Why Healthcare Reputation Management?

Good Online Reputation Can Increase Profits –

Building a significant online review presence is crucial to attracting new patients. A healthcare provider with positive reviews will be more appealing to new potential patients. As you can see from the stats outlined above, more positive reviews can only mean increased revenues since more people are convinced that they’ll have a positive healthcare experience with your brand. On the other hand, if you can’t manage your reputation, negative reviews can significantly affect your bottom line.

Positive Reviews Help Build Trust and Credibility –

Earning and keeping your patients’ trust is key to long-term success, especially in the healthcare industry. This is the core benefit of having a well-designed online healthcare reputation management strategy. If you have a reputation that’s real and honest, patients will give you their trust.

Despite being in the digital age, word of mouth is still one of the most powerful methods of recommendation – only now it’s all about the reviews. Customers are easily influenced by readily available information which makes reviews all that more powerful. If a patient has had a positive or negative experience with your brand, they will likely talk about it. Online reputation management ensures that your positive reviews are highlighted while the negative ones will be responded to accordingly.

Higher Search Engine Rankings –

With healthcare reputation management, it’s like hitting two birds with one stone. Without a doubt, Google is the best platform for a healthcare business to be seen. However, Search Engines favors positive content and will display business with the best reputation on the local first-page results. If your healthcare business appears on the first page of Search Engines, you’ll get more clicks and leads which can lead to new patients.

Part of your local healthcare reputation management strategy should be to create local profiles and listings to improve your search rankings. The higher your rank in the search engine result pages (SERPs), the easier for patients to find your healthcare business. Also, having positive online reviews will make it more likely for patients will search for your facility over the web.

Attract Better Employees –

Online reviews are equally as important for attracting better employees as they are for attracting patients. According to statistics, 1 in 5 job seekers will not consider working for a company or business with a 1-star rating. It’s not surprising especially when people want to work at a good company that provides good service and is “going places.” In addition, job seekers prefer to work in a company that shares similar core values as them – a company that they can trust.

With online healthcare reputation management, your business will put out content showing that your company has a favourable culture. Overall, companies with a good reputation tend to attract better talent.

Gain Patient Insights –

The benefits of healthcare reputation management aren’t just limited to how patients perceive your brand. When done right, healthcare reputation management also enables you to learn from your patients to further improve your reputation. By listening to patients and understanding their expectations and needs, you’ll gain valuable insights that will enable your company to build a strong online reputation.

For starters, you can collect opinions and feedback from your patients and develop a strategy that reinforces your strong points and make adjustments based on negative feedback. Essentially, you’re improving the overall patient’s journey, your products and services, and ultimately, your healthcare practice.

Conflict Resolution –

As outlined above, while the power of positive reviews can improve your bottom line, negative reviews can make or break your business. The way you handle reviews is crucial to maintaining or improving your reputation. This is one of the most important benefits of healthcare reputation management.

Your healthcare reputation management strategy should include responding to negative reviews. If you’re thinking that you can probably just ignore one or two negative reviews about your facility, you’ll be in for a rude awakening. One unfavourable review can prevent 35% of people from considering your healthcare business. It’s a different story if you can quickly respond to negative reviews because it shows that your company cares. Plus, you can also respond to display malicious feedback and correct misleading information – building more credibility and trustworthiness for your brand.