Work Smarter, Not Harder: How Jess Rona Grooming and Colby's Dogcare Automate the Everyday with MoeGo

Three no-shows in an entire year. A grooming rebook rate that more than tripled in eight weeks. Neither came from longer hours or more staff.

Jess Rona Grooming Salon, the viral LA salon, and Colby's Dogcare & Spa, a DC resort caring for 100+ dogs a day, got there by handing their most tedious tasks to automation. Here's exactly how they set it up, and what you can do for your own pet care business.

One is a boutique salon where every appointment slot matters. The other is a high-volume resort juggling suites, feeding, and medication schedules. Both hit the same wall: small, repetitive tasks were eating hours that should go to growing the business.

Jess Rona Grooming & Colby's Dogcare

Growth Snapshot

Jess Rona Grooming & Colby's Dogcare

• 3 no-shows in a full year at Jess Rona Grooming, driven by automated reminders and card-on-file policies

• 4% → 14% grooming rebook rate (3.5x) at Colby's Dogcare in about 8 weeks

• 72 suites pre-booked by members on Thursdays at Colby's, locking in recurring revenue

• ~40% of JRG clients pay online before they arrive for pickup

• 4.9 stars on Google and Yelp for Colby's, powered by Review Booster

The challenge: a thousand small tasks

Before automating, both teams faced the same everyday friction that quietly drains time and revenue:

• No-shows and late cancellations left unrecoverable gaps in the schedule.
• Clients left without rebooking, making cash flow unpredictable.
• Booking friction, from portal passwords to hidden pricing, lost warm leads.
• Asking for reviews felt awkward and happened inconsistently.
• Front-desk checkout lines slowed pickups and kept tips low.
• Paper notes and verbal handoffs made it hard to track 100+ dogs a day.

"I'm not chasing after notes or interpreting handwriting written after getting a dog out of the tub." — Abby Rose, GM, Jess Rona Grooming

The solution: six workflows that run themselves

1. Protecting revenue: near-zero no-shows

JRG recorded just 3 no-shows in a full year by pairing automated reminders with policies enforced up front.

• JRG's reminder sequence: an automated text 1 week out, then a confirmation text 4 days out that requires a "Y" reply. Clients are reminded that cancelling inside 48 hours incurs the full appointment fee.
• Colby's deposits: a mandatory 50depositatbooking(100 during holidays) and a 72-hour cancellation window.
• Self-service cancellations: MoeGo's "reply NO to cancel" frees the spot instantly, so staff can backfill from the waitlist without phone tag.

"The secret is not sending an invoice after a no-show. You got to do it on the front end... That's what they sign up for when they put that card in there and sign your terms of service." — Ellie Oehmke, Colby's Dogcare & Spa

"It has reduced my stress as a manager. I have less unpleasant interactions having strict policies than I did when I didn't have policies." — Abby Rose, Jess Rona Grooming

2. Rebooking on autopilot

Colby's grooming rebook rate jumped from 4% to 14% in about 8 weeks after turning on MoeGo's automated rebooking workflows.

• Same-day incentive: clients get an automated 10% discount if they book their next groom before 11:59 p.m. on the day of their appointment.
• Timed nudges: if no future appointment exists, texts go out at 5 weeks ("It's been 5 weeks since Fluffy's last haircut") and 6 weeks ("We have availability this week").
• Memberships: Colby's built four tiers (Platinum, Pedigree, PAL, Spa). Members pre-book 72 suites on Thursdays and 46 on Mondays.
• Annual pre-booking: JRG books high-profile clients for the whole year ahead, which works like a subscription.

3. Frictionless booking and lead recovery

Removing login and pricing friction means more clients finish booking, and MoeGo follows up with those who don't.

• Passwordless login: clients sign in with a code texted to their phone, not an email and password.
• Transparent pricing: JRG lists all prices and amenities on its landing page, so drop-offs come down to availability, not sticker shock.
• Abandoned Booking Recovery: a light text nudge goes to clients who leave mid-reservation, recovering bookings that would otherwise be lost.

"Every software I've seen uses an email and password. MoeGo uses a phone number and texts a code. That in itself just reduces so much friction for clients." — Ellie Oehmke

4. Reviews and word of mouth

Colby's holds a 4.9-star rating on Google and Yelp, built with MoeGo's automated Review Booster.

• Smart routing: clients rate their visit 1–5 by text. Five-star ratings get a link to Google, sometimes with a thank-you like a free daycare day or add-on. Anything lower goes to a private feedback form so management can fix it directly.
• No double asks: clients who leave a Google review are tagged in MoeGo and skipped in future requests.
• Shareable report cards: JRG sends digital report cards with before-and-after photos, staff notes, and playful custom tags ("extra meaty" for Meatball the dog). Clients post them on social media, which brings in free organic reach.

5. Checkout without the line

About 40% of JRG clients pay before they walk through the door.

• Pre-pickup invoices: JRG texts an invoice link 30 minutes before pickup.
• Hands-free checkout: unpaid balances are charged to the card on file at the end of the day, with a default 20% tip agreed to in the terms of service. Clients just walk out with their dog, and groomers earn more.

6. Running 100+ dogs a day without chaos

At Colby's, any staff member can check a dog's real-time status in MoeGo instead of asking around.

• One record per dog: suite location, feeding schedule, medication times, add-on walks, and behavior notes all live in MoeGo.
• Team communication: both businesses pair MoeGo with Discord for free, organized team channels (General, Salon Team, Inventory, Schedule, SOPs). JRG pins essentials like the gate code there.
• Supporting tools: Google Calendar for color-coded staff schedules, plus Google Tasks and Sheets.

"It's not just a CRM or a scheduling tool. MoeGo has allowed us to utilize a full pet care ecosystem versus just a calendar." — Ellie Oehmke

Results

Bring it back to your business

Five moves from Abby and Ellie that any grooming, daycare, or boarding business can copy:

1. Enforce policies up front. Collect a card on file and a signed terms of service at booking, not an invoice after a no-show.
2. Automate the reminder ladder. A one-week reminder plus a reply-to-confirm text catches problems while there's still time to fill the slot.
3. Ask for the next booking the same day. A small, time-limited discount turns checkout into rebooking.
4. Make reviews a system, not a favor. Route happy clients to Google and unhappy ones to you.
5. Get your team out of their heads. Put every dog's details in one shared system so nobody depends on memory or handwriting.

About The Pet Business Leadership Playbook

This case study is drawn from Webinar #2 of MoeGo Live's 7-part series built to help pet care professionals become stronger business owners and leaders. Watch the full recording to see Abby and Ellie walk through their setups.

👉 Watch the webinar here

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