Your practice reputation depends on your online presence and what good or bad things patients say about your practice on various review platforms. Besides treatment, reputation and word-of-mouth factors into the growth of your practice. And irrespective of time or generation, career, business, and practice depend on building and maintaining a strong reputation.
More than 80 percent of consumers do online research on products/services before making a purchase. Similarly, more than 70 percent of people visit online review sites to check a physician’s reputation before making a physical visit to the practice. And 97 percent of consumers have found online reviews accurate and helpful (Comscore/The Kelsey Group, Oct. 2007).
These stats are sufficient to show how influential reviews are in the growth or deterioration of your practice. So you need to take control of your online reputation before it takes over your practice. How? Let’s see below:
It’s more than just word-of-mouth
Patients discuss the healthcare service they love or hate with their near and dear ones. But in this digital age, such discussions happen mostly over social media sites instead of in person. And people in the US do use social media for healthcare information. Further, patients do research about you and your practice via Google and other search engines and check your website. On reading more about your background, people get a sense of transparency and trust in your practice, thereby helping you acquire more patients.
Search engine ranking matters
Strong online reputation not only helps you win the trust of potential patients but also search engines. It helps you rank higher in search results compared to other doctors. Google, Bing, and Yahoo follow an algorithm to understand your specialty and services that will engage more patients. Search engines analyze your profile, website, and reviews on social media and review platforms. Based on these parameters, you are ranked by a search engine, thereby making you known even without referrals.
Negative reviews need handling
Always remember you will also receive negative reviews about your practice. Take these as feedback and not a personal comment. You need to learn how to deal with bad practice reviews. Ignoring reviews is the worst you can do for your reputation. Fifty-six percent of reviewers feel it is important for a doctor to respond to online reviews. This makes a consumer feel more valued and connected.
Reputation management can’t be ignored
Reputation management is not an option and must be monitored or you will never know what people are saying about your practice online. This means knowingly or unknowingly, you will miss negative reviews received that can hit your practice badly. Gradually, this will affect your search engine ranking and the negative reviews will be highlighted at the top of search engines.
A negative review can destroy your years of reputation in just one night. So you need a reputation manager such as mypracticereputation.com – an easy solution for reputation management problems. Negative reviews need to be filtered and replied to positively. We offer review monitoring, reputation scorecard creation, review generation, review verification and much more.