How Should Me Dental Practice Respond to Bad Online Reviews?

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Bad reviews happen to every business owner, whether they run a tiny dental practice or a multi-billion dollar conglomerate. Sometimes, it’s patients telling their friends and family what happened. Other times, they make sure to tell everyone who might Google dentists in their area. If you’re looking for the best way to respond to online reviews, we’ll look at what you should know.

Never Ignore Your Patients

The first rule of customer service is that no one has 100% good reviews, and if you do see another dentist boasting about this, you should immediately doubt their data. Most of the time, a truly disgruntled customer doesn’t have anything to do with you or your staff. However, even if you won’t make the customer happy, you still have to respond to their version of events. Failing to do so will make other customers assume that their concerns are the last things on your mind, and it can ruin your visibility on search engines like Google. 

Always Tell the Truth and Offer Support

Dentists make mistakes, just like everyone else. Drills may go too deep, crowns may fall off before they’re meant to, and extraction sites can become infected. Whether the bad review is based on a legitimate mistake or sheer bad luck, you’ll want to take responsibility for what you can or point out the unfortunate chain of events that led to the issue in the first place.

The next step is to offer some type of support to the patient in your online response. So, you might ask the customer to reach out to the office to work through the problem. Or you may note how you’re taking steps to address an issue, such as a discourteous staff member or long wait times.

Improve Your Online Marketing 

At Digital Healthcare Professionals, a marketing agency in San Diego, we help dentists who want to improve their online presence, and your reviews play a big role in whether you show up in search engines when a patient needs a filling or a teeth cleaning. If you’re looking for a team that can help you manage your reviews, whether you have just a few or you’re drowning in criticism, contact us today so we can get started.

The Power of Reactions and Responses: Addressing Digital Feedback for Your Dental Practice

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Online reviews are important for dental practices, particularly if they’re operating in saturated areas. When the public has plenty of choices in San Diego, CA, it matters to them what former patients have to say about where they spend their money. Below, we’ll examine how to address digital feedback and why it’s important.

Find the Feedback

Finding the feedback for your dental practice is often more complex than businesses realize, particularly when they’re used to Google and Yelp dominating the headlines. The truth is that people can talk about your business anywhere, whether on Reddit, your social media pages, or any other website. If you don’t know where people are talking, you can miss an opportunity to have your say in the conversation.

Be Truthful

Businesses are made up of people, and people mess up. If you find yourself embroiled in a back-and-forth, it’s important to be concise about what happened on your end and how you attempted to make it right. There are certain patients you won’t be able to tempt back into your practice: this is something that every business must accept when it comes to addressing their online criticism. You can let prospective and current patients know that you did everything you could to confront the problem head-on.

Find Better Online Marketing in San Diego, CA

Failing to address online reviews can make it appear as though your business doesn’t care about their patients. If a current patient can’t get a response to their complaints online, why would a prospective patient think that they’ll be able to get their questions or concerns answered? Ideally, you’ll also be responding to your online praise, fostering the good feelings between you and the patient, and building a stronger relationship over time.

If you could use some help managing your online presence, consider that Digital Marketing Professionals has the marketing resources in San Diego, CA to step in. Our team is here to help you improve your strategy, taking care of the details you and your staff don’t have time for. In addition to having the technical skills, we also know the healthcare scene backwards and front, so you can get the most from every response.

 

Should You Offer an Incentive for Customer Reviews?

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Customer reviews are important for every business, and your dental practice is no exception. The more your customers talk about their positive experiences, the more likely you are to grow your revenue.

However, there’s no doubt that reviews can be a tricky business. When most people are more driven to write a negative review than a positive review, the reality is that a dentist or office manager can start to resent the whole process. If you’re tempted to incentivize reviews, we’ll look at the best practices so you don’t end up alienating your patients.

What Are Incentivized Reviews?

Incentivized reviews in San Diego, CA refer to any reward given to a customer in exchange for a review. So, you might see a sign at a coffee shop for $1 off a speciality beverage if the customer leaves a review. With a dental practice, the incentives become a little more murky. You might give away toothbrushes or samples as a little thank you for a review, or you could even consider a small discount off of a major treatment or service.

Should You Incentivize Customers for Reviews?

If you have a dental practice, the easiest choice would be to avoid incentivized reviews. This is because the ethics of the scenario get dicey. If you’re giving away an incentive, the customer may be more inclined to write a positive review of the practice than their real opinion.

However, there are ways to incentivize customers without violating a search engine’s rules or your patient’s trust. If you clearly mark which reviews were incentivized and you also make it clear to your customers that you do not expect a positive review, a small incentive can go a long way to boosting the number of reviews you have.

Find Digital Marketing Professionals in San Diego, CA

At Digital Healthcare Professionals, we help dental practices manage their online reputations and presence. As digital marketing experts in San Diego, CA, we specialize in the unique needs of dental practices in a busy city. If you have questions about starting a campaign or how to manage your reviews, contact us today to learn more.