Get More Positive Patient Reviews

Show Up Where Patients Are Looking!

Wouldn’t you love to get more meaningful feedback from your patients? Generating reviews provides many benefits to your dental practice, and one of them is being able to hear, in real time, what patients value about their experience with you.

According to industry experts (BrightLocal/Moz/LocalSearchRankingFactorsSurvey/SpiegelResearch/Google), there are many statistics we need to know and understand when it comes to generating reviews. Particularly important for your dental marketing campaigns as a local business.

• 82% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses, including 93% of people aged 35-54
• Review signals make up 15% of Google’s local pack ranking factors
• Including reviews on your website makes searchers see the business as more trustworthy.

We know that a positive online presence helps consumers trust businesses more, especially when they read reviews from people they “perceive” to be like them. Building trust is one of the most important strategies a dental office can engage in, and in a COVID-19 world, patient trust and recommendation can be one of your key competitive advantages.

• Almost 50% of consumers only pay attention to reviews written in the past two weeks
• Review ratings are the biggest driver of clicks
• 76% of marketers plan to spend more time on reputation in the next 12 months.

That means your competitors are going to start working on reviews. And when patients leave reviews about how efficient their appointment was, how safe they felt, and how kind and caring your team are, those competitors will win more new patients if your review bucket isn’t of the same caliber.

• Consumers read an average of 10 reviews before feeling able to trust a local business
• The purchase likelihood for a product with five reviews is 270% higher than a product with 0
• The average local business has 39 reviews
• Businesses ranking in Google’s top 3 local positions have an average of 47 reviews, while businesses in positions 7-10 have 38
• The average Google star rating is 4.42 (lowest are car dealerships, hotels, and senior living).

Your dental practice should focus on growing your Google reviews first, Facebook second. And it’s proven that when you ask for a review, you’re pretty likely to get one. It’s just getting around to asking that’s the important part. And don’t let fear of a negative review stop you from implementing this important practice growth strategy. Consumers don’t expect perfection, and when you get a negative or poor review, it’s an opportunity to respond in a positive way that will reflect on your business positively!

In fact, reviews give you a great opportunity to espouse your competitive advantages in your responses… “Thank you for leaving your review, Julie. We’re so happy that our convenient hours were helpful to your busy schedule and that you found our hygienist to be gentle and caring. Remember that we’re here for your friends and family and will find a convenient appointment time for them too.”

• Of consumers who read reviews, 97% read your responses to reviews
• 60% of consumers will look at Google My Business for reviews about your practice
• Over 50% will visit your website after reading reviews.

Before COVID-19, reviews were an important factor for dental practices. You were always dealing with fear patients and people hesitant to “go to the dentist.” Now positive patient reviews will be more important to your dental office than they ever were. Patients who are risk-averse will need reassurance, and lots of it, before deciding to head back to the dental office. Even people who are motivated and want to feel and look good will need a new level of reassurance.

Your 2020/2021 new-patient strategy will need to incorporate review generation. Plus positive reviews will help increase your website’s activity, and when your patient leaves a positive review, they will feel good about it and about you. That’s why it’s always important to respond to reviews and say thank you. You’ll keep that feel good feeling going.

And remember, when asked, three quarters of people will leave a review. Your patients expect you to ask – it’s part of our culture and it’s only going to become a bigger component.

And the final statistic – 50% of local marketers can’t put more effort into online reputation due to lack of time.

That’s where the team at Patient NEWS can help!

Review BOOSTER™ is an all-in-one patient communication platform that lets you automate your requests for reviews and respond via the convenient dashboard that collects and presents you with reviews that are posted for your practice from every site! You’ll have expert guidance from your Account Manager and scripts and messaging to respond to reviews allowing you to sit back and let the reviews flow in.

We’ll make it easy peasy for you, and Review BOOSTER makes it super easy for patients, and that’s important.

Joanne Bishop