Online Reputation & Reviews for Doctors, Dentists and Physicians

When it comes to research for important decision-making processes, especially for medical and health inquires, online reputation & reviews for doctors, dentists and physicians can be the difference between getting a new patient or deterring others from making an appointment. Statistics show local businesses which offer a service that is most likely to affect our health and well-being, safety, or comfort and hospitality, are those that people believe a strong reputation is most important. When it comes to research for important decision-making processes, especially for medical and health inquires, online reputation & reviews for doctors, dentists and physicians can be the difference between getting a new patient or deterring others from making an appointment.

When asked, “For which of these local business types does ‘Reputation’ matter the most when choosing a business?”

Here were the key findings:

Doctor / Dentist – 47%
Restaurants / Cafe – 46%
Hotel / B&B – 30%
Garage / Car Dealer – 30% 

As you can see, the majority of customers believed a Doctor or Dentist’s reputation mattered most. Which leads up to the importance of why local medical and hospitality businesses should take additional steps to ensure that not only a good reputation, but that this is also clearly represented online through positive reviews. After all, in this era of technology where people can communicate with one another and share information instantly, it’s no surprise that people rely on reviews from complete strangers online to inspire trust in a business. It’s a radical idea when you actually depict it, however it’s something we need to get on board with to be successful or risk falling behind.

Now, this information isn’t meant to worry Physicians who are currently running their own their own practice. There are strategies to help you manage your online reputation and reviews.

Ask patients to rate you

• Hand your patients a card that provides a link to a patient review website.
• Keep a tablet at the front desk. Ask your patients to take a moment to rate you on their way out.
• Create a link on your clinic website that will direct patients to a patient review website

The purpose of this strategy is to get one to two reviews a week at a minimum. You can do this by finding a way to ask every patient to leave a review. Essentially, having a higher number of reviews can actually dilute any negative reviews.

Embrace reviews

This goes back to the fact that people will turn to reviews before considering choosing your medical centre for their healthcare needs. Meet your patients expectations by appearing in their search results. Having a strong internet presence through reviews is how they will gain trust in your clinic. Think of reviews as a good thing for your local business!

Don’t ignore negative comments or reviews

Some medical review websites will allow a physician to respond to a negative review. If it is allowed, your response will be public. In this case, ensure your response acknowledges their concerns in a general way. Show prospective patients you’re serious about creating a positive resolution, and an overall good outcome for the patient.  

“We are sorry to hear you were unhappy with your visit, please get in contact with us so that we may resolve your concerns.  We strive to provide positive experiences for our patients and would like to offer our help in any way we can.”

It is always best to call or get in contact with your patient to offer solutions to resolve their concerns, so that they may change or remove their negative review.  

For more information or to get assistance with building and protecting your internet presence for your clinic or medical centre, contact Airi today.

Negative Effects of Not Having an Internet Presence for Your Small Business

Small businesses should value the need for online marketing and building their online presence. It’s important to note that online presence is not only established in the way you promote and sell your products online. There are definitely negative effects for not having a proper internet presence for your small business. With proper internet presence, you can establish the story behind your brand to your audience. If you own a local bakery or coffee shop, people want to see the behind the scenes in visuals, through photos and video. Sharing your story humanizes your brand, it gives it warmth and makes it all the more desirable to potential customers. 

Of course, being a business owner you may not always have the time to regularly update your blog or manage social media. Which is why there are services available like Airi Business to provide who will work to build your internet presence for you.  It’s no longer a “do it later” option, it’s a must now or you risk falling behind competition. Here’s why having no internet presence is a bad idea:

Lack of confidence if your brand

Having no internet presence is like being stuck in a primitive era, there’s no simpler way to say it.  Today, everyone from buyers to suppliers, and even your grandparents are online making purchases, browsing new products, or researching new services.  If you’re not online, how do you expect people to know about your brand.

Less exposure of your product or service

Again, how will you extend your reach to more people, more neighbourhoods, more prospective customers if you are not online?  Sure, you may attract the people who walk by your business or by word of mouth but, why limit yourself?

Poor reach

As you can see, all of the reasons why not having internet presence are related.  It all comes  down to getting your brand, your business more exposure.  Getting the word out there on a larger scale.  Meeting your customers expectations by appearing online through photos, testimonials, videos, etc.  These are what people need in this day and age to inspire trust in a business.  It’s all about the image and story that’s online for the world to see.

Lack of control over your brand’s image

If you’re not online telling people about your brand, someone else will.  The power of the internet is inevitable.  Visitors at your coffee shop are probably posting photos of their lattes and scones at this very moment.  

