How Online Reviews Build Trust in Your Podiatry Clinic

You're listening to Podiatry Marketing, conversations on building a successful podiatry practice with Tyson Franklin and Jim McDannald.

Hi. I'm Tyson Franklin. Welcome to this episode. With me today is my cohost, Big Jim McDannald. How you doing, Jim?

I'm Big Jim now, I guess. I'm I'm doing well.

I like mixing it up.

Yeah. I've gotten Jimbo, I've got Jimmy Mac, I've got a lot of connotations, but actually, the the the older brother of a friend was called Big Jim. So I was always little Jim because I, you know, five foot nothing and a hundred and fifty pounds. All all a, you know, a tight fit running machine here, but I appreciate that. I'll take that compliment.

I guess I'm getting a little bigger as winter here in Canada, you know, turning into spring, trying to burn off some of that winter fat. But, no, things are good here. We just finished watching a little Disney film with the family and ready to hop into some podiatry marketing topics today with you.

Oh, before you do that, what was the film? Always like to know what you're watching.

So it was one of the most recent Disney ones. It's called Encanto. It's about a Colombian magical family. It's a Oh, okay. Watch.

I though all those new Disney movies are pretty interesting. And when you've got like a seven year old and almost five year old, like

Oh, remember.

You just get to be you get to be a kid again. It's kind of fun.

My my daughter's 18 this year, so it's good to have to watch those. It's we just finished watching Afterlife, which is on Netflix with Ricky Surveys and

Oh, okay.

Not recommended for kitties. Remember remember when we were off air last week, we're talking about that word that people some people don't like. Yeah. Well, it's dropped a

lot. Right.

It's dropped a lot in that show, but I must admit, I I think British comedy is the best comedy in the world. There's just something about it is just I think it's because they're so polite usually, and well, I think Canadians are the politest people, but they're I don't know. It always looks a little

bit different. Proper. They're they're

proper and formal. Yeah. Yeah. A bit more proper and formal, you know, battle of the queen, all that sort of stuff. So when they put a comedy on and they some of their comments just are so funny.

But anyway, we should get back on to this podcast.

I do have one quick comment though. Like, I will say that I do prefer the British version of The Office over the American version. That might be controversial because, you know, Steve Carell, Dwight the Dwight Schrute in the American version, they're it's really good, but the original David Brent BBC style of The Office is still, like, my favorite.

So Well, yeah. It's in Australia, the show don't know if you heard the show, Kath and Kim. No. So anyway, in Australia, there's a massive show over here. So the Americans did their version of it.

I I absolute shocker. It was a shocker. So I agree the the British version of The Office far better than the American one. I still find the American one funny though. So

They're both good. They're both good. It's just the British one is like so much more cringe. Like, kinda like, it's like, oh.

See, this is almost this is almost like a marketing topic in itself. What we're talking about right now, where where people will copy what somebody what's been successful in one place, they'll copy it and doesn't necessarily mean it's gonna be successful in another place, even with really good actors in it.

It's true. That that that could be a topic for another show like how the office relates to podiatry marketing or something.

So today we're gonna talk about online reviews and why they are so important. So Jim, why are online reviews important and why should people pay a lot of attention to them?

Yeah. I would say they're really important these days because it's one of the most kind of visible things that that are shown offline when people search for your name or the name of your clinic. You know, the star level are very visible in search results, And it's not only you know, patients get tired of, like, hearing people talk about themselves or clinics say they're the best foot and ankle clinic, you know, since sliced bread or in the Greater Chicagoland area. Yeah. They wanna see what people really think about you.

Obviously, as most clinics and most doctors probably know, like, there are there can be, you know, either fake reviews or over overtly negative ones from from kind of disgruntled patients, and we'll talk about that in a little bit. But there's no real way there's no better way for a person to kind of transfer trust and kind of, you know, kind of tutor you know, speak to the whole community about how great you are and the care you provide, and that just really kind of resonates with other people in a way that's more genuine and authentic, especially when it's a written review. Yeah. I mean, stars are nice, but, like, a genuinely written review about the care they received and how they feel about you and your clinic, it speaks volumes.

Yeah. I remember going back, yeah, maybe five, eight, ten years ago, I had a few friends who were, you know, sort of computer nerds. And anytime we went to do anything, they'd strap me straight on their phone. I'm gonna yeah. We're gonna go for dinner.

Oh, let's check out the restaurant reviews. I'm like, oh, bloody hell. Can we just pick a restaurant? Oh, no. We gotta read the reviews.

