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Dentist’s get it. You understand that your online reputation is one of the cornerstones of your patient acquisition funnel.
Reputation management consists of three different strategies that must be addressed by every dental practice:
Monitoring – Knowing when someone leaves you a review anyplace online.
Building – Creating a 5-Star reputation for your practice online because 92% of consumers in your market read your reviews.
Marketing – So you control the message and not Google.
Simply put, reputation management is a critical part of any marketing plan.
Are You Aware Of This Paradigm Shift That Has Occurred In The Last Two Years?
There has been a paradigm shift in the way consumers search for local businesses. In the past, they would go to your website first to check you out and then look at your reviews.
In the last five years, Facebook and Google have trained consumers to first look at reviews before they ever go to your website. In fact, the latest stat shows that 92% of consumers read reviews, but more important than that is:
Online business reviews are viewed as having the same level of authority as a word-of-mouth recommendation, which is still considered the best way to get new patients. Aren’t sure? Ask any patient that was referred to you if they went online to check out your reviews before they called to schedule an appointment.
Reviews are about building TRUST. Consumers trust what other people have to say about your dental practice more then they trust what you say about yourself through your website.
Trust is easy to lose, so you must avoid making these eight common mistakes in building your online reputation.
5 Reputation Management Mistakes To Avoid
1. Entering Patient Reviews From A Computer In Your Office Can Get You Banned From Google
Google tracks the IP address associated with reviews. If they see that multiple reviews originate from one IP address, they will shut down your GMB account for violating their terms of service.
Since 87.35% of all searches are on Google, getting banned from Google would be disastrous to your client acquisition strategy.
2. A Quid Pro Quo In Exchange For A Review Will Get You Banned From Google
A quid pro quo is a violation of Google's terms of service, and they will shut your GMB listing down.
Here is a true story that illustrates what can happen by an ex-employee.
A dentist in a nearby town was charged with a DUI and didn’t report it to the State Dental Board. About 18 months went by, and his practice was flourishing when he decided to fire an employee. In retaliation, the ex-employee reported him to the board, and his license was suspended for 18 months. He just about went bankrupt because he had to pay an associate all the income he had been making just to keep his practice afloat.
A terminated employee could do the same and report you to Google just by leaving a review that says you’re incentivizing patients to leave a review.
Never underestimate the wrath of an employee who has been let go.
3. Failing to Keep Your Review System Going To Save A Few Bucks
Failing to keep your review system running is one of the greatest mistakes that any dentist can make, regardless of how many reviews you have.
First, 85% of consumers feel that reviews OLDER than 90 days aren’t relevant. Consumers live in the moment, and they don’t care what you did in the past; they want to know what you’re doing today.
"I can virtually guarantee you that if you stop, you are missing new patient opportunities that are dwarf the little it cost to keep your review system active." Jared Van Ittersum D.D.S.
Second, it hurts the ranking of your GMB listing. August 2020, Google announced that it was making a shift to emphasize GMB listings. In our own internal tests, we are finding that in some markets, there are not any organic website listings until page 3 in the search results.
Learn More About How To Rank In Top Three GMB Listings
4. Failing To Monitor All Your Online Reviews
Dentists know that they cannot run their practice without running into the occasional patient who is demanding, fickle, and impossible to please.
The fact is that the Internet is a place where everyone has a megaphone and is free to say anything they want without fear of reprisal.
If you don’t address the problem right away, it’s only going to get worse. It’s like an abscessed tooth; if you don’t take care of it, the pain will get worse, and it can eventually kill you.
If you had a patient with an abscessed tooth, you would do everything in your power to convince him to treat it. Well, your reputation is the lifeblood of your dental practice.
Not everybody is going to leave you a review on Google or Facebook. There are hundreds of online directories where your patients can leave a review.
You may not be aware of them, but Google is, and they will show them to your prospects.
You MUST have a system to monitor your online reviews. If you don’t believe me, watch the video below by Kevin O’Leary from the Shark Tank.
5. Failing To Market Your Reviews
Your reputation is one of your most valuable assets.
Consider this REVIEWS = TRUST.
Allowing someone else to control the message about your dental practice, to shape the opinions of your target audience without your input, is beyond dangerous; it’s reckless.
Yet very few dentists market their reviews. Do you?
Not only is it a smart thing for you to control the message that shapes the opinion of your prospect, after reviewing thousands of display ads, “review ads” are head-and-shoulders more effective than any other form of advertising.
One final thought on this issue patient reviews.
You and your team have worked for years to provide an exceptional experience for your patients. Don’t leave it to Google to control your message. It is your responsibility to see that you communicate to your market space what other patients say about you.
Here is just one example of how we communicate our clients' reputation.
Conclusion:
My son and his partner, Elias Achey own a multi-state group practice. One of the problems they faced was that some of the practices they were purchasing had very few reviews and even ratings as low as 3.2 Stars. I knew I had to find them a solution and spent several months analyzing the market.
One system stood head and shoulders above everyone else. I couldn’t just buy it for them, so I became a licensed distributor of their system. If this is something you would like to learn more about, schedule a call by clicking the button below.
Comment below and let us know what your thoughts are about this article. Have you ever experienced a negative review and how did you resolve it?
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