You’ve poured your heart and soul into your dental practice, so it can sting a little when someone criticizes you online. Studies show that most of your potential patients will check out your practice online before their first visit, and naturally you don’t want the first thing they see to be negative reviews.
In fact, it’s estimated that 92% of consumers will read online reviews. Are negative reviews the end of the world for your practice? Not really. People are more influenced by the number of reviews and your overall rating, and most even expect to see a couple unhappy patients.
In fact, evidence suggests that people are suspicious when a business or product has only perfect reviews, and we’ve seen that 4.5-stars can actually be a more useful rating than a 5-star rating.
This means, while the overwhelming majority of people consider reviews a part of their decision process, they’re still being approached with a healthy dose of skepticism. One of the most important factors considered when a potential patient reads a negative review is how you respond to the criticism.
How to Respond to Negative Reviews
You should attempt to respond to every negative review, and you should do so in a timely fashion. The following are some of the best practices that can turn a negative review into a positive example of your customer service.
1.Take a deep breath
It’s easy to become defensive when you read something online that is mean about your staff, your practice, or even about yourself. It’s even worse if the review is false, unfair, or their poor experience was out of your hands.
You need to respond, but you should do so when your emotions have cooled. If you lash out at a patient or are critical of their feelings, it will validate the poor rating in the minds of your readers.
2. Contact the reviewer publicly and privately
It’s important that you publicly respond to the review. You should be managing your pages on all relevant platforms that people in your area use (Yelp, Google, Healthgrades, etc). This will demonstrate to others that you are attempting to resolve the issue.
If you are able, you should also privately contact the reviewer. They may never see your reply if you don’t reach out to them, and if you wish to address their concerns, you’ll probably need to discuss information that can’t be made public. Never forget about HIPAA compliance. Never reveal private information about the patient in a public forum.
3. Respond professionally
Always thank a patient for taking time to leave a review. Acknowledge their experience and concerns, and demonstrate that you are attempting to take care of the issues. A defensive response makes that negative review much more painful, and will likely drive away other potential patients.
A response that is gracious, apologetic, and helpful, not only reflects well on you, but can often result in the reviewer modifying or taking down their criticism. It’s worth it to swallow your pride.
4. Investigate the review
Someday, there might come a review that is untrue, inflammatory, and even mean. Perhaps you are unable to identify the patient, they don’t respond to contact, or the review seems fake. If taking the high road against an overzealous reviewer doesn’t work, you might be able to flag their review for removal.
An angry reviewer with a vendetta often uses foul language, makes outrageous claims, and tries to spam your business, all of which will violate the terms of service of the site they are using. Report the review to site administrators and it will frequently be removed.
5. Bury the review
Would you use a business that only had two reviews, and one of them was negative? Perhaps. Compare that to a business that has dozens of reviews, and still just that one negative review. If you strive to improve your online reputation and bury the bad review in a sea of positive feedback, you have nothing to worry about.
Don’t put gas on the fire
Regardless of what the review says about you, don’t fan the flames by lashing out at the reviewer.
This can blow up in your face, as this Kansas City orthodontist learned when he sued a patient that left him a 3-star review. I’d tell you his name, but I don’t want to get sued. Now when locals look for his business, the first thing they have seen is this lawsuit that made headlines.
We live in a digital world. Rather than hiding from the online world or attempting to silence your critics, take control of your online reputation. Be proactive and professional online and the digital world can be your oyster.
~ Brodie Tyler