Having positive online reviews for your dental practice is no longer a luxury–it’s a necessity. It has also become an essential part of any dental marketing campaign. More patients every day reply to online reviews on platforms such as Google, Yelp, and Facebook before choosing a dentist. The more positive reviews your practice has online the busier your schedule will be.
If you’re ready to get 20+ 5-star reviews every month then, we have five tips to encourage patients to tell the world what a great dentist you are!
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1. Integrate It into Your Dental Software
Many dental practice management programs give you the option to send a text or email to patients right after an appointment. You make the most of this post-appointment message by asking your patients for a review and including a link to your Google My Business listing or any other platform so all patients have to do is click the link and type it!
If your practice management software doesn’t have this feature, there is software that you can use alongside your management software to get more reviews. Programs like Birdeye and Podium were built for dentists and can help automate the review asking process. This software can be used by itself, or you can also integrate them with your practice management software.
2. Create A Google Review Link
A Google review link is an easily clickable link that takes patients directly to your Google listing where they can leave a review. This way, even if a patient is struggling to find your Google listing, they can use the URL to leave a review. Most patients won’t leave a review if they’re given instructions like, “Google our practice name, then look at the right side of the screen. You should see our Google listing. Click on our reviews and then click the blue “Write a Review” button in the upper left corner to write the review!”
Patients are going to forget those instructions anyways as soon as they leave your practice! Having this link simply takes the hard work out of the process (except for actually writing the review!)
To get your custom Google review link you can use a free tool like Whitespark, here are the steps:
- Type your business name, city, and zip/postal code in the “Enter a Business” field.
- Your review link will appear under the map.
- Copy the URL to your clipboard and shorten it using a tool like bitly.
- Share the link with customers in emails, text messages, or even on
printouts, and ask them to leave you a review on Google.
That’s it! We recommend using this link in your review request emails and on the back of your business card.
3. Put The Review Link On Your Business Card
Most dentists don’t put anything on the back of their business cards. That’s a mistake because your business card can be valuable real estate!
Put your review link on the back of your business card so anyone who gets it can easily leave a review.
4. Use An Email Template
A review email template can save a lot of time and streamline the process. Whether you’re using your dental practice management software to automate post-appointment review emails or one of your staff is sending an email manually asking for a review the process doesn’t have to be long or complicated.
Here’s an example that you can use right away to ask patients for reviews.
Hi [patient],
Thank you for choosing [DENTAL PRACTICE NAME]! It’s a pleasure serving you and we look forward to seeing you again.
If you have a moment, would you leave a brief review on our Google Business page? Your feedback is very valuable to us and we look forward to sharing it with the team.
You can leave a review at the following link: [INSERT LINK]
Once again, thank you for choosing [DENTAL PRACTICE NAME].
Sincerely,
[NAME]
That’s it! All you have to do is fill in the blanks and hit “send.”
If your dental practice is using management software that automates sending review emails, then most likely it uses personalization tokens which means that the patient’s information reflects on the blank email before it’s sent. Just make sure your review link is in your template and you’re good to go.
5.Verbally Ask For A Review
Sometimes the easiest way is the best way, so just simply ask your patients directly to leave a review while they’re still at your practice.
Sometimes patients can respond best to a face-to-face request for a review. When their treatment is done, don’t shy away from asking them for a review. You can even use the same approach the email template uses: thank them for being a patient and ask them to leave a review if they have a moment. Tell them about the review link (or give them a business card with the link on the back) so they know how easy it is to leave one
Get More Reviews For Your Dental Practice
Positive reviews are critical to acquiring new dental patients. If your dental practice is looking to utilize online reviews to gain new patients, contact Zivvy!
We specialize in working with dental offices to create customized dental marketing campaigns that drive more reviews and new patients. Learn more about our New Patient Booster Plan by calling 408-915-5571 or scheduling a free consultation.
