Last Updated on August 15, 2024 by Allen
Easy Online Reputation Management for Dentists
Today your patient is turning to the internet for information about your business. In days of old, they’d ask a neighbor, or give your office a ring on the phone. What are your hours? Who does the office service, age-wise? What procedures does your business offer?
These and more questions are being uncovered every day, online, about your office. Searches of your business’ name will automatically call up information that will inform your patient and make them return again and again. Or not.
Patients will follow up with a review online, perhaps on your website, or your social media links. They might leave news of your business, in praise or censure, on major online review sites, such as Vitals, Healthgrades, or Zocdoc.
Why Your Business’s Online Reputation Matters More Than Ever
Like it or not, your business will be affected by these reviews. And so, it behooves you to make what the public sees and reads online the most up-to-date, accurate, and flattering picture of why your business is so great. Building and protecting your reputation typically takes time and energy.
In this day and age, dentists are turning to technology to help arms themselves to the tooth (if you will) in any way to boost business and protect their good name. Online reputation management for dentists has blossomed into a software niche unto itself. But that’s not the only way to protect your business.
Why Online Reputation Management is a Must for Dentists
It’s common for dentists to use technology to up their game. They may still publish ads in a local newspaper, but they’ll also post to their own website, and to their own social media sites. A picture of the newest oral surgeon on staff or a notice about a Halloween candy buy-back. And patients have liked your page and signed up for notices so that they feel linked to their dentists’ offices.
Online reputation management for dentists may not seem necessary, but there’s a whole world of talk going on out there about you and your office, only it’s not on your sites. It’s out there—way out there—on the great, big, World Wide Web. A quick search online will yield some interesting results.
Your own website will not be the first site to surface. One of the many major online review sites will rise to the top of that list, such as 1-800-DENTIST or RateMDs. And so, how can you effectively control the message on the web about your business?
Why Practice Management Software Falls Short
Most offices already have practice management software, but that software will post to your business’ website or social media sites, not to the web in general. How can you regulate all that’s out there about your business? There is reputation software, but it does not have an ease of use that most offices would require.
Your staff is already swamped with multiple tasks and jobs to complete. Learning one more piece of new software is not on their to-do lists. Hours of training to get your staff engaged with using yet another program will not go over well and will take them away from other, more important, work.
The Impact of Negative Reviews
Then again, why bother? How much can negative reviews impact your business? It’s reported that negative reviews can drive away 22% of your potential patients. What then of good reviews?
A good review can increase sales or services within your dental business by 31%. A cleaning is fine, says the patient, but after reading a good review, that same patient may choose to schedule a teeth whitening service as well. And what of that trusted advice from the neighbor, before the Internet existed?
Not needed. An online review can garner as much as trust and weight, so says 84% of the public. That’s an overwhelming vote of confidence in good reviews (and bad reviews!) on the web. Online reputation management for dentists is looking better and better after hearing those statistics.
Integrate with Dental Software for Better Customer Experience
Review Dingo, a customer experience management platform, can be integrated with dental software for an easy way for dentists to manage and optimize their practice. With over 3,000 software integrations available, Review Dingo allows dental practitioners to get new reviews automatically, be found online, improve operations and increase revenue.
Practice Management Software (PMS) is a widely used system in the dental industry that helps dentists manage their practice through a completely automated platform. It enables users to manage clinical efficiency, patient engagement, billing, training, tech support, and more. By integrating Review Dingo with over 60 dental platforms, dentists can easily send out review requests to their patients automatically.
Once a Review Dingo account is integrated with a dental platform, patient information such as first name, last name, email address, and phone number can be pulled into the Review Dingo account based on defined triggers. Subsequently, review requests will be sent out to patients on a daily basis, automatically. This helps dental practitioners get a steady stream of reviews that can help them rank higher on search engines and make their brand visible to prospective patients.
Here is a list of dental platforms that Review Dingo integrates with:
- ABELDent
- Axxium VisionR
- CareStack
- Carestream Dental
- ClearDent
- Cloud9Ortho
- Curve Dental
- DentalVision Enterprise
- Dentech
- DentiMax
- Dentrix
- Dentrix Ascend
- Dentrix Enterprise
- Dolphin Management
- Domtrak
- Dovetail
- Dox Pedo
- DSN OMS
- DSN-Dental
- DSN-Perio
- Eaglesoft
- Easy Dental
- EndoVision
- Fuse
- Genesis
- iDentalSoft
- Intiveo
- LiveDDM
- MacPractice
- Maxident
- MediaDent
- Mogo
- OCS-Office Partner
- OMSVision
- OpenDental
- OpenDentalCloud
- Opes
- Ortho2 Edge Cloud
- Ortho2 ViewPoint
- OrthoTrac
- Oryx
- PBS Endo
- PBSEndoEnterprise
- PerioVision
- Planet DDS (Denticon)
- Power Practice Pro
- Practice-Web
- PracticeWorks
- Private Practice Software
- QSIDental Web
- Sensei Cloud
- Sesame
- SoftDent
- Software of Excellence
- SuzyDental
- tab32
- Total Dental
- WinDent
- WinDentSQL
- WinOMS
- XLDent
Marketing Your Dental Business for the Long Term
Knowing your patient and knowing your patient will be online should give you pause. Harness their strong and positive feelings about your dental office by promoting your business. There is no shame in that. Online reviews on major sites is merely the latest in how dentists can promote their businesses.
Taking control of how your business is construed online should be part of your overall strategy for marketing our business for the long term. Your office is most likely heavily overworked with in-house customer service.
Without hiring an outside marketing firm to zoom in on your online presence, consider using a simple plugin to your existing system to control your reputation and promote the good work your business is doing.
You’ll want to be a part of those statistics that project patients coming in to your business for dental work, whether it was from online reputation management for dentists or merely the good, old-fashioned word of mouth. Either way, you’re in control and your business will benefit.
Conclusion
The importance of online reputation management for dentists, as more patients rely on the internet to learn about businesses and leave reviews.
While practice management software may not be enough to regulate what is being said about the dental office on various online review sites, a reputation super module can act as a plugin to Dentrix or similar software to auto-post five-star reviews.
The impact of negative reviews on dental businesses is highlighted, as negative reviews can drive away potential patients while good reviews can increase sales or services. The article concludes by encouraging dentists to take control of their online presence to promote their business for the long term.