Word of Mouth Has Gone Dark and Digital

Word of Mouth Has Gone Dark and Digital

Learn how to manage what patients say about you online—or lose them to your competitors.

Eric Kaufman

Your online reputation matters. It always has. Patients trade experiences, collect what info they can and then make their dental decisions. What’s changed is that it’s now almost entirely done digitally, at an enormous scale and with incredible reach. If a patient leaves an online review, it’s exposed to more than just that person’s friends and family. The audience extends exponentially to strangers everywhere.

With the vastness and importance of online reviews and digital word of mouth comes the need for tools to manage them quickly and efficiently—to use them for your practice, and to keep them from doing harm to your practice. The automation possibilities that exist now are no longer optional; they’re indispensable. They can initiate review requests, consolidate reviews from different sites into a single platform and notify you when your attention is needed, so you can attend to concerns quickly and all in one place.

Online reviews serve as a key component of a complete online presence, and the backbone of your digital word-of-mouth efforts. A reviews solution is, therefore, a must-have when crafting a comprehensive digital marketing strategy. Let’s explore further how reviews and word of mouth work and how dentists can leverage the value of online reviews within a complete digital marketing solution to attract and retain patients.

Digital Word of Mouth Empowered by Human Conversation

It’s important to note that the impact of positive review word of mouth goes beyond what’s publicly visible on review sites. Dark social refers to private communications that take place in emails and private messages within digital platforms. Much of the value of a practice’s reputation manifests from this form of person-to-person referral working behind the scenes. Although not measurable by analytics, it is estimated to be responsible for 95% of your web traffic. So, when you make the extra effort to cultivate a healthy reviews presence, keep in mind that the value of those efforts branches off and continues to work for you.

Reviews Influence Patients

Online reviews are powerfully persuasive to prospective patients, offering a glimpse into the patient experience and the quality of care provided. According to maxill.com, 70% of dental patients say online ratings and reviews influence their choice of dentist. Just like with verbal recommendations, positive online reviews attract new patients and foster trust, while negative reviews can sow doubt and erode confidence. To solidify this trust, you must actively manage your online reputation by encouraging positive reviews and promptly address any concerns raised by patients by taking the conversation offline as quickly as possible while remaining attentive to their concerns in the public eye.

ReviewTrackers reports that 51% of customers expect businesses to respond to reviews within seven days. Imagine dealing with a steady stream of reviews across multiple platforms. Manually keeping up with this task can be challenging amid the usual tasks of operating a practice. But failing to keep on top of things can result in undesired consequences—where one negative review drives prospective patients to your nearest competitor.

One option for practices looking to simplify and consolidate tasks is a professional reviews management solution that can provide incredible time savings. These solutions ensure that action items are addressed without delay and in accordance with information provided by real-time analytics and can save time.

Cultivate a Culture That Encourages Positive Reviews

You can begin to create a culture of open communication among patients that encourages positive reviews by sending follow-up emails, post-appointment surveys and direct requests during visits to prompt patients to leave reviews. Highlighting positive feedback on a practice’s website and social media platforms improves their visibility and underscores the practice’s dedication to patient satisfaction.

Address Negative Feedback Right Away

Negative reviews are inevitable, but how you respond to them can shape the narrative. Unlike traditional spoken word of mouth, negative online reviews don’t go away. You can’t hope that people move on and forget about the issue. The post persists and can influence every potential new patient who comes along.

But the benefit of online reviews is that now you can control and reshape your brand image with a carefully crafted response that speaks volumes to help change a prospective new patient’s feelings about your practice. Imagine if they’d only read the initial bad review without your clarifying or sympathetic response.

Mr. Kaufman is a writer and editor with creative, marketing, instructional design and technical writing experience. He is a content writer for ProSites.