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How to improve and maintain a positive online reputation
by Bill Champion
Online reviews have been infiltrating the internet since the early 2000s and have been further influenced by the growth of Amazon with product reviews and more recently with Google, which implemented reviews as part of its overall search platform. From an orthopedic perspective, reviews have proliferated throughout numerous sites and work so differently that few single strategies can solve the online reputation challenge.
Probably the most important fact is that your online reputation reflects only a small segment of your overall market/professional reputation. Derived and communicated via numerous online forums from past patients, it often reflects less than 1% of your patient volume but, over time, it represents a sizable sample to reflect the experience of your patients. I am not suggesting that online scores and star ratings should be ignored or not addressed. What I am suggesting is that practices and individuals often find themselves panicked about the negative reviews that show up online, when in reality, these only reflect the tip of the iceberg for conversations that are happening in the market around kitchen tables, at the water coolers at offices and in the stands at football games.
The standard strategy for improving online reputation is one of dilution or increasing the number of positive reviews to counteract lower ratings. This is both a reasonable and effective strategy in that a larger number of reviews better reflects your overall practice. Review “gating,” as most organizations practice, is where you actively increase the number of high ratings and avoid the posting of any negative reviews, which solves the problem and quickly. However, this only masks the true market/professional reputation.
Your overall market/professional reputation is simply an average perception across all segments of individuals you interact with as part of delivering orthopedic care. Of course, patients are the primary segment, often referring as high as 70% of future patient volume. However, primary care, physical therapists and even your staff in clinic and surgery are also referring. In elective orthopedics, your market/professional reputation has always been an important asset in the stability and growth of your practice. With few tangible and objective resources available, most appointments are made from the influence of another, whether that be a primary care referral source or a past patient.
In addition to making it easier for all patients to provide input on how you are doing, improving your market/professional reputation should also involve seeking input from referral sources and your staff. Even if a few of your partners are either disinterested or lost causes, keep up the feedback and the pressure. The objective is to address not only the tip of the iceberg with online reviews, but also to start working on a plan to attack the overall iceberg. Over time, as the iceberg reduces in size, the tip becomes significantly less of an issue.
Bill Champion is the president and CEO of Venel, a marketing communication firm focused exclusively for orthopedic practices. He can be reached at bill@venel.com.
Disclosure: Champion reports he is president and CEO of Venel.