We gotta look at the photos. And I'm going, my god. Can we just pick a restaurant? I know that place down there is supposed to be good. Well, let's see what the reviews are.

And now I mean, real, they would not go to a restaurant that didn't have a certain rating, and they'd read through the comments. And they really judged where they were gonna go, especially if they were going out of town. They would plan their trips. They would plan where they're gonna eat. Nearly every activity was based on reviews.

So these days, I do exactly the same thing. So I assume when someone's looking at a podiatrist and there's half a dozen to choose from, it's super important.

Yeah. It's super important for different reasons. Number one, it's it's basically like kind of digital word-of-mouth in a way. Right? Like, we trust other people, our friends, our family, our neighbors.

Their experiences, you know, are easier to relate than to some marketing on a website potentially. So, you know, it's this digital word-of-mouth that just it spreads as well. Right? You know, word-of-mouth spreads and so does this digital word-of-mouth. I think it's also important, like you talked about, that these reviews not only, are they what people say about us, but it's how they say it.

You know? So if if certain keywords are used, you know, inside of a review, this can surface in search. So if someone's talking about a great bunion surgery they had and you get five or six or seven reviews that people are saying that you provide great bunion surgery, like, it's gonna be a signal to Google, but it's also a strong signal to anybody that reads those reviews. You'll get probably more of those kind of patients based off of these written reviews that you receive. So it's a really important aspect of things, and a lot of people will just kind of, like, leave it to chance.

I don't really recommend that. We'll talk about that in a little bit, but, you know, I think it is really important to help cultivate these authentic reviews when possible.

Well, I was looking at a podiatrist in a particular area of America about three days ago. Four podiatrists came up in the in the first list. The podiatrist that I was looking for, they had 1,600 Google reviews. The next podiatrist in town had 12. And I went, my god.

I went and had a look at I mean, I'm reading through these reviews, and all the reviews were great. And I'm thinking, wait. If I was a per if I was a patient looking for podiatrist in that town, and one's got 1,600 reviews, and they're like 4.8 rating, and you're reading through everything. And the others, they had 12 there, but they had no one had written anything for about a year, and all the 12 came in a very short period of time. My trust level for the 1,601 just went through the roof.

Yeah. It's almost something you don't have to think about. It's almost like instinctual in a way. Yeah. Even if you hadn't read those reviews when you see, like like, let's say you can see 12 at, like, four point nine or you see 1,600 at four point eight, you're not like like, if you have a five point o, it's like it'd be great if you do have that, but there's always this concern that, like, are these real or not?

Like, are these authentic? And are are they all just, like you know, you sent out an automated email and you got these, like, five point o's with zero zero comments. But when you have a decent star rating, plus, like, you talked about these written testimonials, not even just a review, just a testimony about how great you were and your how your staff treated them in a really professional, caring way, Like, it just it's an accelerator of trust that is difficult to do any other form of marketing or any other online source. And we'll get into, like, you know, which which ones to start with and which ones you know, when should you switch into a different one, but we'll we'll get into that a little

So okay. So how how do you ask for what's a professional way to ask for an online review?

Yeah. So I think there's some different ways about going to do it. Obviously, I think it's important to, like, step back and, like, kinda go into the shoes of the patient. Right? Like, know, I think it's it can be tough kind of in that clinical situation.

Right? We went to podiatry school. A lot of us are kind of trained in hospitals. You know, we didn't necessarily get trained to kind of, like, customer service or patient service in a way that where it doesn't necessarily feel super authentic for us to, like, ask ask for a review. But that's where it's really have to do, you have to find a way that you feel comfortable asking for one.

You know, people feel like you provided an unbelievable level of care. You can tell that they're happy. Setting up a process where whether you ask directly or, you know, in a very compassionate, open way and say, you know, if you had a great, you know, great patient care experiences, we'd be happy if you'd share this on Google. If you don't feel comfortable in your clinic, you feel like you're putting the patient on the spot, that's something you can train your front desk staff. So if you feel like it's a good patient for your clinic, whether it's on your electronic chart or you have a small note on the chart that passes off to the front desk, they can ask as well.

But I really recommend that it's a system where, number one, it's not an automated every person gets it situation, which is, you know, you might get a lot of, like, surface level star ratings, but you're not gonna get these deep reviews. It's more about, like, a compassionate personal ask from either you or from your staff, and then giving them a little bit of time to, like like, don't put them on the spot in your clinic, hand them, like, a tablet or hand them something for them to, like, you know, kinda put pressure on them in the clinic. You know, it's okay once they're fifteen minutes or half an hour down the road to utilize either an email or text messaging surface surface is what I really recommend. Something like GatherUp. There's other types of software that can be used.

