3 Reasons Why You Need to Collect Positive Patient Reviews

Collecting positive online patient reviews is an easy and inexpensive way to increase patient loyalty, internet visibility, and medical practice credibility. The internet and its resources have created a new culture, where patients increasingly share their thoughts about a healthcare provider’s service. Social media sites and Google are among the most popular platforms to give reviews.

Here are three reasons why your organization should collect positive patient reviews now:

1. Most patients use online reviews to find new healthcare providers.

According to a Search Engine Land study, 88% of online consumers — including patients — trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Patients rely on online reviews to select which medical practice is most credible. They read patient reviews prior to making an appointment.

Online reviews are a quick and easy way to provide potential patients insight into your practice and services. Moreover, by reading positive patient reviews, prospective patients are more likely to choose you for their healthcare and recommend you to their family and friends.

Positive online reviews makes first-time patients feel more confident in your practice. Collect positive patient reviews to significantly enhance a prospective patient’s trust in you.

2. Positive patient reviews place your practice at the top of search engine rankings.

Patient reviews can help a medical practice gain more visibility on Google, Yelp, RateMDs, Facebook, and other online review platforms. Positive patient reviews such as 5-star ratings not only boost your practice’s reputation but also increase your search engine ranking, potentially pushing you to the first page of, for example, Google.

Online searches begin with a search engine, and Google is by far the most popular and valuable, as zero-click Google searches rose to nearly 65% in 2020, according to a SimilarWeb study. Google displays information that is highly relevant to what a patient searches for on the internet.

According to a Search Advice survey, spending at least 10 minutes a week on improving your online presence and addressing reviews reduces the impact of negative reviews by up to 70%. Therefore, it is crucial to monitor patient reviews to improve and/or maintain your search engine ranking.

3. Patient feedback helps to improve care.

According to a Journal of Patient Experience study, a more positive patient experience rating has a significant association with lower in-hospital complications and hospital readmissions. This research is specifically essential to medical institutions that value patient feedback and collect positive patient reviews and testimonials.

Asking patients to leave online reviews can be challenging, but with the right strategies, you can get more positive patient reviews:

• Request reviews by texting the link to your website or Google business profile
• Before ending a consultation, mention that patient reviews of your organization are highly recognized and appreciated
• Collect feedback through patient satisfaction surveys sent via email or SMS and ask positive reviewers to post it online

The more you show respect to a patient’s experience with your medical practice, the more inclined they are to continue as your patient and involve themselves in their care plan.

It’s easy to collect patient reviews and feedback with Curogram.

The most valuable step in getting more positive patient reviews and improving your online ratings is implementing a system that automatically encourages online reviews from your most satisfied patients — Curogram makes all of that happen.

Curogram is an inclusive HIPAA compliant telemedicine solution that offers features like 2-way text messaging, online feedback and ratings requests, and reputation management that can help you succeed in gaining 5-star reviews.?

Our platform’s system also tracks your reviews and follows up with patients who leave 4- and 5-star reviews, with links to your pages on Google Business, Yelp, Facebook, etc., to share their positive experiences. You can filter out negative feedback, which allows you to fix the situation before it gets published as a negative review.

Healthcare providers should actively monitor and support patient feedback for reasons beyond transparency and credibility, as reviews are essential and empowering for patients. Being strategic in collecting and interpreting patient reviews can lead to more happy patients, higher efficiency, and greater profitability.