Why Your Healthcare Practice Should Be Asking For Reviews


Patient feedback is really important, and that’s putting it mildly.

 

Often, just a few well-written phrases in a review can do more to sway consumers’ opinions than a whole website. If your services are rated higher than a similar one by a competitor, but only by a single star (or even a half star), the patient may decide to buy from the competitor instead. Furthermore, positive evaluations are one of the single most important aspects in local search engine optimization.

 

Asking for feedback from clients is essential if you want to see positive comments or ratings. This may seem insincere or self-serving, but the truth is that most individuals enjoy giving their thoughts and opinions when prodded.


Why do you need feedback anyway?

 

From your own personal buying experiences, you can attest to the credibility and usefulness of user reviews. Consider how often you have made a purchase from a company because of the reviews you read or because reviews existed at all. Perhaps you’ve always been sure of your purchase after hearing nothing but praise for it from friends and family.

 

Truth be told, what others, even total strangers, say about your practice is more important than what you say about your practice. Still not sure? Take a look at these numbers from review sites:

✅ The vast majority of consumers (84%), who have read reviews online, say they trust them as much as personal recommendations.

✅ If you can increase your average review score by 1.5 stars, you might generate an additional 13,000.

✅ An increase of one star on Yelp can result in a 5-9 percent boost in practice.


Here are some other numbers that may push you over the edge and into soliciting feedback for your own practice:

  • Patients are ready to buy. According to research conducted by BrightLocal, 76 percent of patients who are prompted to provide feedback actually do so. 
  • Reviews are very useful to consumers. Podium found that 93% of consumers find internet reviews for local companies to be just as helpful as reviews found on e-commerce platforms like Amazon. 
  • Consumers actively search out reviews. BrightLocal found that 98% of consumers browse online reviews before visiting a local practice’s website.

 

Reviews and Feeback are vital for the success of local practices. Getting ahead of it and soliciting feedback is a good use of your time and efforts. Ignoring your ‘reputation’ would be a mistake.

Need some help with this or need some ideas on how to implement a standard operation for soliciting customer feedback and reviews? Reach out to me. I’d be glad to help.

 

So… if you are a private practice healthcare business owner and you are looking to grow and scale your practice or generate more new patients for the practice – we are here for you!  Drop a comment below if you have questions or if you’d like to set up a call with us go here: https://chat.practiceinsidersedge.com/PIE-Triage-Call


How To Ask For Reviews Without Sounding Cringy


91% of consumers between the ages of 19 and 34 trust reviews, and they are more likely to trust your practice if you have 40 or more reviews.

If you don’t already have a solid review presence, it’s time to get serious about building one.

The great news?

68% of consumers who are asked to leave a review are willing to do so!

 

Here are 3 non-cringe ways to ask:

  1. In Person:

While the patient is up at the front desk or back in the treatment area or room with you and they start talking about how great they have been feeling since they started care – BOOM – JUST ASK!

The trick is doing it in a way that doesn’t feel forced or put undue pressure on your patients.

Start by asking the patients to find everything they were looking for. Any patient who praises your clinic and practice represents a positive review!

But don’t blow it!

It’s not a good idea to ask for a review as soon as a patient says something positive. 

Ask a few non-follow up questions.

Then as you end the conversation, continue with something like…

“We really appreciate feedback from our patients because it helps more people learn about us. Would you be willing to write an online review?”

You can plug in your platform of choice whether it’s Yelp, Google or Facebook.

 

  1. SMS Messages:

Text messages have nearly a 100% open rate. If you’re already sending text messages to your patients, then following up on a purchase with a request for a review can be a great way to generate more reviews!

Since it’s a text message, it should be brief. You can try something like:

“It was great seeing you today, [patient’s name]! If we provide top-notch service to you today, would you please consider taking a few seconds and leaving us a review? [Review Link]”

If you do NOT have a system in place feel free to talk to us about our Reputation Platform – we’d love for you to give it a test run.

 

  1. Ask Your Social Media Followers:

Facebook reviews are important for health care businesses since many people use Facebook to search for clinics near them. You have the option of asking for reviews in a Facebook post or using a chatbot in Facebook Messenger to ask.

If you decide to use a chatbot, you may want to consider setting up a survey directly within the chatbot if you want to collect reviews to post on your site.

Otherwise, you can simply ask your patients to leave a review elsewhere like Google and Yelp.

 

So… if you are a private practice healthcare business owner and you are looking to grow and scale your practice or generate more new patients for the practice – we are here for you!  Drop a comment below if you have questions or if you’d like to set up a call with us go here: https://chat.practiceinsidersedge.com/PIE-Triage-Call

 

Tip: Be careful not to link directly to your Yelp Page for your social media pages as Yelp frowns upon asking patients for reviews.