There's definitely automated things that can work, but if you really want these in-depth personal testimonials

Yeah.

Finding that way to, like, have a human ask so they feel like there's a human on the other side of that, and then provide it to them in an easy way. If you just say, like, even sometimes a card or a QR code is too much. They just wanna, like, get a text message or an email where they can just click and then go. So that's usually how I find is the best way to ask, and and everyone's gonna find the system works right for them. That's kind of a a baseline level of asking for or requesting a review.

Yeah. I have in my marketing workshops and in the twelve week reboot when I well, the last one's already started. I have a a framework on how to get Google reviews off at whichever reviews that you're after. So what platforms should people start on? What's what's the best way to get started?

Because there are a number of review platforms you could use.

Yeah. No. There's definitely no shortage. Right? There's so there's, like, obviously, Google reviews.

There's you can review places on Facebook. There's all kinds of medical review sites. I know in The US and in Canada, there's, like, vitals and, like, what, rate m d. There's a bunch of them out there.

Yelp's pretty big in America too, isn't it?

Yelp Yelp can be big, but I think from a medical standpoint, like, you don't want to, I think, ignore any of those bigger review sites. But I think when it comes to medical stuff, the best place to start is generally Google.

Yeah.

And it's kinda like I mentioned previously is that, you know, when people do search in Google, you know, your with your name or your clinic's name, that kind of ratings, stars, and the the reviews are gonna be very kind of front and center. There's not much yellow on a Google, know, results page, but the yellow is the star, so it kind of draws your eyes to that star rating. So that's hugely important, and you really should focus on doing that because the number of reviews you have, the quality reviews you have, those are signals to Google that you are kind of an, you know, a quality provider in the local area and probably will help somewhat with rankings and just distinguish you from others. So that's the place I usually have people start is by utilizing Google reviews. And those are something too where it's really I recommend that whether it be positive or negative that you reply to every review that comes in as well.

And not just, like, not just a copy paste, like, thanks for the review, Tammy. Like, it needs to be something I mean, you have to be aware of what HIPAA is Yeah. And that you're not, like, giving anything away that was not said in the review. But you can kind of echo the comments in a, you know, two or three sentences utilizing words they used. It's always good to kind of, like, not echo exactly what they say, but take what they said and kind of respond to those actual words instead of something generic.

Because when you show that, like, you actually read what they wrote and you're responding to what they wrote as opposed to something like cookie cutter, like, you're a human like, it it's a more of a human touch that means a lot to people, I think. Because if they're just getting a thanks, Tammy, it's like, why did this person even waste the time making that reply?

So Mhmm.

Always reply to no matter positive or negative. As far as the other types of channels

Before you go on the other channels, just on that point Sure.

Sure.

I've when you're saying about replying to them was I I have actually chosen motels and I have chosen restaurants based on the reply of the business, not just the review. Because when I've read them, I've gone, this business really cares. Like, I wrote a review for a I had a hamburger surprisingly a couple weeks back, and I wrote a review about that hamburger. Their reply to me made me realize why the hamburger was so good. So, yeah, I just I just think the replies are so important.

So, anyway, other platforms?

But, yeah, like, it makes you feel like that you feel like someone listened to you. Right? Which is kind of like sometimes the Internet can feel like there's people, like, talking at each other or, like, just kind of, like, saying words, but there's no connection. But when you reply with a personalized answer, it's like a level of connection, which is, like, more than, like, 95% of what most kind of Internet, you know, Internet reactions or Internet comments are So that's hugely important. Other channels, yeah.

So there's different ones. Like I said, there's RateMD, there's Vitals, these other ones. But I don't think those should be necessarily neglected. But since Google is so important, you need to kinda, like, feed Google for a while. If you get to a point where you're, you know, 1,600 reviews versus 12, maybe at that point in time and there's certain software you can use when you send out those emails or text messages

Yeah.

Where you can kind of, like, funnel to where those reviews go. But that's maybe a time to, like, focus on some of those rate MDs or vitals and just kind of build up some ones there. If you're still kind of, like, in a competitive area or you never have a huge gap on someone, You know, it it might be a a time to funnel some reviews over whenever there's a overtly, like, negative review for some reason. If you get a one star or zero star and there's only, like, six reviews on your Vitals account, it might be time to shift some of those reviews over for a little while to kind of help balance out that that negative review.

But what do you mean by shifting reviews from one place to another? Is this your focus with the patients? When you're asking, can you write a review on Google? You're saying, can you write a review on another platform?

