Should I Respond to Negative Reviews?

March 1, 2022
Dental Advertising, internet dental marketing, Online Reviews

Man,Hand,Showing,Thumbs,Down,And,One,Star,Rating,OnAt ProspectaMarketing, we know mistakes happen. Sometimes, a patient coming to your dental practice has to wait an undue amount of time, runs into a scheduling issue, or is simply unhappy with treatment. If you have been closely monitoring your reviews, as we’ve detailed in our previous blog posts, the possibility of a bad one might be making you cringe.

We encourage you to see this as a positive moment. But in order to take full advantage of it, there are some things you need to accept. Yes, the customer is dissatisfied with the service you’ve provided. Most likely, they are going to leave a review. And yes, there’s a high probability that people will see the review.

According to BrightLocal’s 2022 Consumer Review Survey, 98% of people at least “occasionally” read online reviews. 77% of consumers ‘always’ or ‘regularly’ read online reviews. The percentage of people ‘never’ reading reviews, on the other hand, has dropped to an all-time low of 2%. Furthermore, 7% of people leave reviews for bad experiences, and a whopping 33% leave them for good AND bad experiences. So patient feedback counts for a lot!

It’s easy to tell what this means: If you have any sort of digital presence, chances are people are reading your reviews in order to choose between your practice and a competitor, and bad reviews will lead them to ignore your practice, if no action is taken.

What To Do About Bad Reviews

This can be alarming if you have any bad reviews, as the first thought is that a massive amount of people will see them. Indeed, online reviews play a major role in creating and maintaining consumer trust in the healthcare industry. 83% of those polled indicated that reviews played a ‘very important’ or ‘important’ part in their choice of healthcare provider.

But here’s the good bit: you can turn it around! The same survey details that 80% of consumers will leave a positive review if they initially had a negative experience, but it was turned into a positive experience. There’s no better way to curtail bad reviews than by having the same customer leave a good one that states how their issues were fixed during a follow-up appointment.

Our suggestion is to always read negative reviews in order to ascertain what went wrong. Don’t write them off as occasional messages from disgruntled customers that are simply pouting. Learn from them. This way, you can ensure the problems never repeat and the patient leaves positive feedback following future appointments.

But should you respond to negative reviews? BrightLocal says yes! Respond to all reviews, positive and negative. When asked which factors of online reviews would make them feel positively about a practice, 55% of people said that the business owner responding to the review was vital. Similarly, when asked how likely they were to use a business that deals with responses in a variety of ways, 89% of people said that they were ‘highly’ or ‘fairly’ likely to use one that responds to all reviews.

How To Respond

  • Don’t Be Defensive: Respond to every negative review with kindness, direct information, and professionalism. Understand that this is not a personal attack on you or your team, but simply a case of a customer letting a business know how it can improve its services.
  • Keep It Accurate: If a patient’s complaints are inaccurate, or somehow don’t reflect what actually occurred during the appointment, do not respond as you would in an argument. Experiences are filtered through our unique, subjective perspectives, and what one person might see as an egregious offense, another might see as a small nuisance. Give your patients the benefit of the doubt, don’t attack them, but do make sure to clearly state what actually happened, so other patients can understand the situation. Offer apologies for their negative experience and commit to making their next appointment a positive one.
  • Grammar Counts: People often see poor grammar and written mistakes as indicative of a lack of professionalism. And why shouldn’t they? If your practice is to be an authority on healthcare in any capacity, the information patients receive from you must be correctly and accurately transmitted, and so must your responses to patient feedback.
  • Respond Quickly: Don’t let reviews, good or bad, sit in the queue unanswered. When asked which factors would make them feel positively, 49% of those polled by BrightLocal stated that the review being posted within the last month was important. This means about half of your patients are reading recent reviews and deciding to use your services based on them. If a negative review was recently written, it is important to respond to it in a timely fashion, so that anybody sorting by ‘Most Recent’ can see the lengths you’ve gone to in order to fix the issue.

The verdict is in: responding to reviews helps build up consumer trust and improves communication between practice and patient. Don’t let a negative review get you down. It is yet another marketing opportunity you can use to make sure you’re getting the right message out.

