Online reviews can either help or hurt your practice. Research that was conducted by BrightLocal suggested that 72% of potential patients trust the opinions on online reviews. A whopping 52% also claimed that they are likely to buy a product at a local business if the online reviews are positive. It is evident that online reviews can affect the performance of a business. Practices should learn to handle and manage negative reviews. Following are some of the ways that are most effective.
1. Decide if the review is worth responding to.
In some cases, some negative reviews are usually not worth responding to. If a negative review is posted by a person whose general opinion and language is clearly irrational, or by a person who is known to be a frequent complainer, it is better off to ignore such. Some people may even post reviews about a local business on their obscure personal blogs. If such reviews are clearly unfair to a person of sound mind, it is usually wise to not respond to such. On the other hand, a local business should respond to a review which raises a legitimate concern, a negative review by a genuine patient, negative reviews which might be posted on other popular sites or a negative review posted by a high profile patient. High profile patients are those who frequently post reviews.
2. Cool down and write a private response about the review.
Naturally, local business will get emotional and most of the times they might overreact to negative reviews. Online readers will always side by the reviewer who is usually viewed as a “nothing-to-gain” victim rather than the profit-oriented business. When a business is responding to a negative review, it should first breathe deeply, evaluate the complaint of the patient and determine whether something can be done to address the issue or not. This should then be followed by a short and private positive response to the complainant. Making the conversation private prevents a back and forth argument which might even draw more unwanted public attention. If the problem is successfully resolved, the business can politely ask the reviewer to delete or revise the review indicating that the complaint has been solved.
3. Evaluate the public’s response if a patient does not change review.
Two scenarios might arise where a local business might be forced to publicly issue a response to a review. First, the complaint might be solved yet the patient does not delete or revise the review. The business then at this point can respond to the review indicating that the patient’s complaint was successfully resolved. Secondly, the patient might remain unsatisfied even after their problem has been solved. In this case, the business can offer a response correcting the legitimate facts but should not dwell much on specific inaccuracies. It is more important for a local business to appear conciliatory to the public about a patient’s complaint than to establish its story.
4. Prevent composure of patients to writing negative reviews.
A local business should make every possible effort that prevents patients from reaching a point of posting negative reviews online. In every business, it is inevitable to have unhappy patients. To voice their frustrations, these patients will always turn to online platforms if they are not first heard by someone at the practice. While there are dental online reputation management solutions available on the market, most practices do not employ these systems. Without such a software in places, a patient’s intentions can be to warn other potential patients, gain attention to the business and get a response or even to damage the reputation of the business. However, before consumers can turn into writing online reviews, they always try to contact the business in an effort to resolve the problem. A business should ensure that it keeps its patients engaged and receives feedback then solves the problems before they can get to a negative online review. This can involve a direct contact with the unsatisfied patient via a phone call or even emails.
5. Take legal action.
Taking a legal action against a patient who posts a negative review should always be the last resort in handling a negative online review. This is because lawsuits cannot be predicted and if the patient wins, it can have negative impacts on the business. If the business wins against the patient who posted the negative review, it can serve as an example since other evil minded patients will be reluctant to post negative online reviews with unfounded complaints. This means that only genuine reviews will be posted.
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