Part 3: Making It Easy for Patients to Review You Online
This article is part of our Complete Guide to Chiropractic Marketing, from the section How to Get Online Reviews.
In Part One, we discuss how to Be Selective About Review Prospects.
In Part Two, we write about Building Your Patient's Desire to Post an Online Review.
In Part Four, we discuss Follow-up with Patients After They Write a Review.
The third step in developing an online review strategy is to find (and implement) ways to make writing a review as painless for your target patients as possible. The easier you make it on them to post something nice about you, the more likely it is that they will do just that.
To help with this, some service-based businesses are choosing to keep laptops or tablets at their reception desk. This way, when a patient just had a treatment session and is all smiles about what it did for them, you’ve got him or her right there and ready to write a glowing review.
Simply have the review site already up on the screen so all the person has to do is write about how wonderful you are and hit enter. Besides, this will give them something to do while they’re waiting for you to schedule their next appointment or pass the time while you’re taking care of a patient who was there before them.
Another way to make writing reviews easy is to send your target patients an email with a link to the review site. This is a great option for the patient who wants or needs to get in and out of your office as quickly as possible (such as when on a lunch break or if they have another appointment to attend), but is more than willing to take a few moments later on to share their thoughts about you online.
If you’re unsure what to say, here is a sample template you can use:
Subject: Help Us Help Others!!
Hi, [Insert Patient’s Name Here],
We wanted to take a moment to say thank you for choosing us to take care of all of your chiropractic needs. We’ve loved getting to know you and consider you more like a part of the family than a patient, so we’re wondering if you could help us out?
As you know, we take great pride in our ability to help people live a higher quality, pain-free life. The problem is: Some people who are searching for a chiropractor don’t know which ones can provide a positive response, which means that they may choose another provider when doing an online search for chiropractors in the area—possibly resulting in a lower level of health and wellness.
Therefore, we were wondering if you would take just a couple minutes of your time and share your thoughts about our office and how we’ve helped you? We’d really appreciate it, but we also know that our future patients would find it helpful too!
If you’re willing to do this tiny little favor for us, simply click on the link below and you'll be redirected to the page where you can leave your review:
[PLACE REVIEW LINK HERE]
Remember, you don't have to give us a 5 star rating when you do. (We do love to get them, but we also want you to be completely honest with your review as that is more important to us!)
Also, in your review, please consider sharing how chiropractic has helped you personally. That way, if someone else is struggling with the same type of issues, they’ll know that they don’t have to accept their pain or discomfort as help truly does exist!
Thank you in advance for doing this. It means more to us (and people struggling with spine-related issues) than you could ever know!
Your friend in health,
[Insert Your Name Here]
[Insert Your Contact Information Here]
As a side note, if you have reviews on several of the top websites for chiropractors, you can always provide links to a few of them. This way, your patients can leave a review on the site they’re most comfortable with, increasing the likelihood that they’ll actually take the time to post an online review.
Sending an email like this serves a variety of purposes:
First, it tells the person you want the review, something they maybe wouldn’t ordinarily think about or do without a little prompting.
Second, it helps them realize that you’re not doing it for you, but rather for the person out there that is looking for effective treatment and unsure where to go…potentially saving them from seeking treatment with a provider who can’t or doesn’t provide positive results.
Third, by requesting that the person be totally honest with the review, you don’t seem shady or like you’re asking them to rate you as perfect, which can be a huge turn-off. And fourth, by wording the email this way, you’re repeatedly telling the person that you value his or her business, making them feel like they’re not “just another patient” and more like a treasured family member.
If you come across patients who indicate that they’d love to help you by posting a review but they’re not good with computers or have trouble coming up with the right words to convey how they feel, offer to help with these types of issues. It may require spending a little more time with the person to help craft their message or share it with the rest of the world, but it will be time well spent when it brings more patients in through your doors.