Online reviews are becoming an essential asset for any business, especially in healthcare. For chiropractors, leveraging online reviews is crucial in building trust and credibility with potential patients. In fact, studies show that over 72% of patients read online reviews before booking an appointment with chiropractic clinics. This means that chiropractors need to be aware of the importance of online reviews and how to use them to their advantage. By leveraging effective strategies, they can use positive reviews to enhance patient satisfaction, build trust with potential clients, and ultimately drive business growth.
What are Online Reviews
Online reviews are written feedback from customers about their experience with a product or service. These reviews are typically posted on a business’s website or third-party platforms like Google, Yelp, and Facebook. Some customers write reviews to highlight positive experiences, while others aim to alert others to any issues they encounter.
Why are Chiropractic Patient Reviews are Important:
Generating reviews is key to building trust and attracting more patients. You and your team should prioritize delivering a great experience and have a clear strategy for encouraging positive reviews from satisfied patients. One effective method is to educate patients on how to leave a positive review. Providing clear instructions empowers them to express their feedback effortlessly
Another factor to keep in mind is that reviews can also impact your visibility in search engines. More reviews boost your SEO, helping your chiropractic practice rank higher.
Chiropractic Patient Review Statistics
- 72% of consumers prefer choosing providers rated four out of five stars or higher.
- 37% of the patients said they used Google reviews. This shows the growing influence of Google reviews on patients’s decisions. Therefore, it is important for your clinic to know how to ask patients for Google reviews.
- Consumers read an average of 10 online reviews before feeling able to trust a local business.
- According to a survey conducted by GatherUp, 33% of customers leave a review when the experience was really good or really bad.
- 12% of consumers will always leave a review when asked. When requesting reviews, it’s important to keep your message friendly, brief, and personal. A good approach is to express gratitude, mention how valuable their feedback is, and make it easy for them to leave a review by including a link. Here are some examples for asking patients for reviews:
- “Hi [Patient Name]! We hope you’re feeling great after your last visit. Could you take a quick minute to leave us a review? Your feedback means a lot to us! [Insert link]”
- “Thanks for trusting us with your care! We’d love to hear your thoughts. Please leave us a quick review when you have a moment: [Insert link]”
- “Hi [Patient Name]! If you had a great experience with us, would you mind sharing it in a review? It helps us improve and others find the right care! [Insert link]”
- “Your opinion matters! If you’re happy with your care, please leave us a quick review here: [Insert link]. Thank you!”
How to Effectively Ask for Positive Patient Reviews for Your Clinic
Thinking how to get more patient reviews?
94% of patients use online reviews to choose a new provider. Surprising, isn’t it? Let’s do a quick analysis together to understand why reviews matter for patients and they should matter for your chiropractic clinic too.
Let’s say for example, there are three chiropractic clinics that come up on Google search results when you type – “chiropractors near me”
Clinic A has a 4.9 star rating with 2,589 reviews
Clinic B has a 5 star rating with 3 reviews
Clinic C has a 3 star rating with 20 reviews
Why? People consider both review count and star rating when choosing a new provider. The age and frequency of reviews matter too. Online reviews are a quick and easy way for patients to get valuable insights into your practice and services. Reading positive online reviews makes first-time patients feel more confident in your chiropractic clinic. That’s why it’s crucial for you to learn the strategies on how to ask patients for Google reviews and how to get more positive reviews on Facebook, Yelp, and other review sites. But how to ask patients for reviews? Let’s dive in to find out:
Part One – Make sure you have profiles on top review sites
Patients can’t review you if they can’t find you. Before you ask your patients to leave any reviews, make sure you have business profiles created on top review sites. Your business should be listed on the platforms where patients usually go to search for a doctor or healthcare provider. So, make sure you have a profile on popular review sites including:
- Yelp
- Healthgrades
- Vitals
To maximize the visibility of your practice and gather valuable patient feedback, it’s essential to leverage multiple review platforms. Starting with the top five platforms and gradually expanding your list as your practice and patient base grow is a smart strategy. Always prioritize asking patients for reviews to keep building your online credibility.
To help you understand how to get more positive reviews for your practice, we’ve put together this three-part guide with everything you need to know about patient reviews (+ a bonus tip in the end).
Part Two – Provide star-worthy experience
The patient experience is an essential part of patient care. By focusing your attention on the patient experience and patient engagement, you can provide that “star-worthy” services to your patients. Ask yourself this: What does the patient remember or understand better – the chiropractic treatment or their experience? The answer to this will always be their experience with you and your clinic.
The following are seven best practices that your clinic can implement to help create an exceptional patient experience:
1. No one wants to wait on the phone for 20 minutes trying to schedule an appointment or wait 24 hours for a returned call. Provide online scheduling options through your website, social media, and business listings.
