The Best Way for Dentists to Win the Yelp Game

An unhappy patient who leaves your practice is unlikely to tell you why they are unhappy—they just stop making appointments. But they are almost certain to tell others, and not just their close friends. Nowadays they are more likely to broadcast their displeasure online—on their social media platforms and on rating websites.

Like it or not, the battle for patient acquisition is being fought, in large part, on websites like Yelp. And it even affects retention, too, as patients who may not even realize they are unhappy can become influenced by negative comments they see there.

And what are people talking about there? They are talking about how long they wait. They are talking about the dentist’s chairside manner. They are talking about staff members’ attitudes. For the most part, they are talking about the experience. Which is entirely in your control.

I know this can sometimes seem unfair from a dentist’s perspective (“I performed outstanding clinical work on that patient but got a bad review because the receptionist didn’t smile?”), but this is today’s reality and it underscores once again why clinical excellence must be supported by value excellence at every point in the patient experience.

The good news is that if you really put the energy into delivering that great experience you can quickly turn the Yelp game to your advantage.

 It’s often said that when someone has a good experience, they might tell one other person; if they have a bad one, they tell everyone they know. But that is changing, now that social media and other online avenues are making it so easy to document our lives day to day. Nowadays, instant feedback—good or bad—about your practice is making its way online all the time. A visit to the dentist is an opportunity for a patient to tell everyone they know that they are making a visit to their dentist. And it’s an opportunity to tell everyone they know (and even people they don’t) how that visit went.

The only answer then is to really master the patient experience aspect of great dental care. It’s not just a good idea from a patient relationship perspective; it is absolutely vital if you are going to be competitive in the online marketplace of opinions, which is where the battle for patients’ minds and loyalty is being fought. Every dentist is going to have some patients who, for whatever reason, are dissatisfied. The important thing is not let them have undue influence. And you do that by having enough vocal advocates singing your praises to drown out any noise of negativity. If you really have fun and are genuine about creating the right experience, that can’t help but be reflected in your online ratings.