Having an online reputation checklist can be a vital organ of the healthcare industry. Without it, large networks and independent practices alike won’t be as effective in acquiring and retaining patients as well as improving the overall experience.
Customer review stats show 92% of healthcare consumers said the top priority for medical providers over the next 12 months is to “improve customer experience and 88% of respondents under the age of 40 will choose their next medical provider based on a strong online presence
To elevate their online presence and retain more satisfied patients, healthcare brands will need to take advantage of the following reputation tactics.
- Ask for More Patient Reviews
- Respond to Reviews Efficiently
- Closely Analyze and Act On Reviews
As you read on, use the following reputation data as a way to measure yourself against the competition.
Healthcare Online Reputation Checklist Step 1: Ask for More Reviews
Based on our online reputation analysis, healthcare brands get only 3 reviews per location per month. This metric needs improvement especially when you consider customer reviews data showing that:
- 72% of consumers use online reviews as the first step to finding a new doctor
- 44% of patients want to give feedback after each visit
Not only do patients want to leave feedback; they look for it when researching for a new provider. This puts the pressure on your team to be proactive and start asking for reviews. Doing so provides a couple of advantages: 1) each piece of feedback serves as valuable social proof to consumers looking for reasons to choose a specific provider and 2) the right review request process also shows your team’s willingness to engage with consumers after their visit even if they had a bad experience. These are 2 crucial trust signals that can set your organization apart.
To make the process of asking for reviews easier, use the Ask Tool from ReviewTrackers. With it, your team can create multiple templates and requests can be deployed in person, via email, or through SMS. However, consider the time it takes to ask for a review. Customer reviews data shows 73% of consumers prefer to provide feedback within a few days so it’s best to send out a request right after the visit.
Healthcare Online Reputation Checklist Step 2: Respond to Patient Reviews
As your teams collect reviews, they should also have a plan for responding to reviews. Similar to review requests, responding shows your group’s willingness to engage with patients after their visit. A carefully crafted response can also be a deciding factor for potential patients who are looking for a reason to choose a provider. In fact, customer review data shows almost two-fifths of patients will overlook negative reviews if the provider responded in a thoughtful manner.
As the reviews start coming in, it’s important to lean on positive review response examples and learn the art of how to respond to negative reviews. Learning from these examples can, in time, elevate the quality of your team’s review responses. With each response it’s also important to be cognizant of HIPAA guidelines, which help protect a patient’s privacy. If possible, take the conversation offline and remedy any issues there.
Responding to reviews is a perfect opportunity for your healthcare brand to shine. Customer reviews data shows 51.8% of patients say their negative feedback wasn’t addressed by the practice. Furthermore, 60.3% of the time, patients are satisfied by the process of a practice contacting a patient who posted a negative review. In other words, responding to reviews already puts you ahead of most competitors with a high chance of retaining a patient who had a bad experience.
These interactions not only affect patient retention; but acquisition as well. Train your teams to make on-brand, empathetic responses that address issues, thank patients for their business, and invite them to come back.
Healthcare Online Reputation Checklist Step 3: Analyze and Act On Review Data
Patient reviews are not just assets to bolster your healthcare brand’s online presence; they’re also valuable sources of actionable data. Specifically, you can use a collection of reviews to discover trending topics and keyword trends that can point to hidden paint points. For instance, a series of reviews can all mention the “wait time” in a negative sentiment or mention the name of a specific physician because they level of care was exceptional.
This process of combing through multiple reviews and gaining insights can take up plenty of valuable time and resources. When done manually, this process is also prone to errors, which can lead to more issues than solutions. However, customer experience analytics software can get the same analysis completed accurately and in a timely manner. With natural language processing technology your team can create a report filled with notable review keywords and sentiment analysis that can be the catalyst for change.
For instance, the metrics above show that the lowest positive sentiment terms for the healthcare industry were “value” and “wait time,” meaning these terms in a review were usually attributed mostly to negative reviews. This means that you’ll need to work on providing better value for each patient while also reducing wait times. Both are not easy changes but any improvement in either area can show you’re listening to feedback, which will be appreciated in the long run.
Ongoing analysis might show new pain points in a few months or even years. Make the analysis report a recurring event so that your team can make valuable changes to the brand before the issues become serious.
Conclusion
With just the three steps above your healthcare organization can enhance its online presence, making it easier to acquire and retain patients. Specifically, consumers will notice your engagement through review requests and responses, and your team can take reviews one step further and closely analyze them for actionable insights
Planning and acting on these changes won’t happen overnight. However, the use of reputation management software as a long-term solution to acquire and retain patients can easily set you apart from the competition and create a runway for long-term success.