At ProspectaMarketing, we can help manage your review responses for you! We are an experienced Internet marketing firm specializing in dental practices and the tools of Internet marketing. We help you reach key prospects who are looking for what your practice has to offer. Our unique and thorough approach provides visibility, financial accountability, and ongoing refinement and improvement. You can find out more by contacting Lane Anderson toll-free at 1-877-322-4440 Ext 101, by email using the form on our Contact Us page, or online at ProspectaMarketing.com.

What is Patient Attrition and How Do I Avoid It?

February 14, 2022
Dental marketing, Internet Marketing, Search Engine Optimization

Happy,African,American,Dentist,In,OfficeAccording to a study by the dental care company Henry Schein®, dental practices lose 17 percent of their active patients each year. As a leader of your practice, how are you supposed to ensure that your patients continue to pick you for their dental needs?

In marketing, this potential loss of patients is referred to as patient attrition, and it is a problem all businesses have to deal with. But when it comes to an area like dentistry, which can be subject to sudden insurance policy changes that are outside your control, dentists must rely on online marketing tools in order to keep patients returning.

How To Mitigate Patient Attrition

Let’s start with the cold, hard truth. In an environment where external changes are common, some patient attrition is unavoidable. However, by using some of these handy tips, you can mitigate the problem and ensure that your dental practice has a constant influx of satisfied patients.

  • Online Marketing: As obvious as it sounds, practices that have little or no online presence are less likely to retain patients. If a person is looking to follow-up on dental care and finds it difficult to access their records online, receive updates about closures on social media, or request appointments on their dental practice’s website, they will likely search for a more tech-friendly replacement. In this day and age, social media has become customer service, and it starts before your patients even call! Make sure to keep your website and social media accurately updated with your current policies and services.
  • SEO: We harp on it a lot, but Search Engine Optimization is absolutely key for any practice trying to retain patients. In an ocean of Google search results, using an app like Google SEO can help your listings rank higher on searches. According to a recent study on appointment reminders, text messages and e-mail are increasingly ineffective ways to keep patients updated. The reality is that most people leave their texts and e-mails unopened, especially when they contain obviously standardized messages. A good SEO strategy not only attracts new patients, but helps old patients find your site again if, like many people, they don’t respond to standard reminders.
  • Online Reviews: Patient feedback is your friend! Make sure to publicize your online reviews on an easy-to-access section of your website. 67% of people will consider leaving a review for a positive experience. This means that satisfied, responsive patients are walking marketing tools for your practice.
  • Give Your Marketing Effort Time: If you’ve recently launched an updated website or retooled your digital marketing in any way, giving your new approach time to work for you is important. Marketing efforts can snowball and pulling the rug out from under your new strategy in order to retool it too frequently can erode patient trust. Make sure to put forward a consistent, informative marketing aesthetic in order to avoid attrition.
  • Reach Out: The quest for patient retention does not start or end at the office door. Use all available messaging services, including text and direct mail, to thank patients for their visit, remind them of any additional appointments, and follow up on their dental health. Make sure to use original, or original-sounding messages to come off warm and approachable. Avoid generic text like the plague. Some patients might not read it! But the ones that do will feel a personal connection to their dental practice.

Whether you are thinking of kickstarting a successful marketing campaign, or want to improve your pre-existing marketing efforts, ProspectaMarketing can help you attract and keep new patients so that your practice can continue to grow! We are an experienced Internet marketing firm specializing in dental practices and the tools of Internet marketing. We help you reach key prospects who are looking for what your practice has to offer. Our unique and thorough approach provides visibility, financial accountability, and ongoing refinement and improvement. You can find out more by contacting Lane Anderson toll-free at 1-877-322-4440 Ext 101, by email using the form on our Contact Us page, or online at ProspectaMarketing.com.

The Importance of Online Reviews

February 1, 2022
Dental marketing, Online Reviews

Cheerful,Female,Dentist,Holding,Drill,And,Smiling,Near,PatientIn the last decade, social media and digital presence have become absolutely indispensable for growing your dental practice. We live in a world that is more intricately connected than ever. More and more, customer loyalty and trust are becoming cornerstones of a good doctor-patient relationship.

