There are various ways how to get reviews for your dental practice, in order to help grow your practice and bring in new patients. If your dental practice’s goal is to bring in more patients, your dentists should always aim to satisfy your patients enough so that they feel compelled to tell others about your clinic’s services.
That’s where online reviews come in. It plays a significant role in creating trust between your practice and potential patients and increasing the number of new patients visiting your clinic. This guide will show you different methods to acquire the most reviews for your dental clinic.
Why Are Reviews Important?
Reviews are important because it’s the first step in creating trust between your dental practice and potential patients. Potential patients who read positive reviews about your clinic are more likely to choose you as their dental care provider. Keep in mind 87% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses.
Not only do reviews create trust with patients but they also create trust with Google. When your practice has lots of reviews, Google will trust your business more, which can help boost your local ranking. This will push Google to rank your dental practice higher on search engines when they trust your business. The keywords patients use in their reviews will also help boost your dental clinic’s ranking when other patients are searching for those same dental services.
You can see in the image below that dental reviews can help boost your rankings based on keywords that the patients included in their reviews. Consider using Google Ads to promote your dental practice.
Still unsure how customer reviews affect your local SEO?
How To Get Reviews for Your Dental Practice
Did you know that some of the easiest ways to attract and collect more online reviews and get more patients into your dental clinic are through user-friendly posts, social media, promotions, etc? The more reviews you get for your dental clinic the more likely it is to rank higher on search results and even on websites like Yelp. Keep in mind, without reviews, it will be hard to set a foundation to market your dental practice.
User-friendly Posts
The best place to collect reviews from patients is your website. But you need to ensure that the method in which they leave a review is easy to access and use.
Since your target audience is busy if they find that leaving a review for your clinic is too complicated they will not waste their time figuring it out. You need to make leaving a review convenient for your patients.
Another way to accumulate reviews for your dental office is through third-party websites like Yelp. It’s an easy-to-use website and app that helps individuals find local businesses and leave and read customer reviews about those businesses.
In addition, it’s also easier for users to leave reviews about a business that they have prior experience with on this platform. You can also ask patients to “check-in” at your office on Yelp, this tells Yelp that they were present at your location that day. The patient will later receive a review request from Yelp”.
The more reviews you get on Yelp, the more likely you are to land on the top spots when users are searching for Google keywords like the “best dentists near me” or “dentists in Los Angeles”. Below is an example of Yelp lists that appear when searching for “best dentists near me.”
Want to learn how to run Yelp ads for your dental clinic? Read our step-by-step guide to start your campaign.
Take-Home Material, Emails & Phone Calls
Upon leaving your practice, provide patients with material to take home that requests their feedback. These take-home materials can be brochures, pamphlets, or simply just instructions on where and how they can post their online reviews.
You can also send a postcard that contains a QR code that will direct patients to a link where they can post their reviews. The code can also direct them to your Google My Business page or Yelp page.
Another way to keep your patients connected to your clinic is through emails. You can send them email reminders with a direct link to where they can post their review. This makes the posting site easily accessible for them to leave a review.
Calling patients is another direct way to collect reviews because you can ask for their feedback over the phone or remind them to leave a post about your clinic and services. Listening to your patient’s feedback is a great way to enhance the patient experience in your clinic.
Social media
Actively engaging on social media platforms like Facebook, can create and encourage conversations among your patients about your practice.
These conversations can catch the attention of different people who may consider visiting your clinic for their dental needs. In fact, 84% of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. This is why social media reviews play an important role in bringing new patients into your clinic.
If you are looking for more ways to market your dental practice read our article, How Can I Promote My Dental Practice for 23 easy ways to market your clinic.
Google My Business is also a great place for customers to leave reviews. It is easy for patients to leave a review on your GMB page, they just need to search for your clinic, click on reviews, and click on the blue write a review button. Then, your dental practice will show up on the Google My Business Map when users search for location-based keywords like “dentists in Los Angeles.”
Reviews play a huge role in how and where your clinic ranks on the GMB list. So, if your clinic is not listed as one of the top three spots on search results, chances are your business is not generating any clicks.
Then, they will need to rate your practice, write about their experience, and they can even include pictures and post their review.
Read our step-by-step guide on how to optimize your Google My Business for Dentists profile.
Video Testimonials
One way to get reviews is by asking patients if they would be willing to film a short testimonial video for your website, talking about their experience. Another way to gain reviews from your patients is by directing them to a video on your website that talks about your dental services and asking them to leave a comment on your video.
The videos can also be a tour of your office so that patients and even potential patients can get a feel for your office before even visiting.
Promotions (Giveaways)
Giving patients an incentive will influence them and give them a reason to leave a review on your website about the services they received from your dental clinic. Patients are more inclined to take the time to leave a review if there is something in it for them.
Need help choosing the best review acquisition methods for your clinic?
How to Deal With Negative Reviews
Negative reviews are inevitable, but how you handle them will attest to the professionalism and personality of your dental clinic. When you receive a negative review, you should not look to respond in the first seconds of you reading it, give yourself time to process it so you don’t respond based on your emotions.
You should try to contact that person privately before responding publicly online. Your response to negative reviews should be generic and short. You do not want to violate regulations set in place to protect the patients.
Reviews are crucial for potential patients. To learn more, read our article How Do You Attract New Dental Patients for 13 ways to bring new patients to your office.
Read more about the health information privacy HIPAA Law, in place to protect the privacy of patients.
Conclusion
So if your dental practice’s goal is to bring in more patients, your dentists should always aim to satisfy and help solve the patient’s dental problems so that they feel compelled to tell others about your clinic’s services. Not only do online reviews play a significant role in creating trust between your practice and potential patients, but they work to create trust with Google. The more positive reviews your practice has the more likely it is to rank higher on Google’s search result pages. This will then increase the number of patients coming into your clinic.
There are many ways to collect these reviews from your patients including through social media, third-party websites, or even through video testimonials. But remember the method by which patients leave a review should be quick and easy.
Need additional help acquiring more reviews for your dental clinic?
