What’s the first thing you do when you’re considering buying a particular product or service? You probably look for reviews on the product or service online. Whether you’re shopping for clothes or want to try a new restaurant, reviews help you make a decision as to whether the products or services are worth trying. They’re like referrals from other people that have experience with the products or services you’re interested in.
In much the same way, patients in need of dental services read reviews about dental services before they make a decision about which services to use. Choosing the right dentist is important. People aren’t willing to gamble when it comes to their oral health. A new patient will want reassurance that the dentist they have chosen is competent and caring. They’ll want to know they’re in good hands.
The importance of reputation management for dental practices
Online reviews are crucial for building the reputation of your practice. Reviews provide new patients with peace of mind. Potential patients will consider the experiences of other patients. They’ll think ‘Well, if many people think this dentist is great, then I should choose them.’
While positive reviews can help to build your business by attracting new patients, negative reviews can destroy your business. Not only will the decisions prospective patients make be influenced by the negative reviews but also your search engine rankings.
Search engines such as Google use various factors including reviews to rank websites. Positive ranking by many patients will result in higher ranking by the search engine, while poor reviews or even a lack of reviews will result in lower ranking of your website.
Ranking is crucial for the visibility of your dental practice to prospective patients. Many people don’t go past the first page of search results. Even more people only click on the first few results listed on the first search results page. Ensuring your website is ranked in high in relevant search results pages is vital for your business.
How to get more reviews from your patients
It’s clear that online reputation management is vital for your dental practice. The following are some tips to help you not only get more reviews but also manage them to ensure that they have a positive impact on your business.
- Provide your patients with exceptional care
If you want to get positive reviews, you need to earn them by providing your patients with services worthy of those five-star reviews.
It may sound obvious but going the extra mile to provide patients with a great experience will motivate patients to give reviews and recommend your services. Until you’re able to provide your patients with great services, getting more positive reviews will remain difficult even when you have everything set up just right to make it easy for patients to review your practice.
You should therefore begin by striving to improve your patients’ experience. Is your practice a clean and comfortable place? Are you and your staff warm and friendly to patients? Do you take the time to educate your patients, answer their questions or listen to their concerns? Do you try to meet your patients’ needs e.g. by providing payment plans for patients with low income?
- Ask patients to leave online reviews
It may seem difficult to believe but many patients will leave reviews when asked. So it is worth it to take your time and ask your patients to leave a review.
Asking patients to review your practice is especially easy if you’re making the effort to provide them with a better experience.
Ask your patients what their experience was like after completing their procedure then direct them to where they can give a review. It also helps to send them an email soon after their visit to ask them about their experience. Provide links in the email that will direct them to sites where they can give reviews.
- Make submitting reviews easy
Many patients don’t leave reviews simply because they find the process cumbersome and time consuming. If you want to increase online reviews, you should make the process more accessible and easier for patients.
One of the best ways to do this is by signing up to online review sites as well as service listing platforms. These sites make it easy for your patients to review your practice later at their own convenience. Reviewing on these sites is easy and straightforward too.
- Respond to both positive and negative reviews
It isn’t only important to get more reviews but also to manage the reviews you get. Review management is crucial for reputation management for dental practices.
It may sound counterintuitive; however, it is important to respond to both positive and negative reviews. This gives you the opportunity to engage with your patients and show that you care. Respond to negative reviews by addressing their complaints or issues to show you care about their opinions and concerns and are willing to address issues.
The tips above are aimed at achieving the best reputation management for dental practices. Apply them to attract more patients to your dental practice.
