RETAIL OPS

The Reviews Are In…

Pointers for managing the good—and the bad—online patient reviews

online reviews. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, they’re an Internet reality and one more thing for your practice to manage. It may be easy to put your head in the sand, but how you handle online reviews—especially negative ones—can speak volumes about you to others. People do read reviews, including current patients (those you want to retain) and especially prospective ones (who you want to gain).

Here are some pointers on how to gracefully and efficiently manage online reviews.

BE DILIGENT ABOUT MONITORING ONLINE REVIEWS AND RESPOND TO THEM QUICKLY

“It’s important to review online surveys in a timely fashion and handle them accordingly,” affirms Emily Hein, marketing coordinator for Smoke Vision Care, with three locations in Southwest Michigan. “We receive surveys every day from our patients, which allows us to hear their opinions, both about their experiences with us and where we may need improvement.”

Daniel L. Hogan, optician at Innovative Eyecare in Decatur, AL, says his business is notified when someone places an online review. “On most sites, someone leaves a review and the business is allowed to accept or deny it,” he says. “Keywords are properly placed in response within a specific time frame, which can become part of the algorithm for a business’ page rank. Our goal is to respond within a specific time frame.”

ACTIVELY ASK FOR REVIEWS

Asking for patients’ opinions is a tangible demonstration of the practice’s confidence and caring. Nurturing reviews also helps businesses maintain some control over the process. Reviews can motivate action, such as improving practice protocol or praising staff performance.

Bond Family Eyecare in Decatur, TX, has an automated system that sends surveys to patients via email two days after their office visit.

“All reviews are viewed by our office manager and doctors, and then shared with staff,” says Cherlyn Flor, office manager.

ACCENTUATE THE NEGATIVE

Negative reviews are a call to action. They allow disappointed patients to vent. Whether they trash your practice legitimately or not doesn’t matter. What does matter is how your practice responds to their concerns in a public forum. This is an opportunity to showcase your practice’s abilities and humanity.

Hogan notes: “Negative reviews can be more beneficial than the positive [reviews], by showing where improvement is needed and giving patients the opportunity to see real people dealing with real problems.”

Survey Says….

Surveying patients online—where they can be brutally honest—can provide useful information. Here are some tips for running effective surveys.

KEEP YOUR SURVEY SHORT, SIMPLE, AND SINCERE

Ask for patient input and include satisfaction questions about service and products. Examples: “Share Your Opinions with Us” or “We Want Your Opinion.” Multiple choice is easiest: Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor, and Neutral. Offer a few lines or boxes for additional comments.

SHOWCASE REVIEWS

Place a positive one on your website home page and refresh it regularly, along with a link to all reviews. Post positive reviews on Twitter or Facebook. You can also dare to post negative reviews where you pleased the patient with a successful situation resolution.

MAKE SURVEYS EASILY ACCESSIBLE

People don’t have patience with things that are difficult. Place survey requests on your website and other social media like Facebook. Make it obvious that you’re seeking input, which casts your practice in a fearless, friendly light.

CERTIFY REVIEWS

Certify that reviews are from actual patients, and place a note next to the review that indicates such.

Additionally, negative reviews can be a way to track and react to consumers’ hot buttons and educate the public.

“We respond to negative comments with the most fervor,” Hein says. “We feel it’s a great opportunity to educate the online community about our practice and exceptional customer service. Fortunately we don’t get a lot of negative comments. However, when we do, it’s usually about cost. Then we’re able to educate on the quality of our products and the value received by purchasing with us.”

OPTIMIZE THE POSITIVE

While negative reviews can be helpful, it’s the positive reviews that you want to shout from the mountaintops. So do it. When possible, put a couple out there for all to see, sharing them on your social media pages.

“We like to post or use our positive reviews, with the patients’ permission, in cross-marketing materials,” Hein says.

— Karlen McLean