What Best Practices Can Dental Offices Use To Get More Positive Online Reviews?
Whether you’re running an established dental practice or you’re fresh out of dental school, online reviews are incredibly important for the visibility of your practice. In this blog, we’ll take a look at the importance of online reviews for dentists – and go over some best practices you can follow to collect more positive online reviews. Let’s get into it!
Understanding The Power Of Online Reviews For Dentists
So, are online reviews really that important for dental offices? The answer is “yes.” In today’s digital world, online reviews are often the first thing that potential patients will look up when searching for a new dental provider. But don’t just take our word for it – these statistics about online reviews, search engines, and dentistry speak for themselves.
Statistics collected by Whiteboard Marketing report that 94% of patients will use online reviews to evaluate dental providers.
According to ConnectTheDoc, 90% of patients trust online reviews, and 46.9% will read online reviews to look for specific information about attentiveness, quality of service, and other aspects of the dental experience.
Demandhub says that 88% of patients trust online reviews as much as they trust personal recommendations from friends, family, and loved ones.
77% of patients use online reviews as their first step when looking for a doctor, according to Medical Economics.
Insider Intelligence reports that 59% of patients would prefer their doctor to have a rating of four stars or higher, and 84% of patients wouldn’t visit a doctor with a rating of less than four stars. On average, patients read 5.5 reviews before making a decision about visiting a new healthcare provider.
There are plenty of other statistics out there, but you get the idea. If a patient is looking for a new dentist in the area, they're very likely to turn to Google – and they’ll be reading reviews carefully.
Best Practices For Getting Better Online Reviews At Your Office
So, how can you make sure you get more online reviews – and that patients leave a five-star review about your practice? Here are a few best practices we recommend:
1. Provide an excellent care experience
This may be obvious, but make sure that you’re providing an excellent standard of care! Earn your five-star reviews with your friendly staff, a patient-first approach, and fantastic communication.
2. Ask in person for the best results
If you ask a patient to leave a review while they're still in your office, they're much more likely to listen. While sending an SMS message or an email is a decent option, it’s a lot easier to ignore.
3. Target the right patients
If you know you have a good relationship with a patient or their family, ask them to leave a review! Someone who’s had a great experience and loves your office is more likely to take the time to actually leave a review.
4. Make it easy for patients to leave reviews
The easier it is for patients to leave reviews, the more likely it is that they’ll actually do it. For example, you could make a sign for your front desk with a QR code that links to your Google My Business Page. Customers can scan it before they leave and begin leaving a review within just a few seconds. The more convenient, the better!
5. Give patients a call to check in
Calling patients to check up after a treatment like a crown, filling, or tooth extraction is a great idea! You can see how they're recovering, ask if they have any questions, and see how they're feeling about their experience. Then, at the end of your check-in call, you can follow up and ask the patient to leave a review.
6. Don’t be afraid to respond to negative reviews
It’s impossible to always get five-star reviews. Occasionally, someone will have a bad experience. And when this happens, don’t despair – or ignore their review! According to BrightLocal, 88% of consumers would visit a business that “replies to all of its reviews,” with just 47% of consumers being willing to visit a business that “doesn’t respond to reviews at all.”
Need Help Bringing In More Patients? Contact Incept Health!
At Incept Health, we’re here to help your practice grow. We’re experts in dental marketing, and can develop a custom-tailored plan that will help you reach your goals. Contact us online to learn more about what we do and schedule a call with one of our experts.