Mastering Dental Marketing: 5 Hacks for a Thriving Review Stream

It’s no secret that reviews play a huge role in the success of your dental practice. Reviews are important for both patients and potential new customers. They help show off your success and skills, provide testimonials to back up any claims you make, and can even save you money on dental marketing.

Here are a few effective ways to generate more reviews from satisfied patients.

1. Incentives and Discounts

Offer an incentive or discount for those who leave positive feedback.

The more reviews your dental practice has, the better. Those who are interested in your business will be able to see what other customers have said about you and whether they enjoyed their experience or not.

Instead of just relying on word-of-mouth, offer an incentive or discount for those who leave positive feedback. For example, you could offer a 20% discount for those who leave reviews or a free exam to those who post a photo of their smiling face on social media.

2. Ask About Their Experience

Ask them verbally about their experience after they have left.

Ask your patients verbally about their experience after they have left your office, even if you’re not the one who treated them directly.

A lot of patients don’t fill out a survey or review until weeks later and then forget some details. Hence, asking these questions will get you more accurate feedback from your patients.

Consider asking questions like:

• What was your experience like at the office?
• How would you rate our staff on a scale of one to five, with five being the highest?
• Was there anything that stood out as excellent or poor in particular about our service today?

This feedback is also important for identifying new ways to improve your service.

3. Send Emails

Send out emails with a request for feedback.

Consider sending out emails with a request for feedback. You could include something like the following in your email: “Please take a moment to fill out this two-question survey and let us know what you think about our services.” This way, people who didn’t have time right after their visit will still be prompted to provide feedback.

Email surveys are also great because they’re more convenient than paper ones that might get thrown away. You’ll be able to track how many respondents answered as well as whether someone has opened the mail or not.

4. Make Online Reviews Easy

Make it easier to get reviews through online review websites.

Many patients may not have the time to stick around and leave you a handwritten review. And even if they did, it will not help your dental website rank online.

Use online review sites like Yelp, Google Reviews or Facebook to collect reviews. These sites are free and customers are more likely to leave reviews on them. This makes it easy for your patients to go home and review your healthcare practice when it is convenient for them.

5. Encourage Reviews with Promotional Items

Give away free promotional items for when you ask patients to leave reviews.

In many cases, dental offices will provide promotional items for customers to use and then post a review. If you pay attention to how these are distributed, you can ensure that they go out when your patients are most likely to be satisfied with their treatments or happy enough just from the experience of going in for an appointment. For example:

During check-in, ask if they would like a complimentary toothbrush as well as some flossers or mouthwash–these make great giveaways since people won’t need them until their next visit anyway.

At checkout time, mention that this bag has sunscreen lotion inside so it’s perfect for summertime fun outdoors–and add on another pair of sunglasses or something else eye-catching at the bottom of the bag.

The Bottom Line

In general, it helps if people remember the great things about going into your practice as well as having an avenue for sharing those experiences (for example: telling friends and family about it).

As always, though, the best thing you can do to get more reviews is just to make sure your patients are happy. That’s the best dental marketing there is!