When was the last time you bought something on Amazon?
Do you recall looking at the number of reviews it had?
Amazon is BIG on reviews for a reason. It provides social proof to buyers about the quality and satisfaction of the product.
Patients shop like Amazon consumers. They select healthcare the same way. Patients are looking for reviews and social signals to help them make the best choice about quality because they want the best service and they don’t want to waste their money.
The reality is, if you don't have more Google reviews and a higher score than your competitors, you’re losing a lot of business. Before you waste any more money on physical therapy marketing, read my post.
In this post, I’ll be sharing:
Let’s dive in...
Which Business Would You Choose?
Let’s put this exercise into a practical perspective.
If you search ‘Calgary Physiotherapy’ in Google, it shows the following results.
Who would you choose?
Would you choose a clinic with over 50 reviews and a perfect 5-star score? Or would you select a clinic with very few reviews?
If you chose the clinic with over 50 reviews, that’s exactly what the patient is thinking. Patients are consumers and Google reviews provides patients with one of the easiest ways to compare businesses.
A recent survey from Zendesk found that 90% of respondents claimed that positive reviews affected their purchasing decisions, with 86% saying negative reviews were also an influence.
Your reviews build a powerful social currency that your competition can’t beat. It's the best physical therapy marketing you can easily control.
So, assuming you can acquire Google reviews from your patients, how do you make sure you get a perfect 5.0 score?
I think that’s one of the greatest concerns of clinic owners. Let’s face it, the last thing you want is to have a bad online review. You are wasting all your physical therapy marketing dollars.
News of bad customer service reaches more than twice as many ears as praise for a good service experience
First things first, do not fear asking for reviews.
After founding CSC - an ecommerce healthcare store, and after building a network of 100+ clinics, I understand marketing and healthcare very well.
I’ve got a Google review process that will help you gain valued patient reviews and keep your score in stellar shape.
Google Review Acquisition Process
Getting your timing right is crucial with a new patient. And making it easy for them to leave reviews is also critically important.
Here are two ways to acquire reviews - manual and through automation.
The Manual Google Review Process
1) At the end of each visit, ask the patient:
2) If they give you a positive response, ask them: "Do you like Starbucks?"
3) Of course they like starbucks. So then you can say:
“Awesome. If you take 30 seconds to give us a Google review on your phone, we’d love to treat you to a Starbucks drink. We really appreciate clients like you for taking the time to say great things about how our treatments help them because it helps others find us and get the help they need. Would you like to do that for us right now?”
You can alter this message of course. The idea is to encourage patients to do it right now, while they are still in the clinic.
Key Tip: Make sure they do a Google review on their phone and NOT yours. Google will look at IP addresses and your reviews can't come from your clinic's location or they will penalize you.
4) Keep track of which front desk staff member is getting Google reviews and create incentive plans to get them to do this.
Something as simple as providing them with $10 for ever review or friend that gets referred by another client. You’d be amazed at how convincing people can be when they have a chance to earn extra cash.
The key here is to have the front desk make this process a part of your everyday treatment and patient onboarding routine. You shouldn’t be asking every other client; you should be asking EVERY CLIENT. It may seem a bit unnatural at first, but remember that this is a numbers game. It does get easier over time.
Outsmart Your Competitors And Get More Phone Calls.
Open the marketing floodgates of new patients to your clinic
The Automatic Google Review Process
This automatic process is really the option I prefer.
1) Send an email on Net Promoter Score to every patient at week 1, week 4 and discharge.
2) People that give you a Net Promoter Score of 9 or 10 ask for a Google review.
3) Here’s what you can write in your email:
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Hi [FirstName] Thanks so much for participating in our recent client happiness survey! We really appreciate your feedback and look forward to being able to serve you even better with your next treatment. :) You know what else we appreciate beyond words? Our little furry friends! We’re donating $10 to the SPCA for every Google review our customers write for us ... and we’d love for you to take 30 seconds and be part of our cause. Not only will you put a smile on our face, you’ll also put one on theirs. :) As part of this initiative, I’m personally reaching out to you as one of our most valued customer to ask you for an online review or testimonial. If you are comfortable doing so, would you please consider writing a review on Google? Here is the link you can write a review for us {Insert Link} Your comments also help others know what to expect when they’re looking to try out the services and treatments we offer. Thank you in advance for helping us to spread the word about SPCA. We look forward to seeing you again soon. Signature |
Boost your SEO and social signals with Google Reviews
Aside from offering the best social proof for potential patients, Google reviews provide an essential ranking signal for local SEO - meaning, your website will appear higher in the search engines.
Additionally, online Google business reviews from clients and customers can be seen as one of the most powerful ways of promoting trust and confidence in your business.
As the old saying goes, “People buy from people they know, like or trust.”
Lastly, Google reviews will increase the number of leads you get to your practice.
In google, once you’ve received 5 reviews your result will be accompanied by 5 gold stars. These gold stars have been shown to increase click-through-rate (CTR) to your website or phone number by as much as 20%.
The power of Google reviews in today’s marketplace is essential to every clinic. Refuse to be involved and you’ll pay the consequences as competitors rise to the top of search instead of you.
And so you know up front, you’ll only get 3-5% of your patients to agree to submit reviews. Fortunately for you, most of these patients are the ones that are incredibly happy with their practitioner.
Keep at it every day using the processes outlined above and before you know it, you'll have tons of social proof bringing you new business!