Putting Your Best Foot Forward: The CareCru Guide to Managing Your Practice’s Online Reputation

By: Mark Joseph 

Like most businesses, dental practices live and die by their reputation. A good reputation can help attract new patients and help you hang onto existing ones, while a bad online reputation can leave your waiting room empty.  

Managing your online reputation takes work, but with help from CareCru and Donna™ you can keep your appointment book full and your Google reviews glowing. 

In the Digital Age, Managing Your Online Reputation is Critical

In an age where 90% of consumers read online reviews before visiting a business, putting your best digital foot forward is critical.  

A single bad review can have a huge impact: 

• When potential customers find a single negative article on the first page of their search results, their chances of booking with you decrease by 22%. 

• That loss of business doubles to 44% when the first search results page includes two negative reviews. 
• Three negative reviews can reduce your potential for lost customers to 59.2%  
• When four or more negative reviews about your company, staff, or product appear in a potential customer’s Google search results, you could lose as many as 70% of your potential customers before they even book an appointment.  

While positive reviews offer a huge boost: 

• 74%of consumers say that positive reviews make them trust local businesses more. 
• Even a one-star increase in a Yelp rating translates into a 5% to 9% increase in revenue. 
• 16% of a business’s SEO score on Google is calculated based on online reviews. 

Having a good reputation online is vital since a bad review or poor online reputation can drive potential patients into the arms of your competitors before you and your staff have even had a chance to meet them. 

How Can CareCru Help?

With so many review sites, it can be hard to keep track of what is being said online about your practice. That’s why CareCru compiles all of your reviews on Google, Facebook, Yelp, YellowPages, and RateMDs into one, easy to read report that flags which reviews require further action and even offers response suggestions. 

Looking for Patient Feedback? Just Ask. 

One of the most common challenges our team sees when it comes to online reputation management is that many practices and practice owners are uncomfortable directly soliciting reviews from patients; It can take a lot of courage to ask patients for honest feedback. 

In addition to using Donna to streamline your review process, we suggest beginning with an open-ended question such as “how was your appointment today?”. Then, based on how the patient responds, your front office staff can ask the patient directly if they would be willing to leave a review or ask additional questions to find out why a patient is dissatisfied. 

Donna Makes it Easy for Patients to Provide Feedback

Donna™ makes it easy to ask patients to leave a review. Within a few minutes of their appointment finishing, Donna™ texts your patients to ask them how their appointment went.  

Patients who select four or five stars are then asked if they would like to go to Google and leave a public review with just a single click. 

For patients who select three or fewer stars, Donna™ requests feedback and alerts your staff so they can reach out.  

By optimizing the review process, you stand to gain between 100 and 500 new five-star reviews over a single one-year period.   

You can learn more about how Donna™ can help you manage your online reviews here. 

Ready to find out how Donna can help you grow your practice and maintain a positive online reputation? Please contact our team today!