Reputation Management

Negative online reviews can have a negative impact on your practice – unless you know how to properly handle them.

You’ve been working on your online reputation for your office. You read about why an online review presence is important, and started improving it.

You are:

   Asking for reviews

   Increasing your star rating

   Acquiring additional patients from your online presence

What do you do if you received a less-than-great review from a patient?

Don’t worry, it’s not the end of the world for your practice – promise.

Just follow the steps below and turn this unhappy patient back to a fan of your practice.

Why Respond to a Negative Online Review

It is important to be prepared, rather than reactionary, when taking control of your online reputation. This includes when you receive a less-than-favorable review from a patient, and deciding how to respond to the review.

Over half of consumers (57%) will avoid a business that has negative online reviews.¹ We all know that ignoring something doesn’t make it go away. This is especially true with what is written on the internet.

Your online presence can be the first impression that a patient has of your practice. You can turn a negative review into a positive experience for the reviewer and all your potential patients by engaging in a constructive way and showing that you are a genuine business.²

A study looking at online review responses concluded that managers should engage in review responses “for the purpose of complaint management. [They] should be timely so that they are visible to subsequent reviews.”³ Responding to reviews is also important to increase your dental office’s SEO. By writing more relevant content about your practice, the more people will look at your reviews and the higher you will show up on Google’s results.

Now that you know why you should respond to these reviews and how it can have a positive impact on your practice, follow these easy steps below to rectify any bad review that you receive from a patient.

How to Respond to Reviews

1. Keep up-to-date on your online review presence.

Dedicate a responsible employee to regularly check your online review presence. This includes scouring popular review sites that patients can be leaving reviews for your practice every few days. Or, if your budget allows, use an online review platform such as CS Reviews to automatically be alerted any time a review for your practice is left on a multitude of review sites.

2. Respond in a timely manner – at least three days.

Studies show that over half (56%) of consumers feel it is reasonable to expect a response to their review within a day.⁴ Make sure that you plan your response with the next steps in a reasonable amount of time so that you may respond to any online complaints within this time frame.

3. Research before responding.

If a review speaks to a specific event, problem, or situation, be sure to check internally to get the full picture of the entire situation, so you can speak to it with knowledge and rectify the situation. You also want to make sure this isn’t a fake review that was written to try to give your practice a bad reputation.

Receiving fake or defaming reviews for your business? Here’s how to try to rid your practice of these types of reviews, step-by-step.

4. Draft your response.

Do not hurry and type whatever comes to mind – make sure you have researched the situation, have a clear head, and are not being reactionary. Proofread. Don’t just apologize, be actionable. Make sure to draft the response from management or leadership.

5. Include any personal contact information, if necessary.

Sometimes it’s better to bring the conversation one-on-one, instead of continuing in an open forum such as on a review website.

If you believe that your response needs to have a more personal reach-out, or if you want the patient to answer you, you may include in your public response that you will also be sending them your person phone number/email to hear more about the situation and rectify it further.

Once you say this, send a private message to the patient to address the situation they spoke to. It shows other reviewers that you care enough to speak to them personally, and hopefully turn a bad experience into a good one.

Keep in mind, 70% of unhappy patients will continue to use your business if you fix and respond to a negative review.⁵

Want more help with your review presence? Speak to a specialist today to discover how CallSource can help.

If you want to see examples of what not to do and some of our favorite review responses, watch this video.

Sources
1. https://moderncomment.com/customer-feedback-stats
2. https://www.forbes.com/sites/sage/2014/03/03/handling-haters-how-to-respond-to-negative-online-reviews/#6f52abb46a85
3. Wang, Yang, and Alexander Chaudhry. “When and How Managers’ Responses to Online Reviews Affect Subsequent Reviews.” Journal of Marketing Research (In Press).
4. https://www.getfivestars.com/blog/quickly-business-respond-complaint/
5. https://www.revlocal.com/blog/review-and-reputation-management/how-to-respond-to-every-type-of-review

Online reviews are vital for your brand reputation and earning new business.

It’s getting cold out.

You’re having problems with your heating.

Or your hot water heater.

Or a number of any home services issues.

You need it fixed.