I would say that well, I've never I even asked the patient, like, for a Google review. I would say that, like, I'm gonna send you this, like, email, and basically what happens is, like, with the software that, you know, either you're using in your clinic or you're working with a marketing specialist, there's, like, basically, like, sliders. Right? Do you, like you you only show that, like, the person can make a review on Google, but let's say if you wanna go to, like, RateMD or

Ah, right.

Vitals or something. Within the software, you can say, okay. Like, now I wanna send my reviews to RateMD, or I wanna send my reviews to Vitals or Yelp or Facebook or something. So Okay. You can control the path of where the person is, like, clicking to leave the reviews.

So, yeah, like, majority of the time, it's gonna be Google, but there are options to help fund those reviews towards to kinda outweigh some of the the negative ones that do come along.

Yeah. And what that makes sense because you said, if you had say 1,600 on Google and you're so far in front of everybody else, you could give it a couple of months break, go on to one of the other ones where you may only have six reviews, and your rating may not be as good. If you can build up another 50 over there, then come back to Google again later on.

Yeah. It's a fine balancing act because there are some some studies that have been done that show that maybe there is a need for recent reviews as well. So, like, it's not just the amount you have, but, like, it's kind of a what have you done for me lately that Google might be also looking at. So so you yeah. It's a fine balancing act, and I think still feeding Google is the the best best first option.

But it's something that you can consider once you have a high enough number.

Well, that's when you know it's fake too. Like, a lot of fake accounts, all of a sudden, they'll have 400 reviews in a matter of a week, and they're all they're all the same. They're all the same similar names, and you go, this is this is fake.

Well, there are nefarious companies, so there are ways to try to pay for them, but usually Google will find those out because they come from a certain IP address or certain place on the Internet that'll get shut down or blacklisted in the future. So there's no real need to to kinda, like, what they call AstroTurf or kinda make these fake fake reviews. It's only gonna, you know, come back to haunt those people that do that in the future. You definitely wanna, you know, it's not about like we said, it's not really about star ratings either. Right?

Like, two or three sentences with that are sincere, authentic from your patients is, like, that's the golden stuff. Yeah. Star ratings are nice. You don't want zeros or ones, but it's really those that digital word-of-mouth that's spread by those authentic patient reviews, are really gonna accelerate additional referrals to your practice.

Yeah. I got a one star review from one person on my book who said it sucked. I was actually gonna use that in my marketing. This person here who didn't use their real name, but, of course, they never do. And I'm thinking, wait.

If my book sucked that much, I would've loved you just used your real name. So and that's when you know and I think people reading fake reviews, people reading reviews that they can tell when something is not right. It's it's pretty obvious.

Yeah. No. For sure. And I think that's along with fake reviews is the, you know, you get I get a lot of questions from clients or, you know, would that one star or zero star or a super negative kind of a ranty review comes in? Like so so it's a bit of a panic moment for a lot of practices because they've never really decided, like, how are we going to address these in, like, a a transparent, authentic way.

There's lots of concerns, right, like, violating the patient's kinda HIPAA in The US. It's like, we don't wanna give away medical information about them, but what they're saying isn't true. Can we get it deleted from Google? How do we get it deleted from Google? And it becomes a real, like it can be temporary panic unless you just have a a concrete plan about how to address these negative ones.

And, really, the the plan about going forward with that is, like, you know, first is, like, take a breath and see, like like, what actually happened here from the the clinic's perspective. Like, from you, like, just kinda, like, assess with you and your staff what happened here if you if you're not clear on what what happened. It's easy to get emotional and wanna, like, be be defensive or lash out and be protective of your staff and your clinic, but that's usually not gonna end up very, very well, to put it lightly.

Yeah. It's it's funny. Normally, like, just relating to the book, if I was reading somebody else's book if I was looking at reviews on somebody else's book and I saw a one star, I usually take no notice of it because I think no book could be that bad. I've never read a book that I would say that was one star. The ones that usually concern me if it was being my book or somebody else's where I see the three star because I'm going, well, they didn't hate it, but they didn't love it.

So why was it only a a three star? But sometimes you read you'll read through it, and some of the the three stars are very relevant. You sort of go, oh, yeah. It felt yeah. This book didn't cover this particular area which I was hoping for.

You go, okay. That makes sense. They still like the book, but it didn't cover a certain spot. So if you were gonna buy that book, you go, okay. I wasn't interested in that area anyway.

I'll still buy it. So, you know, I just think sometimes the really negative one star reviews, unless there's a lot of them for a podiatry clinic, I don't know if people would pay that much attention to it.

