All of our sites come with a built-in review builder system, but we’ve noticed that only about 30% of our clients USE them. We wondered, why? This tool is already set up, convenient for both practices and their patients to use, and online reviews have so many benefits that it was almost unimaginable that someone wouldn’t utilize it. A recent Brightlocal study found that a positive reputation online increases consumer confidence, converts searchers into leads, and boosts local search rankings (Brightlocal)
Then we realized, a lot of clients weren’t aware of how important it is to solicit reviews from their patients. To put into perspective how prevalent online reviews are, 86% of consumers read reviews for local businesses (BrightLocal). So what exactly are the benefits of online reviews?
Online Reviews Establish Credibility
Let’s start with the most obvious. Collecting positive online reviews for your practice builds credibility and boosts consumer confidence when selecting a hearing healthcare provider. On average, consumers read 10 online reviews before deciding to trust a local business and 57% of those surveyed said they would only use a local business with at least a 4 star rating. (BrightLocal).
This is huge.
If you have 10 happy patients that review you online, this could lead to a complete stranger online trusting your practice with their hearing needs solely based on what other strangers say online. The opposite also holds true. Online reviews are becoming the equivalent of in-person recommendations and hold a lot of weight for the average consumer.
Builds Organic SEO
Google loves reviews, and is the fastest growing online review platform. What’s good for Google is, in turn, good for your SEO.
The more reviews on Google, the more people trust Google for an accurate representation of online business reviews. The more people trust Google, the more they use the platform for their all-in-one local business research process. The more users search on Google, the more money Google can make from search and display marketing on their platform.
But what does this mean for your practice? The more positive reviews for your practice, the better your search ranking from Google.
Businesses ranking in Google’s local positions 1-3 have an average of 47 reviews, while businesses in positions 7-10 have 38 reviews (Brightlocal). The higher your ranking on the Google local, the more likely you are to have more clicks to your practice’s website. Improving your review star rating by 1.5 could equal 13,000 more leads (Brightlocal).
Past Marketing Dollars are Compounded
This is the hardest concept for people to wrap their minds around, but hear me out. By leveraging your existing patient database to grow your online review presence, you’re reinvesting past marketing dollars that were sunk into garnering those existing patients, and using them to create new opportunities for inbound marketing. Online reviews ARE a form of inbound marketing and can create new and inexpensive opportunities to bring new, qualified leads into your website, and ultimately, your practice.
How?
Well, look at the benefits above. Positive online reviews will increase your search ranking for those users already searching for your services, making it easier for people looking for what you provide to ultimately find you. And once they find you, positive online reviews establish credibility for your products and services, creating trust between your brand and the consumer. These factors prime the lead before they ever even reach your website, which contains all the content and funnels to build trust and get the user to call and make an appointment.
Are you now thinking like we do: why wouldn’t someone leverage this???
So What Do I Do Now?
Here’s a stat you should remember: 70% of consumers that are asked to leave a review go on to write one (Brightlocal).
So it’s as simple as… go ask your existing patient database to leave you online reviews.
If you’re our client, you can hop onto your review system and begin requesting reviews from your patients. If you don’t remember how to access your review builder, email me right now and ask! We don’t build systems because we feel like it or because it seems like a good idea. We build these systems because they work for your practice and lead to results.
The average local business has 39 reviews on Google My Business (Brightlocal), how do you currently stack up?
Related: How to Set Up or Claim Your Google My Business & Why You Should
If you’re interested in starting to build your online presence, including online reviews, contact us today to get started.
