For better or for worse, the internet plays a vital role in every area of our lives. The world of health is no exception. The Patients research everything about their health online, from symptoms and medications to their doctors. Potential patients will search for their options in advance.
Having an online presence is vital for a clinic, as this is how patients will find you. However, it is just not enough to be online. Online reputation is essential to promoting your practice. Patients not only search online to see if a doctor has a website. But they use the internet to read reviews from potential doctors and see what other patients think beforehand. Research has shown that about 84% of patients research healthcare professionals before setting foot in the clinic.
Patients are much more likely to go to a reputable doctor with a better online presence. In addition, they tend to spend more money on it. Reputed online doctors may have patients seeking help, even if they are out-of-Network.
The first step to improve your online reputation is to check its current status. Take the first step by searching your practice name on the search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. Observe what types of links appear in the search results. Do they favorably reflect your practice?
Then take a closer look at review websites, such as ZocDocs, WebMD, Yelp, or Healthgrades to see what patients are saying about you. You should also check out the reviews on Bing and Google.
You can request feedback from your patients by email after their visit. It will not harm your reputation and can lead to a lot of positive reviews. However, you should only seek genuine reviews. It can be tempting to post fake reviews, but your account can get flagged for fraudulent reviews and feedbacks, which would negatively impact your reputation even more than a bad review.
It is always a good idea to respond to both positive and negative reviews. You can thank positive reviewers for their feedback. You can reply to negative reviews as long as you are careful not to violate patient confidentiality. You must be polite while responding to a negative review, which can help reverse any adverse effects on your online reputation.
