A Bad Review, Oh No!

Date: August 5, 2011
Category:

• Reputation Management

Author: Julie

By now, we all know the importance of online reviews. But what should you do if you receive one that, well, let’s just say doesn’t show your best side?  Should you ignore it, address it, justify it, or simply cry about it? While any of those actions are suitable, let’s discuss what the best action should be.

First of all, remember that you are only human and no one can please everyone one hundred percent of the time. No one believes that any business can have ALL positive reviews. Your future patients will acknowledge that you are not perfect and sometimes a less than optimal review reinforces that your reviews are being submitted by actual people.

Secondly, do you recognize or have an idea of which patient left the negative review?  Was every effort made to satisfy the patient?  Were you aware that there was even a problem?

Here are a few suggestions of what you can do:

• If you can respond to the complaint privately, that would be ideal.  If amends are made, then perhaps the patient would agree to remove the review.  This would be the best case scenario.
• If you do not know who the patient is, then perhaps you would like to respond publicly to the review.  Keep in mind that you do not want to engage in a “battle” on the internet, so keep your response cordial and diplomatic.
• But what if you know who the patient is, and that there is just no way to please this individual?  In this scenario, it would probably be best not to even justify the review with a response.

Lastly, the best way to deal with a negative review is to get more positive reviews.  Additional reviews will help to push the negative review lower on the list.  And in the eyes of Google and the other search engines, the more reviews you have, the better.  So if you look at it this way, your negative review can actually have an extremely positive impact on your practice!

We here at Infinity Dental Web are always available to answer your questions or offer advice on how to ask patients for reviews.  Please contact us if you need additional assistance.