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How to Get Your Patients to Write Online Reviews About Their Experience

How to Ask Your Patients For Online Reviews Without Worry, Fear, or Shame

As a marketer, I get asked this question again and again from my clients in the healthcare industry.  They feel uncomfortable asking their patients, they worry about their online reviews being less than favorable, they just feel bad having to ask a patient to review them.

So should you bother getting an online review in the first place?

Online reviews are here to stay. Sites like Yelp, Angie’s List, and Google My Business offer consumers an easy way to share information about their experiences with local and online businesses. While sites like these were once fairly small, their use has become commonplace. In fact, about 88% of all consumers say they check online reviews before patronizing a business. Not only that, they tend to assign a high degree of credibility to what they read, trusting online reviews from strangers more than they would personal reviews from family and friends. What that means is that no business owner can afford to ignore online reviews. The way you react and respond to reviews can have a huge impact on the growth and success of your business.

There are many different online venues for patients to use to leave reviews of  your practice. These sites include websites dedicated to reviews such as Yelp, Google Places, Angie’s List, and the Yellow Pages or health-related listings, such as Healthgrades, ZocDoc, or RateMDs. Other sites are designed as forums, allowing patients to review any product or service.

Identify which methods are most likely to be used by your patients, when leaving reviews of your product or services. For example, if you operate a restaurant or bar, your patients would be more likely to leave a review on Yelp or Google, but if you offer a service in the medical field, your patients are more apt to use Healthgrades or ZocDoc.

Having a solid social strategy is a must in the modern business world. The majority of internet users spend most of their time browsing their favorite social media platform. People share news,

Share Your Online Reviews on Social Media

Share Your Online Reviews on Social Media

reviews, and information with their friends and family all the time. It is another form of word of mouth marketing.

In addition to sharing your reviews on social media platforms, as previously mentioned, there are other ways to integrate customer reviews into your social strategy. Facebook includes a review section for business, where patients can leave comments. Ask for honest feedback from your patients. Always remember to display the good and the bad. This shows that you trust consumers to make the best decision for their own needs, when shopping for a medical service they need.

With most social media platforms, you can set a notification to receive an email any time the name of your profile is mentioned in a post or tweet. Check these notifications, once per day, and reshare or retweet the positive mentions and reviews.

Start taking advantage of patient reviews in order to get new business. Show your patients that you care about their thoughts on your products or services. Display reviews on your website, including the pages where you offer specific services information. Make it easy for patients to find reviews on your website, so that they do not have to search elsewhere.

Integrate patients reviews into your social media strategy. Encourage your patients to leave reviews on review websites, Facebook, and Twitter. Pay attention to bad reviews and make changes to your products or services if necessary. Never respond negatively to a bad review, but feel free showcase positive reviews on your site or social media.

Online reviews are determining factor in search engine rankings and they are new form of word of mouth marketing. Stick with these tips, and continue learning how to make the most out of your patient reviews.