Part 1: Which Patients Should You Be Asking for Online Reviews
This article is part of our Complete Guide to Chiropractic Marketing, from the section How to Get Online Reviews.
In Part Two, we write about Building Your Patient's Desire to Post an Online Review.
In Part Three, we discuss how to Make the Review Process as Easy as Possible for Your Patients.
In Part Four, we discuss Follow-up with Patients After They Write a Review.
Not every patient is a good prospect when it comes to giving your office an online review. Certainly, you’re most likely helping all of them or they wouldn’t keep coming back for more treatment sessions, but the reality is that some people are better than others when it comes to sharing the benefits of working with your practice online.
Therefore, when you’re trying to build your Internet reputation and presence, the first thing you’ll want to think about is: Out of all of the people you serve, who would make the best candidates for writing an online review? These are the people you want to target because they will likely give you a glowing reference, getting more people to walk through your door.
If you’re unsure, some patients to consider approaching might include:
- Patients you’ve helped overcome major spine-related issues, to better highlight that you can provide great results no matter how difficult or complex the issue;
- Patients who’ve benefited from a certain type of treatment method, especially if that treatment method is one of your specialties;
- Patients from a certain demographic if you’re trying to promote that particular area of your business (such as getting reviews from athletes if you focus primarily on sports therapy); and
- Patients who’ve made relatively quick progress, to point out the fact that positive results can oftentimes be achieved in just a few visits.
Certainly, any of these types of patients can help you create an online reputation that draws more people to your practice. And oftentimes they are pretty easy to find because they’re the ones constantly telling you how happy they are with their progress, sharing that they’re extremely thankful for how you’ve been able to help them.
In addition to selecting the right patient for your online reviews, it also benefits your business to ask for the patients’ Internet-based recommendations at a specific time. When is that?
For a more favorable response, ask the person to write an online review on behalf of your practice when they’ve been with you long enough that they’re able to report consistent, positive results but not so long that they are no longer excited about what you’ve been able to do for their health and wellness or to assist them with pain management.
This generally means that they can’t be too new a patient (so they can share consistent results) or a patient that has been with you for years and years (sometimes people can lose their excitement about a treatment plan if they’ve been engaged in it over a lengthy period of time). Best case scenario, you want someone who fits right in between.