But I think you bring up a very good point there. Right? Sometimes you can learn something from those three star reviews. Yeah. It is a it it is an avenue for feedback on your clinic.

And, you know, us you know, as much as we feel like we went to school, we went to residency, we know everything, you know, like, it is good to get that feedback because it gives you an opportunity to, you know, improve the patient experience, to work on things that maybe you had a blind spot to, that they pointed out to you in a way. So, you know, you don't it's not necessarily best, you know, whether it's obviously, if it's if it's a complete lie and someone's being malicious to you, like, it's okay to, like, feel, like, attacked. But if it is something that, you know, opens up a blind spot or something you haven't thought about, it gives you an opportunity to improve that patient experience and the carrier providing.

Definitely. Because it could be a perfect example. Treatment's been fantastic. They love the the greeting was great. They love your staff, but they weren't happy with the waiting time.

Mhmm.

So they they they're telling you improve your waiting time. So if you saw that review at a certain point, but then three or four months later, you're never getting any more three star reviews. To me, that's that can be a positive that you've obviously improved that area.

No. A %. That's exactly what we're talking about here. And it's not only did you get a negative review and people you know, you're gonna feel judged. Right?

Like, oh my gosh. Like, everyone's gonna see this negative review, and they're gonna assume it's true, and they're gonna, like, gonna think I'm the worst, you know, podiatrist of all time. Yeah. But, like, you have a huge op that that negative view is actually a huge opportunity to show that, like, you do care, you wanna listen, and you wanna make it right. If you if you lash out and you kinda fight fire with fire and you get emotional and you get very defensive, like, it's gonna be a huge red flag to any other patient that sees that review.

And it's not just the negative review from that patient or that malicious review. It's the way you reacted to it. So you got to see that negative review as an opportunity, number one, to make it right with that patient, you know, to go offline and see if there's a way offline to find some resolution. Maybe it's maybe there's not a resolution there. But you at least need to voice and write out in ways that like like, you wanna listen, you wanna make it right for that patient.

But by projecting that and showing that in a in a in a thoughtful response, it's a huge opportunity to show that you are, like, a good neighbor, a good Samaritan in the community, and you're looking out for everybody. It's not just like, you're crazy. Like, we didn't do that. If you get into that kind of, like, titter tat or he sheds she said she said stuff, then it's like you're you're basically wasted that opportunity.

And what another suggestion I usually have told people, you get a one star review. You normally if you click on that person, it'll give you a list of other reviews that they've done. And if you look through their habit and they've got a habit of leaving a lot of four or five star reviews and there are no ones, then you need to try and make amends with that person. But if you I've clicked on some and I've looked, and that person every one of the reviews is one and two, one and two, one they are just a really negative nasty person. And those ones, I tend to keep it really brief.

I would write, thanks for your review. Don't necessarily agree, but I thank you anyway. Because you know, they are just wanting a fight.

Yeah. Some people do like to pick fights. And like I said, if you kind of fight fire with fire, it's gonna just, like, devolve into, like, a online flame war that really you're gonna look you know, you're gonna be down in the mud with them, and it's not gonna be helpful. But as long as you do project that you you do care, you wanna find a resolution, You know, you're you're willing to listen. For the most part, you'll get you'll gain the respect.

It'll come off come off as authentic just like, you know, that this you know, that you can provide great care. And it'll it's just an opportunity to kinda show that you are, like I said, a good Samaritan, a good member of the community, and these things happen.

Yeah.

You know, even the even the best vakturas are gonna get, you know, an occasional, you know, one star, zero star. These things do happen, and just try not to take it personally.

I think that's a fitting note to finish on. Did you have anything else you wanted to talk about with reviews in any way?

I would just say, like, don't be shy about asking for them or try to find you know, craft a way to, you know, work on a system that that works for you. Because if you're just gonna, like, you know, imagine that patients are gonna, like, seek you out on Google and fill out a review, you're gonna be kind of hanging out in the wind, to be honest. You're gonna be that 12 review clinic that's maybe you have five point o with 12 or 4.9 with 12, but you're never gonna be able to use your online reviews as a strong way to generate a flywheel of new patients, to build trust in your local community, and to kind of have that digital word-of-mouth, which is so powerful in 2022 and beyond.

I think that's a great way to wrap up. So Jim, thank you for your knowledge on this particular area today and talk again next week.

Sounds great, Big Tyson.

Not a problem, Big Jim. See you later. Later.

Thanks for listening to podiatry marketing with Tyson Franklin and Jim Mcdonald. Subscribe and learn more at podiatry marketing. That's the website address, podiatry.marketing.