From restaurants to boutiques to spas and even ophthalmology private practices, the general public value the information they find through Google Reviews. In fact, according to Healthgrades, “77% of patients use online reviews as their first step in finding a new doctor.”

Setting up Google Reviews for your ophthalmology private practice is essential to growing your local reach. Here, we review why you should care about your Google Reviews and how you can set your private practice up for success to receive more reviews.

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE

Through your Google Business profile, you can select the option to allow your current patients to leave a rating and review of your ophthalmology office. These reviews encourage prospects to book an appointment and can also build your community’s perception of your practice.

When a prospect heads to Google to search for a credible ophthalmology office, the search engine will give them a list of practices within their area. Having your practice among others in your area will automatically increase the organic flow of traffic to your practice website.

Furthermore, your private practice will stand out even more if it has a few glowing reviews available for the general public to view. People are more likely to show interest in private practices that have reviews compared to those that have no reviews.

In addition, building social proof through ratings and reviews will help you establish a strong sense of trust with your existing and future patients. As stated by Optimizely, “Because people are more likely to purchase a product that others are already purchasing (the bandwagon effect), social proof can be a way to increase conversions by showing customers how popular a product or service is.” Although this quote is geared toward the purchase of products, the same idea can be applied to ophthalmology private practices.

GENERATE MORE GOOGLE REVIEWS

The last thing on anyone’s mind after they visit the doctor is to leave a review. As such, it is important for you to find a couple of ways to remind them of this option after they leave the office. You can achieve this by setting up and sending automated or manual text messages and emails after patient appointments.

We recommend implementing a text reminder about reviews if you are stuck deciding between text or email. According to LinkedIn, “SMS [text] marketing click-through rates can be anywhere from 10-15% higher than email marketing campaigns.” Either way, your text and email reminders should all lead directly to your review link so patients aren’t left to navigate to the right spot themselves.

Furthermore, you can empower your patients to take charge of the review process by planting a QR code at the front desk. Have the link lead directly to your review page, making it convenient for patients to drop a review right as they check out!

AVOID A COMMON MISTAKE

Before setting up these texts or emails, try to put yourself in your patient’s position. You probably wouldn’t mind receiving a text or email about leaving a review. However, you would probably become reasonably annoyed if you got inundated with those types of messages from the same private practice.

Keep in mind that not all patients will feel comfortable leaving a review, and that’s OK. Sending one or two reminders is acceptable, but any more after that may be considered harassing behavior and could have the opposite of your intended impact.

The simple process of setting up Google reviews can lead to an increase in website traffic and new patients. OM

Richard Zimbalist, OD, FAAO, is owner of Ignite Medical, a medical digital marketing agency (ignitemedicalco.com ), and COMO Web Designs (comowebdesigns.com ).

NATHAN ABRAHAM, MD, is owner of Abraham Eye Center (abrahameye.com ).