Reviews and online reputation are a reality: who you are online is who you are to anyone who doesn’t know you.
For many years, physicians relied on delivering exceptional patient care and hoping that word of mouth would grow their practice.
Appraisal Facts
Today, the increasing importance of online reputation continues to be neglected by many practices due to a lack of time and/or information as the vast majority of potential patients use Google Search coupled with online reviews to find a local doctor/practitioner.
Market forces have changed and what prospective patients and caregivers find online influences their decision to call or not to call you.
Today, with increased transparency, reputation encompasses many new dimensions that patients consider before making contact with a practitioners’ office.
Taking Control of your Online Reviews
Ask your patients to leave an appraisal! On average 3/4 of patients give a favorable rating, yet only just over half of practices ask for GMB reviews.
Don’t miss out on a very powerful marketing tool; your patient’s voice!
The key is to engage with your patients in an efficient way by encouraging feedback that will then be visible on the web.
Best Practice:
One
Be proactive and collect appraisal during the office visit via tablets or with an email/postcard following a patient visit.
Pro Tip: Train your staff to know when you have someone who will leave a great review, tell them it will be a great way to get your business noticed.
Two
Publish collected appraisals on the web so that you are visible with the following:
- Organic Search Result by Patients
- Your Google ‘My Business’ Listing
- Specialized Healthcare Directories (ZocDoc, Health Grades, Vitals.com, RateMD’s)
- Your Medical Practice Website
Three
Negative reviews: limit the chances of negative reviews ending up on the web and hurting your reputation, this means having twenty 5-star reviews for every negative appraisal.
Pro Tip: Always respond to both positive and negative reviews professionally and promptly. If you have 20 great reviews and one negative one, it is more likely people viewing your profile will view the negative appraisal as a personality issue with the negative reviewer.
Four
Benefits
- Review generation: collect new reviews consistently
- Review monitoring: help improve the overall patient care experience
- Review management: take control and solve issues by managing all reviews from one platform.
- Review marketing: increase visibility using your patient’s appraisals and overall boost patient acquisition using their voice.
Google My Business Reviews
Creating a practice environment where all of your team are involved in getting online appraisals will enhance your business profile.
This should be documented and become a system within your medical practice.
Your Google My Business profile is given a shortcut URL to share online to get these reviews
2 Comments
Hello, I have two patients (Johanna and Suzanne) who told me that they posted their reviews 2-3 days ago “correctly – no symbols & letters included by Google posting guideline” but not showing up on Google Review. Are you able to help this kind of problem?
I might be able to, but maybe it was their first review and Google would hold that for moderation and they are short-staffed at the moment! So wait a few days and then get back to me!