Doctors: How to fix bad reviews from Patients on Google

In the digital age, Google is undisputed search engine market leader and when it comes to healthcare services, your patients trust online reviews before fixing an appointment with you get the treatment.

It’s a nightmare for every doctor/healthcare professional – you work so hard to help your patients recover from diseases and treat them, and then one day – POOF! Your hard-earned reputation is tarnished by one grumpy patient with a chip on their shoulder. While it’s impossible to please every patient, there are strategies to manage and potentially remove unfavorable reviews. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to handle bad reviews from patients effectively.

• Respond quickly: Don’t ignore negative reviews, even they are fake and not written by your patients. You should respond to those reviews to pacify them show your prospect patients that you are responding well even if you are wrong, this will improve their confidence in you.
• Evaluate the Review: Carefully read and access the review content. Understand if it violates the Google review guidelines like using abusive language, personal attack or false information.  Many platforms like Google prohibit such contents and will remove from their platform.

• Reach out directly: If your patient is not happy with the treatment and given you 1 star or shared a negative review on Google, you can reach directly to those patients. Understand their pain points and offer them a solution if they are not happy with your service. You can ask them to visit you for a fee consultation. This will help you to reduce the negative reviews from your business listing.
• Flag inappropriate review to Google: Google allows you to flag reviews that are fake so they can remove them. Here’s how:
  • Open Google my business and from your registered email id.
  • Go to reviews and then go to the fake review and then click on three dots in top right and click “Flag as inappropriate” here you will get option to flag review based on different reasons.
  • You can select appropriate reason to flag a review. Google team will review the same and will remove the inappropriate reviews as per their guidelines.
• Fight negative reviews with positive reviews:

  Have a clear strategy to get positive reviews from your patients. Your digital marketing agency can help you to chalk out your patient engagement strategy and getting reviews can be part of it.

  Don’t panic, if you don’t have 5 stars rating, it is absolutely fine. You cannot keep everyone happy.

  More than 80% of consumers/patients trust online reviews to make their healthcare decisions, but they forget to actually leave those reviews themselves!

  Setup a process in place so that each and every patient is asked for a review on your Google listing. You can simply share a link to review your practice. You can hire a Healthcare Marketing agency for Doctors to guide you in setting up these engagement strategies.

• Request Review Removal: After resolving the issue, you can politely ask the patient if they would consider updating or removing their negative review. Explain that their updated feedback can help other patients understand your commitment to excellent care.
• Learn and Improve: Use negative reviews as an opportunity to learn and improve. Identify recurring issues mentioned in reviews and take steps to address them. This proactive approach can prevent future negative reviews and enhance patient satisfaction.
• Seek Legal Advice: In extreme cases where a review is defamatory or contains false information that severely impacts your practice, you may need to seek legal advice. However, this should be a last resort, as legal action can be costly and time-consuming.

Conclusion

Handling negative reviews requires patience, professionalism, and a proactive approach. By responding thoughtfully and taking steps to resolve issues, you can turn a negative situation into an opportunity for growth and improvement. Remember, every review is a chance to demonstrate your commitment to providing excellent patient care.

By following these steps, you can effectively manage and potentially remove bad reviews, maintaining the integrity and reputation of your healthcare practice.