2. Use chiropractic practice management software to send automated texts that include personalized appointment reminders, insurance and intake requests, pre-visit instructions, and if applicable, secure links to telehealth visits.
3. Make sure you have a digital intake tool in place. Imagine how frustrating it is to be a patient who constantly reshares their personal information and care history and pain to the same provider because of inadequate paperwork. Digital intake gives patients the comfort they want and prevents hassles for both your staff and the patients.
4. Providing patients the ability to pay bills online and access records through a modern and intuitive online portal can be an enormous benefit to your practice.
5. Keep waiting time minimal by reminding patients about their appointment time, communicating wait times with patients, and apologizing when necessary.
6. Reach out to patients after their visit to keep open lines of communication. Share educational materials or relevant care instructions that assist them in recovery and maintaining a healthy life using an integrated chiropractic practice software. Ongoing communication between visits increases patient satisfaction and keeps patients coming back.
7. Provide patients with a textable number that they can use to communicate with your practice as needed. You can add this number to your website or share it with patients so they can connect with you when they want.
[You may like to read: Patient Experience Trends 2022]
Part Three – Make it simple to leave reviews
Patients today are busier than ever. Asking for reviews in their busy schedule will only leave you disappointed as they won’t do it. Making it easy for patients to leave reviews after their visit not only demonstrates that you respect their time, but also improves the probability that they’ll complete the task at hand. So how to get patients to leave reviews? Use text messaging.
Sending a text message to request a review is better than asking them over an email. 81% of Americans use text as a means of communication. 95% of texts are read within 3 minutes.
Send a simple text message asking your patients how they would like to rate their experience with your clinic. If they reply with a 4-star or 5-star, send the next message with a link to your review platform of choice (i.e. Yelp, Google, Facebook, etc.). This approach demonstrates how to ask patients to leave reviews while valuing their time leading to a higher likelihood of positive responses
How to ask patients for reviews – the easiest way in getting more positive patient reviews and improving your star ratings is implementing a system that automatically encourages online reviews from your satisfied patients — zHealth makes all of that happen.
zHealth chiropractic software has an integrated review management system that simplifies the process of asking patients for reviews. How? The system sends text messages requesting reviews from patients and automatically responds to patients who leave 4-star and 5-star ratings, with links to your pages on Google Business, Yelp, Facebook, etc. zHealth online reputation management software filters out negative ratings (1-3 star ratings) and directs the feedback to your provider or clinic. This helps fix the situation before it gets published as a negative review.
“A difference of one star in the average rating can lead to a 5-9% difference in revenue.”
– Harvard Business Review
Bonus Tip:
Perfect is too good to be true
It may seem that if your clinic has a 5-star rating, patients are more likely to click on your listing and book an appointment. However, a perfect 5-star rating isn’t the best. A study by PowerReviews and Northwestern University showed that an average rating of 4.2 to 4.5 is the most trustworthy and increases the likelihood of conversion. If you check the below image, a Google search for “Best Chiropractic Doctor in San Francisco” shows three results in the Google Local Pack. Google automatically places the chiropractic clinic with a 4.5-star rating at the top while the clinic with perfect 5-star ratings comes on third place. This means perfect 5-star ratings and reviews aren’t always desirable, even by search engines. They can create doubt about the validity and authenticity of the reviewers to your clinic.
How To Deal With Negative Patient Reviews
If a patient leaves a negative review, it’s crucial to respond thoughtfully. Future patients will be watching how you handle the situation, so it’s important to show that their experience truly matters to you. Future patients will be watching how you handle the situation, so it’s important to show that their experience truly matters to you.
Always ensure your response is professional and empathetic. You might say something like:
“We’re sorry to hear that your experience didn’t meet your expectations. Please reach out us so we can address the issue and find a solution”
Conclusion
At the end of the day, how to get patient feedback or more positive reviews comes down to two factors – exceptional patient experience and a seamless way to leave reviews. By incorporating the “star-worthy” experiences into every touchpoint of your patient’s visit and adding chiropractic practice management software with a review automation tool, you can strengthen your online reputation while building a strong patient-provider relationship. One key element of this process is educating patients on how to leave a positive review. By providing necessary steps, you encourage them to share their thoughts more easily.
While you’re an expert in providing quality care, zHealth chiropractic practice management software helps you streamline, digitize, and automate processes in your chiropractic clinic. Not only will zHealth chiropractic software help you get more patients reviews, but you’ll also be able to provide seamless, convenient experiences that patients want today.
Related Articles:
The Power of Patient Reviews for Chiropractic Businesses
7 Essential Steps for Chiropractors to Maintain a 5-Star Online Reputation
The Ultimate Guide to Enhancing Chiropractic Patient Experience
21 Innovative Strategies for Enhancing Patient Experience in 2024