Now.

How are you going to choose a company to fix your issue?

Well, probably the way that we choose a lot of solutions for our problems nowadays – Google it.

How does your business fare?

Go ahead and search to see what a consumer in your area will find with these simple keywords: “HVAC near me.” (Or “plumbing near me,” “electrician near me,” etc.)

How many businesses show up?

First thing you see below the paid ads, are the results from the Google Local Pack. This will only show the top 3 or so businesses until you click “More Places.” Does your business show up as a top contender? Click on “more.” Where does your company show up there?

Even below the Google Local Pack, most likely you will see some other review sites, such as Yelp, showing up as a result. It may have a title such as “The 10 Best” or “Best Near Me” with lists of their own.

And what are these lists and the order in which companies show up dependent on?

Online reviews and online reputation management websites.

Who would you choose?

Now, staying in the place as a consumer searching for help for their home service needs, who would you end up calling or asking for more information from with these search results?

Most likely, those with the best online review presence. Whoever shows up at the top probably has the best reputation. The higher your star rating and the more reviews that your business has, the more reputable you are.

74%of people trust local businesses more after reading positive reviews, and it’s been concluded that the most important factor for consumers to trust online reviews is their authenticity.¹

Stand out from the competition

Start earning more online reviews and start being the first choice for consumers that need your products and services. Online reputation matters for home service companies.

By providing superior customer service and asking for online reviews, you will start improving your online brand reputation and earning more customers organically. HVAC, plumbers, and other home service contractors are all paying attention to positive online reviews and negative reviews they receive online. HVAC reputation management solutions can come bundled into some CRM and marketing tools but if you do not have it you should consider checking out the tools we have to offer. Reputation management for HVAC companies can often start small and CallSource is a great way to do that.

For even more information, contact a specialist and ask them about CS Reviews, our online review platform.

Sources:
1. https://www.brightlocal.com/learn/local-consumer-review-survey/

If you want customers to choose you, your online review presence means a lot.

Online reviews are great for your brand reputation – and they also have a lot to do with consumers’ buying decisions. If they are unaware of your business, why should they choose you? If you have great reviews, it should help their decision to do business with you rather than the competition.

Read our infographic below to see what other impacts your online reputation may have on possible customers, and take our quick quiz to assess how well you are currently managing your online review presence!

Need help responding to your online reviews? Just read this post!

Responding to reviews demonstrates that your company is reliable and authentic. 78% of consumers believe that a business cares more about them when they see management respond to reviews.¹ Check out these simple steps for responding to online reviews, no matter the circumstance.

Do you know when you get reviews?

To respond to reviews promptly, make sure you have a system or use a tool to automate the collection of your reviews across all review and listing websites.

• Know who will be alerted.
• Note which reviews need to be prioritized.
• Have your response components documented.

How long does it take you to respond to reviews?

Write back with unique responses that speak directly to the customer.

• Respond within 3 days at most.
• Do not slap a canned response on every review.

Did you research the circumstances of the review?

Evaluate from the data you have the detailed events around a review (especially for negative reviews) before you respond.

• Did it really happen?
• Why did it happen?
• Will it happen again?
• How are you going to rectify the situation for this customer?

Do you have components of responses handy for the person who will be responding to reviews?

For negative reviews, it is important to use the 3 A’s: acknowledge, account, and act.

• Empathize and acknowledge emotion of the reviewer.
• Account for circumstances and details of the event.
• Describe what was learned and what will change as a result of the review.

Did you leave a concluding sentence with an appreciation for the review and a way for the reviewer to reach your support team?

This demonstrates to other consumers that you care enough to speak to your customers personally and turn a possible bad experience into a good one.

• Send a private message if necessary to address further issues.
• Make sure everything is trackable for records.

Get approval for your review responses from proper management before posting, and keep your review elements template in a repository that your team can easily access. Responding to reviews is important, but should be done with a strategy that aligns with the values of your organization.

Do you need a tool to gather all of your reviews, respond on your behalf if necessary, and save your team valuable time? Contact a representative today to learn more about CS Reviews.

^{Source: 1. https://moderncomment.com/customer-feedback-stats}