5 huge reputation management mistakes for surgeons

Practice Management

Don't think people are checking out your reputation online?

Better think again: 92% of consumers read online reviews, up from 88% in 2014 according to the latest BrightLocal survey. Doctors are one of the top reviewed groups online, with a 35% share, second only to restaurant reviews. With your reputation being scrutinized by your patients and prospective patients, you need to have a firm grasp on your online reputation, how to own it and how to measure it. Unfortunately some doctors view online ratings as nothing to worry about. Here are some of the common beliefs and mistakes:

 

People know I'm a good doctor. People do NOT know this, but many of your patients do. But unless all your patients know each other and actively proclaim how good you are to anyone and everyone, the message won't get out. You MUST have a process in place for patients to share their feelings - good or bad - on your behalf. Reputation management systems, simple or complex, homegrown or professional, help you do this.

People don't look at reviews, so why bother? This has been conclusively disproven. In fact, the opposite is true: more people look at reviews than ever before. The BrightLocal surveys of thousands of online users have shown increases year over year of people reading reviews and lots of them. Doctors have always been high on the list of reviews that are read and trusted by online users.

I already have testimonials on my website. Testimonials are great, and you should have them, but a testimonial is not a review unless you have the data points behind it. The data is what shows stars and scores on the results from Google and Bing. All of the review sites typically have this data on those pages about you, and those scores show up. Some reputation management and marketing products enable you to add this data easily to your website, but if you aren't using these products, its very unlikely your testimonials will show up as reviews.

Asking for reviews is cheap, tacky, and unprofessional. Only if you consider listening to your patients as cheap, tacky, and unprofessional. Feedback is essential for any business to recognize issues and correct them, as well as celebrate the successes. If your patients aren't encouraged to review you, then you will only have the "extreme" patients taking the time to leave comments, good and bad, on review sites. Present your patients with the tools they need to leave that feedback for you to measure and use.

 

It costs too much, and is too big a hassle to ask for reviews. Implementation of online rating tool and software can be a hassle unless you take steps to grow. Start small by handing out cards with links. A quick way to integrate this into your practice is to hand cards to every patient as they check out or schedule appointments. It adds zero impact to your scheduler's time and gives the patient an opportunity to share. How do you get started with cards? Sign up for RateStarz, a free tool that allows you to quickly add your review sites and create printable cards. Visit http://www.RateStarz.com/register to sign up and immediately start managing your online reputation. Or simply print a sheet of paper with your review site addresses. Doing something is always better than doing nothing.

 

Your online reputation is more important than ever, as more and more patients look at reviews online and make decisions about whether to choose you as their healthcare provider or not. You must have a plan in place to seek and measure patient reviews. Whether you use a free solution or any paid solution, reputation management should be a priority for your practice.

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