The 2 Secrets to Successful Reviews

Episode #241 with Sean White: Whiteboard Marketing

·      Whiteboard Marketing is an outsourced full-service marketing group looking to help businesses like dentists by understanding where they want to take their companies and helping them get there.

o  Anything from building a website, taking over a website, consulting towards strategic marketing, SEO, online reviews and many other services

·      Their goal is to give “White Glove Service” with a lot of personal attention

·      Regarding reviews, the WHY is seen as most everyone will be looking at reviews before they try or purchase a service or product, and dentistry is no different

o  Whether it be Google, Yelp, Facebook, many dentists aren’t even sure that they need reviews to help their businesses.

·      Google reviews aren’t the easiest to come by, but they assist by being a “Key Ranking Factor”

o  As someone is looking up your office, many Google sites will have the ability to post reviews of that location, which are then used as key words during general searches to drive people to those reviews and to that location.

·      Immediately on the search page, you will have the number of reviews catch your eye, whether there be many or few. 

·      Google will also pull reviews from locations like Facebook, AllReviews.com, HealthGrades and others. All of these are designed to build confidence, gain trust and to bring diversity to the reviews.

·      Google favors businesses that respond to reviews

o  Everyone that uses Google is a Google Customer, thus when you are updating your site and responding to prompts, you are rewarded by Google

·      Clients with more reviews are moving up in the “Google Local 3 Pack”

o  Proximity to the search, Relevance of the search, and amount of reviews

·      You should not incentivize the actual patient for leaving reviews.

o  If Google finds you are doing such things, they may take all of your reviews down

·      Everyone has great ideas but are they Sustainable and is it Marketable

o  Plan the Work…Work the Plan

·      Now is a better time than ever to ask for a review, especially if you can get a review that explains your thoroughness regarding COVID safety

o  You try to create dynamics to your reviews

o  Facebook is the #1 resource dentists are using for social media and making connections. Some even put their reviews in their Timelines

·      People are corresponding much more electronically and you may want to look at linking responses with reviews.

o  To be sustainable, have someone be in charge of social media and growing reviews, as well as guiding where the reviews are coming from.

·      Any reviews are a positive thing, but they can be hard to get

o  You have to have a Gmail account to leave a Google review

o  Reviews have been a hot topic for the past 7 years

·      How to ask for reviews:

o  In Office – Verbal request, Paper, Signage and Buttons that ask for reviews, Team Involvement (discuss reviews in you huddle with goals for receiving the reviews)

o  Post-Appointment – Text, Email

·      Consider having a card to offer people that assists in leaving a review. After any good deed or a very positive experience, don’t be afraid to ask. They help to drive the practice.

·      There isn’t an official number of needed reviews, but the more you participate in a Google product, the more attention it feels you get from consumers.

·      “Google My Business” has been the current center of attention with reviews being a part of that program

·      Not only does it give you exposure but it puts you in a certain classification because even as patients were referring other patients, they were still checking reviews despite having a personal referral. Almost like an extra step towards higher quality.

·      Companies like Solution Reach, Demand Force, Lighthouse360, Revenue Well, and Weave are being used for patient communication that have modules to send a text for appointment reminders and may have a micro site for gathering reviews as well.

o  Make sure to change the language and diversify them to make them more personal

·      Pre-conditioning the patients is a great way to increase the likelihood of a review being left as well as keeping the request from being a shock to the patient, thus increasing the positive feel to the review.

o  This is more than most anyone else is doing to help guide the patients

·      Look at reviews not as a lead generating tool but as a “pull through” or a foundational component of your digital marketing.

o  The lead came from the referral, the reviews can help support the referral

·      If you do get a bad review, you need to respond Promptly and Professionally

o  Have an eye on the Big Picture

o  People form their opinions very quickly so you want to respond quickly to keep the narrative from being negative and show you are concerned about the patient experience

·      If someone wants to leave you a negative review, they are going to do it no matter what

o  Whatever the reason for their being upset, do your best to not take it personal, put out a response, and learn from it

·      Negative Reviews Do Matter:

o  Negative reviews are inevitable

o  Too many negative reviews scare prospective patients

o  Your practice may be less likely to show up during searches if there are too many negative reviews

§ Google doesn’t want to provide a negative experience for their customers

·      When Monitoring Your Reviews:

o  Monitor all the sites

o  Respond to EVERY review, no matter if they are 5 star or negative or even if it is just the star only without a comment

·      If you get a bad review from someone you know, call them up and DON’T TALK – JUST LISTEN! Most of the time they just want to be heard.

o  A lot of the times, these are miscommunications and they can be a 1-star review that turns into a 5-star review with comments.

·      Reviews aren’t going away; in fact, they are being used more than ever.

·      Make your reviews easy to find:

o  Add a Reviews page to your website

o  Post reviews on your Facebook page with a “thank you for your feedback” message

o  Include a recent patient review in your patient emails

·      Reviews have a significant ROI if the proper attention is paid to them

o  It isn’t money – it is time that is spent to do these

·      Consider other services to modernize your practice even if it makes you uncomfortable, it may be what your patients are expecting:

o  Online Bill Pay, Online Scheduling, Web Chat

·      Whiteboard Marketing: www.whiteboard-mktg.com,

o  Call for a Complimentary Marketing Audit: (614) 665-6151

o  Email sean@whiteboard-mktg.com or info@whiteboard-mktg.com