The patient search-why you’re losing patients before they even call your office

You’ve heard it said that within seven seconds someone has judged whether they trust you or not, whether they think you’re competent, or whether they like you. However, seven seconds may be far too generous.1 In fact, a study conducted by Princeton psychologists exposed the truth of first impressions—a stranger will make a judgment in as little as one tenth of a second. That’s a mere 100 milliseconds. To put it in perspective, blinking your eyes once takes you four times longer than forming an opinion of someone.2 People can be brutal.

Here’s something to further shake your confidence—the study found that longer exposure to an individual has a statistically insignificant impact on changing one’s first opinion either positively or negatively.3 First impressions count and second chances, when it comes to one’s perception, rarely alter one’s initial reaction.

Here’s the real tragedy. While you may be used to meeting a brand new patient with a firm handshake and genuine smile, the days of judgment being passed on you and your practice after a patient walks through the door are long gone. Your future patients are deciding whether or not to even call you within seconds of seeing your name on a list of search results. In fact, 93% of people who read online reviews use those reviews to determine whether or not a business is good or bad.4

Unfortunately, many practices miss this startling reality. Your online presence not only matters, it can also make or break the growth in your practice. Maximizing your ratings and rankings can transform the growth trajectory of your practice. Here are some practical steps to take to make sure your practice’s first impression online is one that will cause potential customers to pick up the phone and schedule appointments.

Ratings: Managing your online reputation

Dental practices are often ranked as the second and third most searched category when it comes to online reviews. Apart from where to grab dinner or which hotel is best, your prospective patients are reading reviews about you online. An even scarier thought is that, if your average rating is not to their liking or your number of reviews is low, they will skip right past you. Thankfully, there are solutions to help your company improve your online reputation.

In no particular order, Birdeye, Podium, and RatingLaunch each provide online reputation management platforms to help you gain authentic reviews on key review sites such as Yelp, Google, and Facebook. Each of these platforms creates a simple method for you to invite all of your patients, after their appointments, to review their experiences and post their reviews on major review sites.

Rankings: Embracing SEO and hyper-local search results

On average, seven to nine patients in your city are searching for a dentist every single day on Google alone. This does not include the numerous other search engines. With the increase in consumers searching for local businesses via their mobile devices, Google has once again tweaked its algorithms to focus on local search by homing in on a user’s exact location and providing relevant results based on someone’s immediate surroundings. This is referred to as hyper local search results.

Just as ratings help you make a powerful first impression, so do rankings. Studies show anywhere from 20% to 35% of the clicks go to the search result in the No. 1 spot, and there is an exponential decrease in click-through rates from there.5 In fact, the decline is so steep that if you’re even third on the list, you will rarely hear from any of the prospective patients searching for a new dentist. Local Search for Dentists is a company that understands the significance of appearing first in search results. In fact, their average customers receive 96 monthly calls from their web presence. Imagine if a fraction of those prospects converted to actual patients.

Engaging with companies for rankings and ratings

There are many companies on the market that will try to sell you their services for search engine optimization and online reputation management. While many of these provide great results, you need to go in with a clear understanding of your return on investment (ROI) so you can choose a company that exceeds your expectations and grows your practice. Here are some quick tips for selecting a company that can help with your online rankings and reviews.

• Go in with a desired outcome—Before engaging with a company, understand what results you want. This could be more web traffic, increased referrals, or an increase in a certain type of procedure. Whatever it is, know your desired outcome prior to engaging.

• Calculate your ROI—Know exactly how much your desired outcome will earn you. The ADA says the average long-term patient at a practice spends approximately $653 each year.6 If your desire is to increase your new-patient population, know how much you are willing to spend to acquire that customer, and don’t forget to calculate in your overhead. Are you willing to spend 33%, 50%, or 75% of the first year average revenue? This will help you quickly assess if you are gathering your return from a monetary standpoint.

• They call it an investment for a reason—News flash: earning money often costs money. You must be willing to invest up front while knowing that results could take as long as 90 days. With that said, create a very definitive timeline of the results you expect to see and when. The worst thing you can do is pull the plug too soon on a campaign. The second worst thing you can do is not stop a campaign if it is not achieving your desired outcome or adding up in terms of your ROI.

• Understand the features—So many online reputation management platforms and SEO firms give you a laundry list of unnecessary features. Do not pay for more than you need when it comes to the core features required to meet your desired outcome. On the flip side, do not skimp on necessary features; otherwise, you’ll never achieve your goal and ROI will suffer.

Do not be stuck in the Stone Age being outranked by your competitors in search engines and reviews. Invest the resources for your practice to appear not only high in search rankings, but also to put your best foot forward with outstanding reviews. Do not be like so many practices I work with that let thousands of dollars in revenue just slip by each month because of their unwillingness to invest a few hundred dollars.

References

1. Pitts A. You only have 7 seconds to make a strong first impression. Business Insider. http://www.businessinsider.com/only-7-seconds-to-make-first-impression-2013-4. Published April 8, 2013. Accessed May 30, 2018.

2. Average duration of a single eye blink–Human Homo sapiens. BioNumbers website. http://bionumbers.hms.harvard.edu//bionumber.aspx?id=100706&ver=0. Published April 24, 2008. Accessed May 30, 2018.

3. Wago E. How many seconds to a first impression? Association for Psychological Science website. https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/how-many-seconds-to-a-first-impression. Published July 2006. Accessed May 30, 2018.

4. Local Consumer Review Survey 2017. BrightLocal website. https://www.brightlocal.com/learn/local-consumer-review-survey/. Published January 1, 2018. Accessed May 30, 2018.

5. Lincoln J. Google click-through rates in 2017 by ranking position. Ignite Visibility website. https://ignitevisibility.com/ctr-google-2017/. Accessed May 30, 2018.

6. Why should I pay for a new dental patient? Patient News Dental Marketing website. https://patientnews.com/about-us/blog/what-should-i-pay-new-dental-patient. Published March 9, 2016. Accessed May 30, 2018.