At the same time, the web is becoming saturated with content. This overwhelming wave of data, accurate and inaccurate, means that, while the internet is still a good place to find reliable information, it can sometimes be misleading.

As a dental practice, how is your team supposed to communicate your professional integrity and values of care? The average patient is used to standardized website and social media text, and though it is useful to highlight positives about your practice, most businesses make similar claims about themselves.

So, how can you differentiate your practice? When standard marketing is not enough to get your message across, the answer is simple: let your patients talk you up!

Since they’ve been around for some time, we tend to forget the power of publicizing online reviews, but feedback remains one of the most powerful tools in your arsenal.

Highlighting your feedback is simple. Our marketing team has put together these quick tips, based on data from the 2022 BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey, so you can be sure that patients respond to your reviews and feel incentivized to leave positive reviews of their own.

Tips for Prioritizing Online Reviews

  • 67% of people will consider leaving a review for a positive experience, while 40% will consider leaving a review for a negative experience. If a patient has a positive experience, they are far more likely to write about it than if they have a bad one. So, if people are leaving reviews, it means you’re not only providing top-notch dental care, but ensuring a customer service experience that is positive and noteworthy.
  • 89% of consumers are ‘highly’ or ‘fairly’ likely to use a business that responds to all of its online reviews. So don’t leave anybody hanging! Respond to both positive and negative reviews with professionalism. Never get defensive. Always be understanding.
  • Avoid fake reviews. 62% of consumers believe they’ve seen a fake review for a local business in the past year, which doesn’t bode well for those companies. This new generation of patient is focused on a human connection with their dental clinic, and faked feedback flies in the face of this promise.
  • If you don’t have a Patient Feedback section on your website, or if it’s hidden in a sea of copy that makes it impossible to find, it’s time to change that. 98% of consumers claimed to read reviews for local businesses, with 78% using the Internet to find out info more than once a week. Your patients need an easy digital path and unobstructed access to your testimonials, so that you can get your core mission across to them.
  • Turning a bad situation into a good one is important. 80% of consumers say they would be ‘likely’ or ‘highly likely’ to leave a review if they initially had a negative experience that was turned into a very positive experience. So, never treat a disgruntled consumer as a lost cause; treat them as an opportunity to earn even more goodwill for your practice!

In simple terms: customers believe other customers. If your practice wants to prioritize patient-centered care, it starts before your patients even walk through the door. It starts with the message you are sending out.

ProspectaMarketing can help you highlight and prioritize online reviews in order to make your team approachable and put your patients at-ease. We are an experienced Internet marketing firm specializing in dental practices and the tools of Internet marketing. We help you reach key prospects who are looking for what your practice has to offer. Our unique and thorough approach provides visibility, financial accountability, and ongoing refinement and improvement. You can find out more by contacting Lane Anderson toll-free at 1-877-322-4440 Ext 101, by email using the form on our Contact Us page, or online at ProspectaMarketing.com.

Use Local SEO To Your Advantage!

January 17, 2022
Dental marketing, Local Internet Marketing, Search Engine Optimization

Gorgeous,Male,Doctor,At,The,OfficeDental practices with a strong local SEO strategy are well-positioned to bring new patients into their offices. How is that, you may ask? With local SEO you become more visible to people in your town who are looking for the services that you provide.

SEO stands for search engine optimization. If the term is new to you, it’s a way of designing your website to attract search engines, and thus rank high in Internet search results. Local SEO refines the strategy by targeting the people in your geographic area who are probably already searching for nearby dental services.

Indispensable

Even if you don’t know much about local SEO, you have probably seen what it can do. It’s how local businesses, like dental offices, show up on the first page of Google search results. Their listing includes essential information, like the name of the practice, its phone number and business hours, and its location – usually pinpointed on a map.

This is the power of local SEO. We don’t just search for services like dentists. More and more, search terms are localized with words like dentist near me, or dentist in my town.

  • Nearly half of all Google’s 3.5 billion daily searches are local.
  • 36.4% of websites at the top of search page results are visited by the searcher.
  • 90% of consumers use the Internet to find services in their area.

