Patient Reviews: How to Gain 6,000 New Patients with Reputation Management
January 21, 2025
Guest Blog Author: Lamar Hull CEO: Med Rank Interactive
Your practice is up and running, and patients are coming in and can’t stop talking about how much they enjoy your practice. But how do you get these reviews online for all to see? This is all too common with new or even established practices. Nearly 90% of consumers trust online reviews, and 70% of consumers admit to being influenced by reviews before making a decision.
The result of positive reviews on Google has been shown to increase lead conversions by up to 270%. However, the reality is that most patients won’t leave a review unless the process is simple and they are asked to do so. But who has the time to constantly follow up with patients asking for reviews?
In this example, one of our marketing partners, Med Rank Interactive, will be talking about how to boost positive patient reviews for your practice with the aid of SMS and AI automation. Med Rank Interactive is also offering our subscribers an exclusive AI Review Software plan with a free 7-day trial here:
Still reading? Here are a few of the benefits of an automated reviewing system:
- Collect Reviews Quickly and Effortlessly
- Skyrocket Your Business Growth on Google
- Beat the Competition with AI-Drafted Reviews
- Close the Customer Feedback Loop
In the long run, automation saves your practice money by allowing you to focus on your patients while the software handles the monotonous follow-ups. At the same time, boosting your reputation by bringing in more leads, as reviews carry roughly 16% of the weight for local Google rankings. Additionally, trying to handle this process manually could require a dedicated team, costing tens of thousands. Med Rank’s review software manages all of this for just a flat monthly rate. Plus, you can try it out for free to see it in action.
Below, we discuss what resources you need and what platform you should target for your practice. Remember, the goal here is to increase your practice’s profitability by bringing in new clients. Reviews are the first step to making this a reality.
The Cost of Doing Nothing
One of the most important factors that reviews contribute to is your company’s reputation. In the image below, you can see that a good reputation from reviews requires a lot more than just the total number of reviews. It’s important to consider all of these factors and trends when considering a reputation management system.
One of the hardest hurdles with reputation management is getting consumers to leave reviews. Three out of four reviews don’t get left because of the following:
You might be thinking that there is no downside to doing nothing and letting reviews fall to the wayside. But the truth is that there is a cost to doing nothing. In the image below, you can see a common overview we use to explain the potential monetary loss of not developing a strong marketing campaign.
The example below uses a single search term, “dentist concord nc,” and examines the number of new patients that could be reached by ranking high on searches for this keyword. By not optimizing for keywords like this and utilizing reviews to rank higher, you could be missing out on a total of $100,800 in revenue from thousands of new patients per year. All from just one keyword and a few missed reviews.
It’s important to understand that reviews makeup roughly 16% of the ranking factor, contributing greatly to how a business is shown on Google.
The Importance of High-Quality Dental Reviews
Patients do their own research before deciding on a practice, and often, they stay with that practice for years. The first thing potential patients look at is reviews, and 73% of business reviews are on Google. Google reviews give you an edge over the competition, giving you a higher level of credibility and a valuable promotional tool. So whenever your business is searched on Google, it’s important to have reviews available to tell readers exactly how strong your reputation is compared to the competition.
The above review is exactly the type of content to encourage reviewers. Many people will provide feedback just like this with a little help. There are three elements to keep in mind for the most effective review:
1. Real
Reviews must be from real patients who have had treatments and can discuss their personal experiences with your practice. This is the best way to make new patients feel comfortable with the information in a review.
More than 60% of consumers say they will not buy from brands that use fake reviews.
2. Recency
Reviews must be up to date. While older reviews can still be helpful in showing your practice’s track record in the past, it’s best to have recent patient reviews for all the newest treatments available.
Nearly 85% of people find reviews older than 3 months no longer relevant. Reviews within the last week or month are considered the most relevant.
3. Relevance
For a review to be relevant, it must talk about a specific experience at your practice. Details matter; a review that discusses their experience with staff during treatment may answer questions for prospective patients.
Many businesses have seen incorrect information in online reviews, and the majority of reviewers won’t trust a business with incorrect review information. The addition of an AI assistant in the reviewing process can ensure accuracy at the drafting stage.
Comparing Your Options
Always consider your options carefully. There are a lot of different software out there. Be sure to do your own research to find what works best for you. Below, we have outlined a few of the top companies alongside our partners at Med Rank.
Birdeye
Pros:
- 30-Day Free Trial
- SMS Automation with some AI automation.
- Monitors statistics and conversions.
Cons:
-
- Birdeye costs from $299 to $399 per month with tiered pricing.
- Pushes Reviewers to a dedicated landing page instead of Google, making it impossible to transfer reviews to Google.
- No drafting assistance for reviewers.
Weave
Pros:
- All-in-one communications for any device.
- SMS Automation.
- Provides support for Newsletters
- Free Demo available.
Cons:
-
- Starts at $399/month with additional setup fees.
- Pushes Reviewers to a dedicated landing page instead of Google, making it impossible to transfer reviews to Google.
- No AI automation.
Med Rank Interactive
Pros:
- Med Rank Interactive only costs a flat $150/month, with an additional $50/month for additional locations.
- Directs reviewers to a Google My Business Profile through SMS only.
- Contact us for a 7-day Free Trial here: free 7-day trial here:
- SMS and AI Automation.
- A dedicated support team to help every step of the way.
Cons:
- Only pushes to Google (not Yelp or Facebook) because Google has 73% of reviews worldwide.
The Best Resources for Gathering Reviews
So we know reviews are important. But how do we close that feedback loop?
The first step is to have an easy way for patients to submit reviews; with Med Rank’s automated SMS text messaging system, customers can simply click, rate your service, and share their experience in under 30 seconds.
Other review automation providers focus on directing traffic to a landing page and ask reviewers to draft a review without any prompts. Med Rank Interactive’s AI Review Software offers SMS automation while pushing reviewers to your Google My Business profile, where reviews will be saved directly on Google.
Additionally, Med Rank provides an AI assistant that allows reviewers to easily draft reviews.
Check out the video below to see how it all works.
Conclusion
So, in conclusion, Google is king when it comes to reviews, with over 70% of total reviews. This is where consumers and patients go to learn about a business’s reputation. So, Google is where reviewers should be pushed to through SMS automation. If SMS pushes reviewers to a landing page and they leave the review there, it cannot be transferred to Google.
Google uses reviews, among other factors, to determine the credibility of a business and where to place that business in local search rankings. Each of these different factors contributes a different amount towards the total ranking based on Google’s algorithm. Marketing analysts have determined that positive reviews (4 and 5-star reviews) contribute about 16% towards the total ranking factor for local searches. This means that if a business has over 20 positive reviews, it is more likely to rank higher on Google searches in its local areas. This still has to be combined with other factors to rank #1, but reviews are one of the highest contributing factors.
We’ve also seen that 22% of reviewers struggle with what to write, while 32% simply don’t have the time. With the help of an AI assistant, a review can be made in under 30 seconds. This makes the process clear and easy for anybody to use.
It’s also important to remember the goal. Ultimately, reviews are to help your practice grow and reach more and more patients. We know this is the number one factor people consider when researching a new business. So, it’s important to optimize and grow this process alongside every other marketing strategy to continue effortlessly collecting 5-star reviews.
Med Rank Interactive offers all subscribers an exclusive plan, including a 7-free trial, so get started with your very own review automation today.
Sincerely,
Med Rank Interactive
Schedule Consultation: https://go.oncehub.com/MedRankInteractive
Website: https://medrankinteractive.com/