How to gain more Google reviews
Your Google My Business listing is a powerful marketing tool that should be utilised. It should be 100% optimised and continuously worked on to help increase the chances of your profile appearing in the very limited and sought-after 3-pack map listing in search results.
There are many factors that determine the likelihood of your profile appearing in the 3-pack map listing and whilst we work on most of them for you there is one factor that is a little out of our hands: gaining reviews.
The quality and velocity of Google reviews gained helps improve your chances of appearing in the map listing. However, this isn’t the only reason you should be doing everything you can to gain positive reviews. Research conducted by Vendasta found some interesting results that may convince you that you should be gaining as many reviews as you can from your dental patients:
- 92% of consumers now read online reviews
- 40% of consumers form an opinion of your business by reading just one to three reviews (88% form an opinion by reading up to 10 reviews).
- 68% of consumers say positive reviews make them trust a local business more
- 80% trust reviews as much as personal recommendations
- 48% will visit a company’s website after reading positive reviews
- Over half of young people aged 18 to 34 say they trust online reviews more than the opinions of friends and family.
So, how do you gain more Google reviews?
1. Social Media
Does your dental practice have an existing following on Facebook or Twitter? Do you have a page on your website that provides instructions on how to leave a Google review? Why not post the link to this page on your social media profiles?
2. Google review document
Patients are most likely going to leave a review straight after receiving treatment, so why not provide information and subtle hints for them to do so?
Providing a one page Google review document at reception is a good way to indirectly ask them to leave a Google review. Another way is to have a poster printed that can be displayed behind the practice’s front door encouraging patients to leave a Google review when they get home.
3. Email
You may not know that only patients with a Gmail account can leave a Google review. Ridiculous, right?
However, whilst this makes gaining reviews even more difficult, you have a resource that makes this a lot easier: your patient software. Within your patient software will hopefully be a list of patient email addresses and you can focus on emailing those with a Gmail account the link to your Google review page.
Alternatively, you can take the indirect approach and have an email signature designed that includes a Google review graphic which links to your Google reviews page.
4. Ask
If you have a good relationship with particular patients simply asking if they wouldn’t mind leaving a review will most likely be the easiest way of gaining your initial reviews. Even if they do not have a Gmail account it only takes a couple of minutes to set one up and leave you a review.
I hope this article has been useful to you. If you need help with your Google My Business listing or gaining reviews, please feel free to contact us on 01202 677277.
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