Even the devices people use for searches matter. 57% of people under thirty-five, and 53% between thirty-five and fifty-four, say they use a mobile device for at least half of all their searches. (For more on this, see our recent post on the growing importance of smartphones.)

If you have a good local SEO strategy, then the people who need what you have to offer can find you, quickly and easily. ProspectaMarketing can help you take full advantage of local SEO. We are an experienced Internet marketing firm specializing in dental practices and the tools of Internet marketing. We help you reach key prospects who are looking for what your practice has to offer. Our unique and thorough approach provides visibility, financial accountability, and ongoing refinement and improvement. You can find out more by contacting Lane Anderson toll-free at 1-877-322-4440 Ext 101, by email using the form on our Contact Us page, or online at ProspectaMarketing.com.

Optimize For Mobile!

January 3, 2022
internet dental marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Websites

Smiling,Afro,American,Woman,Enjoying,Using,Smartphone,Application,Reading,PositiveIt seems like almost everything we do these days can be done on a smartphone. From ordering a pizza to scheduling a dental checkup, if you can do it online you can do it with your phone. Along with tablets, these mobile devices now outnumber personal computers more than two-to-one. For more and more people, they’ve become the primary way of getting on the Internet.

That means your dental website must be optimized for mobile. “Optimized for mobile” means your site is not only designed for the smaller devices people are using, but also that it performs they way they expect it to. Performance is critical: did you know most people will leave a website after a mere three seconds, if it fails to load?

That’s a really small window, so your site has to be ready for it.

Smart Phone Stats

Smartphones as we know them today have been around since 2007, when we got our first look at the iPhone. With high-definition touchscreens and there’s-an-app-for-that technology, they were instant gamechangers.

Just consider:

  • 97% of U.S. citizens own a smartphone; ownership cuts across most demographics.
  • 47% say they couldn’t live without their devices.
  • 15% of American adults are “smartphone only,” in terms of Internet use.
  • 80.63% of the population worldwide own a smartphone.

By 2025, the number of smartphones in the United States alone is expected to reach 311.5 million!

Mobile First

Google recognizes this increase in mobile use, of course. For the last few years they’ve been moving forward with a “mobile first” policy, which prioritizes the mobile version of a webpage in search results. The search engine giant gave us a reprieve toward the end of 2021 by announcing they are no longer setting a firm date for mobile first. The deadline has already been pushed back a couple of times, because so many sites weren’t ready yet.

But it’s only a matter of time. Google may have dropped its deadline, but mobile first is clearly the future. Your dental website must be ready! Need help? ProspectaMarketing is an experienced Internet marketing firm specializing in dental practices and the tools of Internet marketing. We help you reach key prospects who are looking for what your practice has to offer. Our unique and thorough approach provides visibility, financial accountability, and ongoing refinement and improvement. You can find out more by contacting Lane Anderson toll-free at 1-877-322-4440 Ext 101, by email using the form on our Contact Us page, or online at ProspectaMarketing.com.

How Does Your Website Rank?

December 15, 2021
internet dental marketing, Local Internet Marketing, Search Engine Optimization

Portrait,Of,Dental,Nurse,With,Dentist,Examining,Patient,In,BackgroundEveryone knows you can find out almost anything by searching the Internet. But did you know that nearly half of all Google searches that people make are for goods and services in their area, like dentists? These are called local searches, and it’s something that any dental practice can take advantage of to bring in new patients.

When someone searches the Internet for a nearby dentist, Google’s algorithm interprets the search terms to determine what practices are most relevant. The search results are ranked on the user’s search results page.

Rank Higher!

What does that mean to a dentist, in practical terms? With a strategy called search engine optimization, or SEO, a practice’s website can influence search results so it ranks higher, thus attracting more attention and driving more traffic to the site.

There are experts who keep track of search engine statistics, and their findings are revealing:

  • 92% of people say most of what they learn about nearby dentists and other businesses comes from the Internet.
  • 72% of those who do a local search visit a place they find, when that place is within five miles of home.
  • Searches that include terms like “near me” have grown by more than 900% in the last few years.
  • 92% of Internet searchers choose local businesses that are on the first page of local search results, and 70% of them go to a physical location.
  • 72% of computer users and 67% of of mobile phone users want online advertising tailored to their town or zip code.

