Google Reviews For Practice Growth

A 2018 study by Bright Local showed some interesting trends about online reviews that every orthodontist should consider reviewing:
86% of respondents use reviews to decide on businesses: If you’re not actively asking your patients and their parents to give your office reviews, your not helping your practice with one of the greatest marketing tools out there.
Of all of the industries for which people use reviews to decide, “healthcare/medical” was third behind “restaurants” and hotels. I know, times have changed. I remember the days when it was illegal for dentists to advertise at all. A large, bold name in a phone book was about all they could do. But, good or bad, today’s consumers choose their provider based on reviews. (bit it’s different based on age group.)

91% of 18-34 year old consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Keep that in mind. This is the segment of the population that’s becoming a growing part of our practice and will continue to grow over then next 25 years. Be prepared to market to them in the way they want you to.
84% of people trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation. Yep, they care as much about your reviews as they do if one of your patients (a friend) tells them about how wonderful you are. That’s a huge shift from years ago.
90% of consumers read 10 reviews or less before they feel they can trust a business. This means that even if you get a bad review, think of burying it in a lot of great reviews. Unless they’re specifically looking for a bad review, they’ll probably not see it unless they’re specifically looking for it.
Oh, and 73% of consumers think reviews older than 3 months are no longer relevant. So, even if you have 500 reviews, never become complacent.
Ask yourself what you are doing to generate reviews to grow your practice. It could mean all the difference to your practice’s future.
I hope this helped!
All the best,

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