Online reviews are among the first things prospective patients will see when searching the web for information on or about a healthcare provider. More people are turning to online reviews to select an optometrist, which can either grow your practice or leave you with fewer patients than before.
Nearly nine out of ten consumers worldwide seek reviews before making decisions about a product. This makes monitoring, requesting, and responding to online reviews critical to a successful eyecare practice. Does your eyecare practice have strategies in place to promote positive online reviews? Let’s dive in.
Best Practices for Requesting Reviews from Patients
Knowing when and how to ask customers for reviews helps your business rank higher in search results, elicit more feedback and improve your online presence. In fact, having 50 or more reviews can boost your search rank by 50% and your click-through rates by 266%, compared to companies with no reviews. 
When to Ask for Reviews
Asking your patients for reviews can be challenging, but it is something that every eyecare practice should do. Before you figure out how to ask for reviews, you need to know the best time to ask for one.
- Asking for reviews immediately or soon after customers have completed a purchase or used your services.
- Send your review requests by email in the morning. Some research shows you can see a 5% gain in response rates by timing messages right.
- Send your emails in the middle of the week — your response rate could increase by as much as 10%.
How to Get More Positive Reviews
According to a survey conducted by GatherUp, 33% of customers leave a review when the experience was really good or really bad. This means the quality of your care is imperative to receiving positive reviews online. Here are a few steps to take:- Increase your web presence — make sure your patients can learn about you no matter where they are conducting their online research. Be active on social media and make leaving reviews as easy and accessible as possible by including a prompt in your patient communication.
- Delight reviewers with streamlined, graphically appealing templates that make sending in a review an enjoyable experience. Make sure to have a mobile-friendly version as it will help with review collection.
- Set up website badges to quickly and easily direct visitors to your Yelp, Facebook, and Amazon pages to read and leave reviews.
- Monitor reviews. Studies show that businesses responding to negative reviews online actually resulted in better ratings overall, so be sure to respond to every positive and negative review.
- Share positive patient reviews where you can. Dr. Woodrich's website is a great example of how to show off positive patient testimonials. Remember your patients are often times your greatest ambassador.
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