The trick is to use SEO effectively. It’s an inexact science, in no small part because Google is constantly updating its algorithm. Fortunately there are experts in the field. ProspectaMarketing is an experienced Internet marketing firm specializing in dental practices and the tools of Internet marketing. We help you reach key prospects who are looking for what your practice has to offer. Our unique and thorough approach provides visibility, financial accountability, and ongoing refinement and improvement. You can find out more by contacting Lane Anderson toll-free at 1-877-322-4440 Ext 101, by email using the form on our Contact Us page, or online at ProspectaMarketing.com.

What Does Google Want?

December 1, 2021
Uncategorized

Happy,African,American,Dentist,In,OfficeReaching the first page of Google search results can make a big difference in the success of your dental practice. Having your practice website reach the very top of the list has even higher dividends.

The reasons are simple enough: research shows most users don’t go past the first results page, and more than thirty-six percent visit that top-ranked website.

Google, of course, is not the only search engine out there. But it is by far the most widely used, with Microsoft Bing a distant second. The numbers vary slightly depending on who’s counting, but their respective market shares, according to Statista, breaks down like this:

  • Google: 86.6%
  • Bing: 6.7%

While there are other search engines beyond these, this blog post will emphasize the importance of optimizing your website for Google.

Improve Your Ranking

There are strategies you can use to improve your ranking in Google results, a discipline called search engine optimization (SEO). You could say it involves giving Google what it wants. SEO components include:

  • A Google Business Profile Formerly Google My Business, this is a free business listing necessary to rank in local searches. When people search for your practice by name, Google takes information from your listing, such as location, hours, and contact information, and displays it on the right side of search results. It is priceless exposure.
  • Optimized website. Make sure the content includes the words and phrases people are searching for, called keywords (dental implants, for example). Also include up-to-date information that is easy to find, and that the site contains regularly updated content, like a blog.
  • Mobile optimization. Mobile devices are increasingly important, and sites must be optimized with them in mind. Responsive web design allows sites to automatically adjust content to the screen size it is being viewed on, which improves the user experience.

There’s more to be considered, but it is well worth the effort. ProspectaMarketing can help. We are an experienced Internet marketing firm specializing in dental practices and the tools of Internet marketing. We help you reach key prospects who are looking for what your practice has to offer. Our unique and thorough approach provides visibility, financial accountability, and ongoing refinement and improvement. You can find out more by contacting Lane Anderson toll-free at 1-877-322-4440 Ext 101, by email using the form on our Contact Us page, or online at ProspectaMarketing.com.

Dentists: Learn from Your Online Reviews!

November 15, 2021
internet dental marketing, Local Internet Marketing, Online Reviews

Portrait,Of,Smiling,Dentist,In,Dentist's,Office

There’s a lot to be learned from reading what people are writing about your practice online. Have you met their dental care needs? Is your staff friendly and efficient? Is the office clean? These are among the things that matter most to your patients and would-be patients; they influence whether they’ll call you to schedule an appointment.

Most people trust Google reviews as much or more than they do the opinions of family and friends. We all look at them before deciding whether to spend our money on anything from a neighborhood dry cleaner to a local dentist.

What Online Reviews Tell Us

A new study shows that there are four basic areas, or topics, that people are concerned with when they write an online review. Conducted by the SEO company Sterling Sky, the topics it identifies are a business’s owner, its staff, its properties, and its services.

  • Owner. This is especially true for dentists, since they work with patients one-on-one. What patients pay most attention to is your chairside manner: whether you listen and respond to their concerns.
  • Staff. Your staff is the first direct interaction patients have with your practice, in particular those who schedule appointments. Hygienists and others also figure in. The analysis of online reviews show that what matters most is that your entire support staff is friendly, knowledgeable, and caring.
  • Property. Office environment really matters. If it’s chilly or messy it’s a big turn-off, especially has health care providers (and everyone else) still copes with COVID-19.
  • Services. Do you deliver on patient expectations? When you meet or exceed them, people will mention it in their reviews. As you might expect, the opposite is also true.

