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The Make-or-Break World Of Dental Reviews

The Make-or-Break World Of Dental Reviews
by Colin Receveur

Self-proclaimed Amazon nut here. I haven’t gone into a big box store for years, and don’t intend to anytime soon. With Amazon, you have convenience and quality customer care, and you also have a robust online community where users are interacting with each other about products. Nothing goes into my digital cart if it doesn’t have a number of favorable reviews. Most of us make purchases this way. This is called getting the “social proof.”

It’s difficult to compare the business tactics of mega companies like Amazon with private-practice dentists. But you can’t ignore the power of reviews. To get prospects to call your office, you need to show the social proof of why your service is superior to the dental practice down the street.

According to Entrepreneur, more than 60% of people consider online reviews in the purchasing process. Reviews are the new word-of-mouth advertising, and they have the power to make or break your practice. A study by Invespro found that about 90% of consumers read online reviews before walking into a business. The same study found that consumers will spend 31% more with a business that has “excellent” reviews.

You get the point. Great reviews will build trust and position your dental practice to attract more and better patients. Bad reviews can be the kiss of death for a dentist. So let’s look at how to attract those great dental reviews while minimizing those negative reviews.

Power of good reviews

One of the easiest ways to get a great review is to ask. Just ask.

You’d be surprised how many dentists don’t do this. You should train your front-office staff to request positive reviews from patients who have had a great experience at your office. You can send a followup email for the patient, but those emails can be easily ignored. After all, who wants to think about their dentist (or any doctor) when they’re not physically in the office? Also, it occurred to me recently that after the patient has spent a few hours in the chair and is leaving with half their face still numb . . . that's not the best time to ask.

You can make the review management process easier by using software that organizes your practice reviews, such as Birdeye or ReviewTrackers. Your practice should be visible on all major review sites (these include Yelp, Google+, HealthGrades, Angie’s List, LinkedIn, etc.) and you should set up alerts so you know exactly when someone leaves you a review. This way, you can better manage all of your reviews and address negative reviews quickly.

Smart dentists are out there right now compiling as many positive reviews as possible. Your prospects like to hear from multiple sources. I’m a big believer that you can never have too many good reviews and should never stop seeking them out.

Read full article on Dentistry iQ.