What is the need for Reputation Management for Doctors?
Researchers say that almost 75% of people worldwide search online to find out about medical businesses or information every month, and more than 70% of them prefer to consider a 4+ star-rated provider. So even if you are the best doctor in your location but your online healthcare reputation management system is not too great, you’ll have trouble attracting patients.
In many cases, patients who are highly satisfied with the medical service do not provide an online rating. Doctors scoring 9.5/10 in satisfaction surveys have been found to average around 4-star online ratings. Therefore, online ratings do not completely reflect a patient’s true level of satisfaction. These figures conclude that patients might be rejecting excellent doctors based on online ratings and reviews. On the other hand, doctors are losing out on patients even after providing excellent care.
To tackle the situation, below mentioned are some healthcare reputation management techniques for doctors that will help them to improve their online reputation along with attracting potential customers.
● Encourage satisfied patients to leave reviews
Most of your patients who are relied on you for medical services, may not find it necessary to rate you online. They may show their gratitude as a person but a lack of positive online reviews can still be responsible for your bad reputation.
Usually, unhappy patients are more active to showcase their dissatisfaction through online ratings for gathering attention or alerting others. New patients reading the bad reviews might think of you not being a trusted healthcare provider.
Online reputation management services suggest the best way to counteract this is by encouraging your happy patients to show their gratitude online through positive reviews and ratings.
● Positive or negative, respond to every review
Negative reviews that are unacknowledged often look more credible than the acknowledged ones. It creates a wrong impression that the things are as bad as they are said in the reviews and you are not able to do anything about it. By responding to negative reviews, you leave a positive impression that a patient’s experience matters to you, and you are ready to address all their concerns.
To respond to the maximum reviews possible is an important part of reputation management for doctors. After you address a patient’s concerns, request them to rewrite their review.
● Conduct patient survey after appointments
Conducting patient satisfaction surveys is one of the best ways to capture the key aspects of care. It has been found that the most genuine feedback from patients can be acquired just after the appointment.
Introducing a rating system will help to make the most of the patient satisfaction surveys. This will allow you to measure the experience levels of the patients. You can further incorporate these findings to make required changes for preventing future dissatisfaction.
● Exhibit positive reviews on your practice’s website
It’s never recommended to ignore negative reviews, but only the positive ones can help you get new patients, referrals, and retentions. Creating a dedicated page to display positive patient testimonials can be an effective strategy for reputation management for doctors as it will enable positive reviews to stand out and shine.
● Train your team to provide better patient service results
Excellent service etiquette is one of the crucial activities for healthcare reputation management for doctors. Constant complaints regarding poor communication or unfriendly front desk staff can risk your practice’s reputation. To avoid this, you can train your staff for providing the best possible experience and care to patients.
Wrapping It Up
In a world where most patients use online reviews to assess doctors, an excellent online reputation for doctors can help you make a positive impression on patients. HealthSoul provides the best online reputation management services for doctors that will help you be ahead of your healthcare competitors. To avail of our services or know more, please visit our website or call us.
