Up for Review

Even if you haven’t intentionally created an on-line presence, you may still have an on-line presence. Whether you’re aware of it or not, you and your practice are up for review.

Buyer Beware

If you’re thinking of trying a new restaurant or hair salon, do you hop onto a site like Yelp to find out what others had to say about them? Many of us do, and increasingly, patients are doing the same before choosing a practitioner. A lot of patients are doing this, and as much of 85% of patients let these reviews influence their decision.

Consumers have a lot of sites to choose from for reviews including, Vitals, ZocDoc, Healthgrades, and even Yelp.

On-Line Word of Mouth

Many practitioners rely on “word of mouth” for new patients. On-line reviews are “word of mouth” shouted through a megaphone! That can be good, and it can be bad. Good reviews can bring in lots of new patients, and bad reviews can slow the flow to a trickle.

We all know some people simply aren’t happy no matter what we do. And whatever you might think of being reviewed on these rating sites, you can’t ignore the impact on-line reviews can have on your practice.

Welcome the Feedback

It can be daunting, but dive in and read your reviews. Many unhappy patients won’t complain in person; they just don’t come back. To use the restaurant analogy again; think of the last meal you had that you didn’t like. Did you say anything at the time or did you just decide you wouldn’t return?

Because review sites give people a non-confrontational outlet, they’ll use them to complain. Try to stay objective and don’t take negative reviews personally. As hard as it may be to read negative reviews, you can use that information to improve your practice and your ratings. Remember, it can be frustrating because the things you think make a good practitioner may not be what patients are judging you on.

For example, you’re up for review on things like how well you listen, how long the wait after arriving on-time for an appointment is, and how well the staff interacts with patients. Patient reviews are less focused on things like the effectiveness of your treatment and their overall health outcome.

How to Handle Bad Reviews

If you get a bad review, do not comment back to the patient on the review site. You might think the response is measured, apologetic, or resolves the problem, but you don’t know how the reviewer will react. It can escalate the situation for everyone to see.

Ideally, you should reach out privately to the patient and ask how you can resolve the issues that prompted the bad review. Hopefully, your good will gesture will prompt the patient to delete or at least to amend the review, although you shouldn’t ask them to do so.

If the review contains false information, most sites have a protocol in place that allows you to dispute and possibly remove it.

Get Good Reviews

One of the best things you can do is to simply let positive reviews counter and overwhelm any bad ones. But you have to be proactive in getting good reviews. People are much more likely to complain about something they didn’t like than to praise something they did like.

So ask for reviews and tell your staff to do the same. You can be tactful about it. If a patient pays you or your office a compliment, ask them if they would kindly write a review saying the same thing. Make it easy for them. Make an instruction form for reviews and hand out copies to willing patients.

Make sure to include the web address of your preferred site. You might need reviews on ZocDoc, but the patient may not even know that site exists and was going to leave a review on Yelp instead. They can take the instructions home and type the information into your preferred review site, or fill it out in the office and give it to your staff to enter.

And remember, if a patient takes time out of their day to leave you a positive review, let them know how grateful you are. They have given you and a great gift and you want them to know you appreciate it!

Look at the Average

If most of your patients are happy, and your practice is thriving, don’t let bad reviews get you down. Consider how you look at reviews of other businesses yourself. You probably disregard the over-the-top glowing ones (figuring those were written by the owner’s mom) and do the same with the over-the-top bad ones because you figure it’s the competition attempting a little on-line sabotage.

On-line reviews are a powerful tool but don’t let them take up too much real estate in your head. Address the legitimate complaints and watch the good reviews pour in!

For more information on building community connections, I encourage you to read my new book Community Connections! Relationship Marketing for Healthcare Professionals. If you want more valuable information about how to Connect with YOUR Community, you can find FREE healthcare practice marketing content, PowerPoint Presentation Jumpstart Kits, workbooks, blog articles, and my FREE “Practice Marketing Planner” Now!