Do you know what your patients are saying online about your practice?
by Michael Mosley
You have an online reputation!
Times have certainly changed. Similar to the way we look for restaurant or hotel reviews, patients are now looking for opinions when choosing a dental provider. They want to know what other patients like and don’t like about a doctor. They want first-hand feedback on the staff and what procedures and technologies are offered. A practice’s reputation is developing everyday whether the dentist is aware of it or not. A practice that is not paying attention to its “webutation” may be losing potential patients and procedures!
Technological progress has led to significant advancements in dental practices and the industry. These technologies have not only brought revolutionary new procedures, but also have reinvented practice management. Over 10 years ago, Smile Reminder developed the first e-messaging system for practices and their patients. As a result, practices began to see a significant rise in revenue from the reduction of missed appointments.
Today, Smile Reminder continues this trend of innovation with a new platform called "Active Presence." Each day, millions of patients look to the Internet when researching health-care professionals — especially when trying to locate a new dentist. Active Presence works to assist practices in understanding what is said about them online, and then helps them manage the building of a dynamic reputation. The integrated system works in three parts to allow practices to monitor online reviews, aggregate these write-ups and reviews to desired third-party sites, and increase their overall online presence through the distribution of current and consistent practice information.
Dentists spend many years perfecting their trade, but unfortunately, practice management and marketing are not focal points of their skill set. Many dentists are still unaware of the significant impact the Internet may be having on their practices today. With Active Presence, Smile Reminder is hoping to fill these knowledge gaps and give dentists the tools and understanding they need to be efficient and aware.
Prior to Smile Reminder’s new platform, office staff employees would have to manually track patient reviews, resulting in wasted time and money. Now, Active Presence does that job automatically, freeing up valuable office time for more important matters. Staying true to Smile Reminder’s goal of streamlining practice procedures and improving patient satisfaction, Active Presence is automatic and begins working immediately.
The first of the three-part system is Active Monitor. This feature works by combing the Internet to find reviews mentioning a certain doctor or practice. Active Monitor ensures the web is consistently searched for the practice in question. While manual searches require manual collection for tracking purposes, Active Monitor tracks, collects, and reports automatically. This ensures practices are continuously up-to-date with regard to their online reputation. Furthermore, the feature also provides a review score, as well as a comparison review rating.
Active Presence also helps practices understand the way practices are being perceived by existing patients. As Active Monitor routinely combs through practice reviews and compiles the postings, the practice can remain in tune with what is being said about it. For example, if there are multiple reviews stating an office has a long wait time or an outdated design, a practice can then take these reviews into careful consideration and make adjustments where needed.
The second of Active Presence’s comprehensive features is Active Review. This feature works to automatically build a practice’s reputation by pushing patient reviews to online directories. In addition, just as Active Review can enhance a practice’s already sterling reputation on one site, this feature also allows the practice to push reviews to sites where their reputation may need help. This will work to increase the practice’s overall web presence and reputation, giving it a higher level of awareness than ever before.
The third feature, Active Push, works to anchor a practice’s web identity. There are hundreds of directories on the web today. These directories are a great place for a practice to be seen and an excellent tool to use to acquire new patients. However, in the past, manually submitting and managing a practice’s presence in all desired directories has been problematic in terms of volume and currency. Smile Reminder developed Active Push to automatically submit practice information to these directories. By pushing practices’ basic information to these sites, Active Push is helping the practice remain more relevant through consistency and currency.
Together, this three-part system affords a high level of reputation management and awareness. Each distinct feature works to create an efficient and streamlined process for online reputation management. Active Presence is simply one more attribute to guarantee that practices remain up-to-date with digital advancements and opportunities, while also providing a valuable service to boost practice revenue. Practices will benefit from new patients referred through Internet searches. Furthermore, practices can rest easy knowing their reputation is being monitored on a regular basis.
Until now, this sort of control and management in terms of Internet reputation has not been available in the dental industry. While similar services may provide elements of Active Presence, there is no other service that is as customizable and comprehensive with the ability to deliver what has previously taken four or five separate services to accomplish.
Active Presence continues Smile Reminder’s history of efficiency innovation. It’s the first system to offer hands-free online reputation management. As patients continue to voice their opinions about their dental providers, Active Presence keeps practices engaged in the conversation. For more information about Smile Reminder and Active Presence, go to www.smilereminder.com.
