We’re living in the digital age where Internet is has transformed the dynamics for all businesses. Per a Salesforce Research report, online reviews are the most popular method of researching a brand or product before buying and this is true of consumers in all age groups. This is true in context of healthcare as well, as reputations are now framed on the basis of online reviews written about a physician/hospital.
Let’s take a look at why reviews have redefined reputation management in healthcare and why online review management has become a vital part for healthcare providers:
Reviews Can Also Boost or Destroy Your Practice Reputation
Healthcare consumers i.e. the patients are increasingly becoming dependent on online reviews before booking an appointment with a physician. Five star or positive patient reviews about your practice help develop trust and credibility and form a positive online reputation. On the other hand, hostile/biased/false reviews from unsatisfied patients can be a setback, as these are visible to all other prospective patients, as well, who will make a decision to visit a physician or not based on these reviews.
Online Reviews Enhance Your Brand’s Online Visibility
Your practice can definitely grow by channelling the power of reviews to provide wider bandwidth for brand-building and online visibility. Your response to reviews is visible to anyone who searches about your or your practice online. If managed meticulously, each individual response to a review can be very impactful in balancing the effects of the negatives ones. Each response feeds fresh content to the search engines about your practice which means higher online visibility.
Improve Search Engine Rankings
A hidden benefit to having an effective review strategy is the SEO rankings. Though improving conversions and creating better relationships with your patients is the main purpose of reviews, they also provide considerable SEO value. The more that is written about your practice online, the more it provides fresh, unique content for search engines. So you can consider putting efforts to increase positive reviews about your practice to leverage the SEO benefits.
Attract Potential Patients Who Choose to View Only 4-Star and 5-Star Reviews
Almost all websites, including Yelp and Google, allow people to filter and see reviews. For instance, people can choose to see physicians only with 5-star or 4-star ratings for making a decision on booking an appointment with one of them. If your practice has positive reviews from satisfied patients, it can attract many potential patients to your practice.
Better Online Patient Experiences
Patient-review websites have made it very easy for patients to post reviews about their experiences with physicians. Patients who communicate through these forums want to be taken seriously. One of the key areas of patient dissatisfaction is a lack of any sort of acknowledgement when they share an experience or their needs with a physician. A well strategized review management strategy helps in addressing issues and has become an important element for patient engagement and resolution of issues. It also allows for crowd-sourcing ideas and feedback from services delivered to patients for formulation of new approaches or changes within the practice.
While the world is connected through the Internet today, it’s quite hard to understate the importance of online patient experiences. Reviews are your online digital footprints. You can no longer afford to ignore the online reviews. Harness them build your practice’s online visibility and grow your patients.