Tips for Reducing Your Negative Online Reviews
With smartphone technology bringing limitless information to your customers’ fingertips, online reviews are more important today than ever before. In fact, a 2016 study found that 90% of consumers read online reviews before they visit a business. People tend to be even more careful when choosing a physician or other healthcare professional, so this is an even more crucial consideration for our clients in the medical field. By now, most healthcare businesses are aware of how important their online reputation is, even if they already have a great digital marketing campaign, but actually achieving and maintaining a strong online reputation is another matter. On top of getting as many good reviews as possible, there are measures you can take to keep your negative reviews to a minimum as well.
Get back to basics.
The best way to start improving your reputation is by taking a step back and looking at your practice objectively. Are you actually providing good service? Are there frequent complaints about a specific aspect of your patients’ experiences? Simply looking at your processes and policies can make a tremendous difference.
Give your employees training in conflict resolution.
For your employees to be effective, they need to know much more than just the basic functions of their job. Understanding how to approach a conflict, how to interact with unhappy patients and how to de-escalate a situation are important skill sets for any employee who interacts with patients (in a healthcare setting, this usually includes every person in your practice). Investing in conflict resolution training as part of our healthcare practice consulting and training services can help your employees resolve problems before they reach the point at which the patient feels the need to post a bad review.
Provide alternative ways for patients to make a complaint.
Many people post their negative experiences online because they don’t feel that they have any other way to express their dissatisfaction or to alert the business’ owner that there is a problem. It’s important to let them know that their best bet for a happy resolution is to contact your management team so they can handle the matter internally. If your employees aren’t able to resolve the issue, make sure they all know which person on the management team they should refer the customer to. You should also post this information around your office so patients or customers themselves can see who they need to contact if they have a concern. Ideally, give them an email address to contact because many people prefer not to argue over the phone.
When you reply to negative reviews online, be genuine but don’t overcompensate.
No matter how hard you work on your online reputation management, you’ll probably get a few negative reviews from time to time, and the way you handle them is vital. Post a genuine response, and if your staff made a mistake, take accountability for it (within reason and within HIPAA guidelines). One of the fastest ways to anger the person who posted the review as well as other patients who read your response is to post the same generic, tone-deaf response to every complaint. However, it’s also important not to swing the other way and give patients the world every time they post a negative review. If you respond to every one-star review with, “Please give us another try – here’s a $200 freebie on us!” it may encourage other negative reviews because other people will try to get the same handouts (even if they don’t have a valid complaint). This isn’t to say that you compensate patients for a mistake on your part – just don’t go public about it.
Avoid automated review requests.
Imagine that a patient at your practice has an unfortunate experience and leaves your office upset but willing to let bygones be bygones and go on with life. Then, that evening, they get an email from you asking them to post a review. All their frustration comes back and they say, “Fine, I’ll tell you exactly what I think and I’ll make sure the whole world hears it.” Automated review requests that go out after every patient’s visit can cause these types of problems. Instead, tell your staff to manually send review requests to patients you know are happy with your services. You can also send internal surveys to every patient so you get their honest feedback directly, and this can tell you who you should invite to post a review.
Don’t push patients for reviews.
Another easy way to annoy your patients is to pester them frequently for reviews. Someone may actually be happy with the service you’ve given them, but when they get the fourth email in a week pushing them to post a review, they may reach their breaking point and rate you poorly just out of frustration. One reminder is okay, but if a patient wants to give you a good review, they can get onto Yelp, Google, medical directories, or your business’ social media profiles any time they want without you prodding them.
Try to get fraudulent reviews removed, but don’t raise your expectations.
Unfortunately, there are situations in which a former employee, competitor, or other person posts a fraudulent negative review against a company to tarnish their image. In these situations, it is sometimes possible to have the review removed. However, having a review successfully removed is extremely rare and it typically requires concrete proof that the review is false, so don’t get your hopes up too high.
As much as patients rely on online reviews, the reality is that they aren’t always an accurate picture of how well your company performs because people are actually more likely to complain about a bad experience than they are to praise a good one. The tips above, however, can help you limit your negative reviews and hopefully resolve any conflicts before the patient feels the need to give you negative publicity. Whether you need to overhaul your online reputation or you want to keep it going strong, schedule a meeting with McCauley Marketing Services to discuss your online reputation management and how you can put your best foot forward. Plus, for more marketing tips, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.