If there is a single takeaway from all this, it’s that you should never underestimate the power of online reviews. ProspectaMarketing can help you manage them. We are an experienced Internet marketing firm specializing in dental practices and the tools of Internet marketing. We help you reach key prospects who are looking for what your practice has to offer. Our unique and thorough approach provides visibility, financial accountability, and ongoing refinement and improvement. You can find out more by contacting Lane Anderson toll-free at 1-877-322-4440 Ext 101, by email using the form on our Contact Us page, or online at ProspectaMarketing.com.

Dentists: Can Google Find You?

November 1, 2021
internet dental marketing, Search Engine Optimization

Portrait,Of,Dental,Nurse,In,Dentists,SurgeryEveryone uses search engines to find things on the Internet, and that includes finding dentists. A staggering 3.5 billion Google searches are done every single day! When someone is looking for a dentist, where your practice ranks makes all the difference.

“Ranking” refers where you show up on search results pages. The higher you rank, the better. Appearing on the first page of search results is best of all; it increases traffic to your practice website. Studies show that only fifteen percent of users go on to the second results page, and after that – well, it really drops off. You probably know this from personal experience.

Google and SEO

The way users find you is influenced by a process called search engine optimization, or SEO. It means that website content is designed and written in a way that attracts the search engines.

While being on the first page of search results is ideal, best of all is making it to the very top position.

  • The first organic result has a click-through rate greater than twenty-five percent.
  • The top spot gets thirty-three percent of clicks.

Influencing search results with SEO is a specialized process that includes:

  • Keywords: specific terms and phrases users search for, like “teeth whitening.”
  • Strategically placing keywords. They should be in titles, subheads, within URLs, and elsewhere.
  • Great content. Site visitors are looking for your expertise, so this is very influential. Your content should include keywords, of course – though not to excess.
  • Fresh content. Search engines know how old content is, and newer is better. Content should be updated regularly.
  • Making your site user-friendly. A positive user experience on your site – by making it pleasing to look at, easy to navigate, and providing what visitors are looking for – is paramount.

Reaching that coveted first page of search results is easier said than done, but expert help is available. ProspectaMarketing is an experienced Internet marketing firm specializing in dental practices and the tools of Internet marketing. We help you reach key prospects who are looking for what your practice has to offer. Our unique and thorough approach provides visibility, financial accountability, and ongoing refinement and improvement. You can find out more by contacting Lane Anderson toll-free at 1-877-322-4440 Ext 101, by email using the form on our Contact Us page, or online at ProspectaMarketing.com.

Dentists Need An Online Presence!

October 15, 2021
internet dental marketing, Social Media

199281941 edit 1Everyone needs to see the dentist for their dental health. While the main function of any practitioner is excellent dental care, it is equally important to ensure the growth of the practice by bringing in new patients. The Internet, and social media in particular, is the ideal tool for this.

Your online presence is more important than ever. More than any other communications tool, the Internet lets you engage with patients and would-be patients in ways that build trust and improve your standing in your community.

Everyone Is Online!

Promoting your practice on the Internet is called digital marketing, and it will only get more important in the years ahead. The reason is clear: everyone is online.

  • 313 million people in the United States are active Internet users
  • 90% of Americans use the Internet
  • 77% of prospective patients research dentists with search engines
  • 44% of those searching on a mobile device will schedule an appointment

Social media is a steadily growing segment of the Internet, and dental practices that use it effectively are reaching more patients than ever before. This is reflected in improved profit margins.

Social media allows you to connect with members of your community by sharing your expertise. By establishing yourself as a professional who is happy to forge connections with your neighbors, you are already part of the conversation when people start asking for recommendations.

ProspectaMarketing can get you started. We are an Internet marketing firm specializing in dental practices and the tools of Internet marketing. We help you reach key prospects who are looking for what your practice has to offer. Our unique and thorough approach provides visibility, financial accountability, and ongoing refinement and improvement. You can find out more by contacting Lane Anderson toll-free at 1-877-322-4440 Ext 101, by email using the form on our Contact Us page, or online at ProspectaMarketing.com.

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