• Learn what people are saying about your business on Yelp
• Claim your business on Google
• Manage your reputation by managing your reviews

Get advice and helpful tips on building your small business internet presence with Airi Business tools today.  An Airi Business membership will get you everything you need to build and protect the virtual side of your business, with access to professionals who will do the work for you so you can spend more hands-on time building the business you love.

Respond to Negative Feedback Online

As a business owner, I understand how much it hurts when someone doesn’t appreciate your business or your employee’s hardwork. No matter how hard you try to always put your best foot forward, there will always be someone who has something negative to say about your business. The accessibility and ease of the Internet encourages such critics to express their opinions even more, resulting in a constant online battlefield for business owners. This is especially true since bad reviews can result in decreased revenue and rankings.

Image Source: Search Engine Land

Last year, 72% of people in a BrightLocal survey said positive customer reviews encouraged their trust with a business. Talk about a majority! When it comes to rankings, Google Maps tends to populate local results based on reviews. If a business is suffering from bad reviews, their local rankings may be suffering as well. It gets even worse when it comes to mobile. Review counts and average ratings are used to help sort results on mobile search.

Let’s combat the negativity online by reinforcing the positives of a business and following these steps when hit with a bad review.

Have a Plan of Action

Social networks and review sites like Facebook and Yelp have become a starting point for consumers. Before choosing their next Thai restaurant or picking the right plumber, a majority of people are searching online first. Bad reviews will hinder the chance of them choosing one company over the other, hurting the reputation and ultimately revenue. In order to be efficient, it’s important to plan ahead, knowing at any moment your business can get hit with a bad online review.

Plan of Action:

1. Decide who is going to respond. Do you have a specific person who can manage reviews? Designate someone who is in charge of handling feedback. This will help avoid chaos and create timely responses.
2. What kind of review is it? Generic, spam, disgruntled customer, business competitor, etc. Diagnose what kind of review it is and what type of response would fit best. If you notice you’re being hit with several spammy reviews, blocking that person or reporting them to the social network or review site may be in order. Whereas a disgruntled customer review needs extra special attention and a personalized response.
3. Keep track of the data. Create a review log and add the new reviews to it. Notate all of the info: who the person is, date/time, star count, where the review was posted, who responded, how the response was made, what kind of response, etc.
4. Scan across the board for patterns. Check all social networks and review sites to see if the same review was posted elsewhere. If it was crossposted on multiple sites, reply accordingly so you’re still responding to each review. After you have resolved the issue with the customer, you can reach out and ask them to remove the multiple reviews, helping salvage your reputation on each website.

Image Source: Search Engine Land

How to Avoid Being Generic

The key to a proper response is by personalizing the message. Copying and pasting the same automated reply will be noticed by multiple users. Noticing several of the same automated responses takes the humanization out of a business and shows little to no respect for the customer’s concerns. Customize each response so it is slightly different than the last, leaving a name and contact information to be reached at.

When to Bring Management In

It’s important to step back when responding to bad reviews and look at the bigger picture. Is this issue something management needs to be aware of? Is there still an opportunity to salvage the relationship by offering them something in return? If so, respond with an email address and phone number so the customer can communicate directly to management.

Image Source: Infusionsoft

As a customer, when a business or employee upsets you the first thing you want to do is talk to someone superior about the experience. That’s why it’s important to explain in the response how apologetic managementis and how much they want to make the situation right.

Insider Tip: Instead of publicly explaining what free offers you’re about to bribe them with, share those types of details personally over the phone or in an email. If others see how many free coupons you hand out with each complaint, you’ll start to receive a lot more complaints and have a lot less free coupons available.

Drinking Haterade is Contagious

One bad review can inspire others to share their not-so-pleasant experiences and point out certain things they wouldn’t have noticed before. If you start to notice several bad reviews popping up in a small time period, release a new sweepstakes or contest to encourage your fans to share their positive experiences. This will help filter through some of the bad reviews, as well as increase engagement on your social networks and website. Offer a prize or free coupons so your fans have an incentive and want to share their great experiences.

A one-star increase in Yelp rating leads to a 5-9% increase in revenue. Therefore, each positive review can help combat the negatives.

Don’t Pretend Like it Didn’t Happen

Unfortunately, ignoring reviews won’t make them go away. If anything, it might make more reviews appear. A responsible business needs to meet each of its customers needs, including responding to negative feedback. No matter how it makes you feel as a business owner, your customers need to know that you’re willing to do what it takes to make things right, that you care about their experience.

Take Advantage of Every Opportunity

Use bad comments and reviews as a chance to display how proud of your business you are, how long you’ve been in business, and the significance of each customer. Flip the negativity upside down and use it as an opportunity to change their mind about your business, while talking them into giving you a second chance.

Have you been hit with a review you couldn’t recover from? Tell us about your experience in the comments below!