If you think your “real world” reputation is the only one you need to keep intact…think again.
In today’s internet-driven world, your online reputation is just as important as your real-world reputation, if not more.
You could be one of the best dentists in town with a state-of-the-art practice but it’s meaningless if you don’t have a proven portfolio of five-star online reviews.
In this article, we explain why your online reputation is extremely important to your practice and also the do’s and don’ts of generating more 5-star reviews.
WHY YOU NEED MORE FIVE-STAR ONLINE REVIEWS
When it comes to driving more new patients to your practice, your online reputation can make or break your bottom line.
Getting positive feedback and generating it from Google and other review sites helps drive a much better patient conversion. Generating 5-star reviews from sites like Google and Yelp will also increase traffic to your website which will then turn into new patient appointments.
On the other hand, getting negative reviews will drive your potential patients away right from your competitors.
Think about it. If you’re searching on Google for a landscaper, who are you going to choose? The 2.5-star landscaper who provides terrible service or the 5-star landscaper who turns a barren lawn into a beautiful landscape?
So who is a potential patient looking for the best dentist near you on Google going to choose? the dentist with a 2.5-star rating or the 5-star dentist who’s got raving reviews about their treatments and staff?
Your online reputation is your social proof which helps patients make quicker and more confident decisions to choose one dentist or the other.
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According to the local search service Bright Local, potential patients are evolving in the way they view a practice’s reputation:
- 75% of patients say that positive reviews improve their trust in dental practices.
- 60% will visit a practice’s website after seeing positive feedback on review sites like Google and Yelp.
- 55% confirm that star ratings are the most important element of an online review.
- 90% read less than 10 reviews before forming an opinion about a practice.
HOW TO MANAGE YOUR ONLINE REPUTATION
In short, there are two ways to manage your online reputation:
- Handle negative reviews with meaningful responses
- Attract more reviews in a compliant manner
First, how to handle negative reviews… We suggest dentists take the following approach after getting a negative review:
- First, put your ego aside. A bad review, while not an ideal outcome, is usually seen as an outlier if you have a high number of five-star reviews.
- Respond to the review by writing a professional response acknowledging the reviewer’s concerns and letting them know you’ll be contacting them to discuss the matter.
- Call the reviewer to discuss their concerns.
- If the call goes well, the reviewer may agree to remove the negative review. If not, other prospective patients will see that you care about each review and acknowledge their concerns.
HOW TO GET MORE 5-STAR REVIEWS
Due to Google’s strict terms of service, gaining positive reviews is challenging. Trying to get fake reviews or paying someone 50 dollars to post on your behalf can result in serious consequences (blacklisting your account).
Additionally, you’ll want to avoid these bad practices:
- Encourage non-patients to review you.
- Offer incentives in exchange for patient reviews. Reviews need to be authentic and genuine.
So what can you do?
One of the most popular ways to secure great reviews is through online new patient surveys. These surveys encourage feedback during the most important time when an appointment is still fresh on the patient’s mind not to mention that they offer valuable information about your practice.
Of course, you need the technology to implement this campaign effectively. For instance, Zivvy’s New Patient Booster Plan has patient surveys included in your overall dental marketing strategy. The software will automatically gather reviews and patient surveys on your behalf and most importantly in a Google-approved way.
This is how the New Patient Survey/Reviews work:
- Add a new patient to your online reputation management dashboard.
- An introductory email and first visit survey are sent to the new patient.
- Throughout the survey, the patient will select an emotion that best describes their experience.
- After selecting their answers, the patient is presented with a link to provide a short review.
- The New Patient Survey software analyzes the patient’s level of satisfaction, and if it reveals a positive experience, the patient is encouraged to review the practice on the most popular review sites like Google and Facebook.
BOOST YOUR DENTAL REPUTATION NOW
In short, you should give a great deal of importance to your dental online reputation because it can determine how successful your practice will be. At Zivvy, we too care about your online reputation and that’s why it’s an important part of your dental marketing campaign.
There’s no point in implementing , paid ads, or even social media growth to drive more new patients without having the proper online foundation for your practice and that is your online presence. The essence of that presence is having a healthy number of positive reviews and a no less than 4.5-star Google rating.
Get in touch with Zivvy today and get your customized New Patient Booster Plan that includes building a strong online presence and stellar reviews to help increase your New Patient appointments.
