Google Reviews for Dental Marketing – Get over 100 Reviews in 6 months

Are You Asking Your Patients to Leave Google Reviews?

Many Dental practitioners now rely on online patient reviews to raise a profile to attract and win new patients. If you sink your teeth into Google Reviews for Dental Marketing your peers will find it tough to beat you. Research proves that patients consider Google reviews for dentist reliable with valuable information, thus dependable for decision-making since the highs and lows of patient experiences, both are covered.

Many practices that have exceptional Google ratings will stand out from their competition. Consistent good feedback results in higher footfalls as new patients are willing to rely on the experiences of other patients.

If you have set up the reviews, it’s well and good but if your bank of testimonials is running dry or its non-existent, how would you boost that critical to your practice star rating?

Gaining Google Reviews

Whilst direct requests for Google reviews may be considered by some as a seemingly unethical practice, it is in fact widely considered an essential tool in your marketing armory. Online Google reviews for dentists are the bedrock of any business looking to promote to the public who widely accept and utilize Google’s rating system. The essence of good ethics is to never request only positive feedback.

On approaching patients let them know you are asking for a ‘favour’ and explain that the practice relies on patients like them to encourage others to enjoy your services. You will quickly know whether or not you’re asking properly with genuineness based on the number of patients who respond to your review request and the good news is that most patients say yes.

So, who are the patients with the best review potential? The beginning point is to recognise that your support staff and junior doctors are fairly conversant with the feelings and experiences of patients so they are the right people to ask. This means understanding who might be open to helping you out and who might shun the idea becomes obvious and you proceed accordingly. But don’t let comfortable familiarity limit you to seeking testimonials solely from long-term old patients.

Get: Local SEO Strategy to Grow Your Dental Practice

The most positive feedback inevitably comes from those who have just experienced optimum care and for whom you’ve achieved amazing results. Ideally then, requesting feedback at the peak of patient satisfaction, i.e. when treatment is complete, the bill is paid and they are about to walk out the door is everything.

Making it easy

Personalise the request and mirror the language used. Observing professionalism is important. But everyone differs in the way in which they communicate in written form. Therefore, factor this skill into team training and incentivise the team if required. It’s key that patients have a Google account. If they don’t, asking them to sign up for an account may seem too much of their time. An alternative could be to ask that they leave a Facebook review instead.

For those who do have a Google account, the key is showing a patient that they must sign into Google and navigate to your business listing on Google to leave the review. Sometimes that’s difficult for people to do, so make it easy for them. Google has made it easy for businesses to direct their customers to a personalised Google review link, view the details here: https://support.google.com/business/answer/2911778 Make time to walk patients through the process given on the link.

Remember also that it is good etiquette to reply to Google reviews. When logged in as an owner of a practice, you will see a reply button below each review. It would be great to also send a  mail thanking them. Perhaps also consider emailing them a referral voucher, asking them to share with friends and family. Choosing the right time will dramatically increase the chances of them sharing it. Directly asking each and every patient for a review of their experience may not always be feasible. So adding a review link in all your email signatures can create wonders.

‘Ask the Right Few’

The essence of successfully collecting Google reviews for dental marketing lies in teamwork.

Many practitioners share that working as a team to create truly achievable systems that work for everyone is key to positive results. Have team meetings with all involved, and gain team insights to be able to strategize and create protocols and procedures that all agree to facilitate a build-up of reviews for dental marketing. This results in an increase in reviews. It has a side benefit of giving the team satisfaction that they are heard, that their work is recognised and respected and that they have contributed.

1. Who? Invite regular long-term patients well known to you by all means, but do ensure a mix of demographic. Patients who have just completed smile makeovers or orthodontic treatment, teeth whitening or have had implants fitted are excellent candidates who will appreciate the ‘wow’ factor their treatment achieves. Aim to gain reviews for dental practice from people with similar profiles to those you are targeting.

2. When? I suggest immediately after treatment when they feel euphoric about the result and, thereafter, a maximum of two more times by way of a ‘how did we do?’ and ‘how are you doing?’ email. Do respect boundaries. Any more than three times and you run the risk of annoying your patients. When emailing a follow-up, state that leaving a review will take 30 seconds and give them an example of questions most people answer on their reviews to take away the element of having to think.

3. How? Make it as easy as possible for them to provide feedback. Provide a personalized link and/or have a chat about their experience with you. Positive engagement is everything and if the feedback isn’t so great, then at least you can handle any complaints swiftly and positively. When you ask, be clear that if they had any feedback, alternatively they may wish to share it directly with you. Get a short Google link, too. Copy instructions from here: https://support.google.com/business/answer/7035772?hl=en-GB

4. Where? A note of caution, they can certainly leave reviews when at the practice, as long as they are not connected to your wifi. Google has been known to penalize ratings if there is a duplication of IP address and will remove if too many are left from the same address. So do make sure the patients leave their reviews either at your practice (but not whilst connected to your Wi-Fi), or once back at home and on their own laptop/mobile/tablet using their own connection

5. What? Never directly ask for a five star review. Be smart and choose happy and satisfied patients who you know enjoyed their experience with you. Whilst you can micro manage all of your Google reviews for Dentist, you can up the odds in your favour by engaging with those who know you best, here you can get the Guide to Dental Care Marketing which could help you to enhance your business.

6. Why? Whilst there is arguably no direct correlation between your Google ranking in the search results pages and the caliber or frequency of Google reviews, there is an obvious benefit to updating reviews for your potential patients. It is important to be seen as current, even if you are already achieving five-star standard. Nobody wants to read and rely on an old review from 2015 when the team were different and so too were the treatments on offer.