Do you have concerns when it comes to asking your patients to review you online? Do you feel that the work you put into your practice and the care you give to your patients should speak for itself? Maybe you have even felt that asking your patients for a review comes off too much like a sales approach?
While these are all valid concerns, online reviews are a necessity for practice growth. Here are some jaw-dropping statistics that you should take a look at:
- 97% of people read reviews for local businesses.
- 91% of 18-34 year-olds trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation.
- A one-star increase in a Yelp rating leads to a 5-9% increase in revenue.
- Customers are willing to spend 31% more on a business with excellent reviews.
And here’s the kicker:
- 68% of customers are willing to leave a review when asked!
Now that you have the data, perhaps it’s time to brush those concerns aside so you can start getting great reviews for your practice! Here are five tips to get you started.
Tip #1: Motivate The Team and Identify Your Happiest Patients
You wouldn’t be able to make anything happen without your amazing team! Your teammates are your best advocates for promoting your practice and the work that you do. Motivate them to start asking your patients for reviews. Your patients will be more prone to reviewing you online when personally asked by a team member.
Take this as an opportunity in your morning huddles to identify patients on the schedule who could be invited after treatment to leave an online review. This will put you and the team in the conscious mindset and habit of asking for reviews. You could go a step further by motivating them with rewards.
Tip #2: Reward Your Dental Team and Hold Contests
While it’s important to get your team to be proactive in asking patients for reviews, not everyone may feel the initial motivation. Take this as an opportunity to incentivize your team with a rewards-based system. You could reward your staff with prizes such as a gift card or a small cash prize. For the teammates who ask for the most reviews, you could reward them with an extra paid day off, tickets to an amusement park, or maybe even a course of their interest for continuing education. You have a lot of room for creative possibilities.
Tip #3: Set Goals and Expectations to Track Success
While we can not predict the outcome each time a patient is asked to leave a review, we can have an end goal in mind. Take this as an opportunity to set a trackable goal. Aim for a realistic number of published online reviews per month and divide that number between your team.
If you are a smaller practice, start small. If you practice sees over 50 patients per day, set your goals a bit higher. No matter what, obtaining actual reviews will become much easier and you’ll quickly see the fruits of your labor.
Tip #4: Create an Employee Kudos Wall, Covered in Reviews!
Now that you’ve motivated your team and implemented a rewards program, it’s time to display your hard work on a wall in your practice.
Try this: Every time a team member’s name is mentioned in a review, print that review, attach it to a paper star (may want to laminate), and write down the team member’s name! Start taping or sticking your stars to a wall in your practice. Preferably in a location that’s visible to your entire team.
Each time the name “team” is mentioned in a review, take that as an opportunity to also print that review and credit it toward the entire team. Soon you’ll have a wall full of stars!
Tip #5: Automate Review Generation with InstaReview by YAPI
Gaining positive reviews is easy with InstaReview. YAPI generates real online reviews by automatically inviting your happy patients to leave reviews on the sites that matter most, such as Google, Facebook, and Healthgrades. Your patients will get an automatic review request via text with a link that allows them to post a review while they are still in your office or any time later.
In addition to motivating your team to ask for reviews, InstaReview makes it easier for the patient to quickly select their favorite review platform, increasing your chances of gaining quality reviews for the practice. The powerful combination of asking your patient for a review, then sending them an automatic review request could drastically improve your practice’s word of mouth marketing.
If you would like to learn more about YAPI and our add-on feature, InstaReview, you can speak with a sales associate by calling us at (844) 669-9274 or by scheduling a demo of our software.
Did you enjoy reading this article? Great! Here are some related articles;
- Why Online Reviews Matter For Your Dental Practice
- Improve Your Dental Practice In 2020
- Smart People. Smartphones. Smart Technology.
- How to Keep in Touch With Your Patients Through Content Marketing
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