The perception of a highly-reputable dental practice is formed from how positive your online reviews are. Prospective patients only consider stepping foot inside your dental practice if the feedback they’ve read about your service is worth the experience.
Why is it relevant in this day and age? Well, it’s simple. The growth of digital technologies has meant that access to online content has never been easier, and businesses take advantage of exposing their brand online through online marketing. Dental practices are no different.
Patient reviews are a great first step to not only show wider communities how good (or bad) your dental service is but it also helps to improve your reputation, along with other key fundamentals.
Here are five key benefits of why patient reviews are valuable to your practice.
Bridge Service Gaps
Even though you might believe your service is of high quality, patients may see something in your service that they’re not pleased with. Do not consider this as a negative. Instead, use it as a learning curve to making sure you meet the patient’s expectation the next time they visit the practice. A negative patient review actually improves your service, otherwise, how will you grow?
Boost Engagement
When patients feel like their feedback is being heard, they’re more likely to engage with your services. The key to patient retention is engagement. For example, answer any queries and concerns in a timely manner and keep them in the loop of new services and promotions. Your content should be of value so readers can become engaged with the content you produce. These are all vital steps in positive engagement.
Are You Beating Your Competitors?
Competition is fierce within any business, but none more so than dentistry. It is important that you take a peek at your competitors to understand how you measure up against them. Doing this can help you evolve your marketing strategy as well. You should always maintain one step ahead of the competition and that requires a proactive approach to “beat them to the punch” and ensure you meet patient demand first.
Make Sense Of Feedback
Sometimes, when a negative review is posted, it is very easy to dismiss it without understanding the substance and reasoning behind that negative review. There could be hidden information behind the review which is calling out for a change to your service. The additional focus and insight towards the feedback should be used as a springboard to evolve and continuously improve your service and marketing strategy. Never dismiss a negative review out of hand!
Promotional Offers
Engaging with your audience (as already mentioned) through patient reviews allows you to go the extra mile to retain them with a private promotion or a free service of some kind. This can help further encourage patients to uphold your practice’s reputation and your brand by gaining the attention of wider communities. People (not just patients) are always happy to receive incentives, and you can use this to your advantage.
If you’re seeking to evolve your patient feedback service within your marketing strategy, contact us at Smile and Grow today and we’d be happy to help.
