend and empty midweek, that is a pricing signal, not a marketing problem. A higher weekend rate or a minimum stay for peak dates changes what gets booked without you finding a single new client.
The reverse is also true. If enquiries come and never convert, look at whether your prices are visible at all. Owners who cannot see a price often assume the worst and do not ask.
SitPup has both levers built in: weekend and seasonal rates, a minimum number of nights for peak dates, and prices shown on your booking page so nobody has to ask.
Key takeaways
- Check your conversion before your traffic: slow first replies lose more bookings than a missing channel.
- A Google Business Profile is free and puts you in local map results.
- Take requests outside working hours; evening enquiries go to whoever captured them.
- Repeat clients book longer stays and cost nothing to win back.
- Ask for reviews at pick-up, and name the exact place you want them.
- Use weekend rates and minimum stays to shape demand you already have.
Stop losing evening enquiries
A booking page takes complete requests while you work, sleep or walk a dog. You still confirm every one of them.