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How Realtors are Coping with COVID-19

Are you a realtor communicating during COVID-19 and trying to sell houses to clients? With the outbreak of the pandemic, people all over the world are practicing social distancing. Though sellers are removing homes from the market, interestingly enough 50% of realtors say that they’ve seen no decrease in buyer interest during this time. 

But there’s a problem for real estate agents: Even though there are interested prospects out there, chances are that they’re dealing with their own troubles and concerns. That’s why it’s so important to communicate clearly and effectively. 

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, we’ve seen real estate agents use BirdEye to sell houses in creative ways. Here are a couple of examples of realtors communicating during COVID-19.

Connecting with Interested Clients with Webchat 

If someone’s interested in buying houses at this time, chances are that they’re reaching out to several different area real estate agents but having trouble getting in contact with anyone. Some agents might be working from home and not monitoring their usual office number. 

BirdEye customers use Webchat to connect with interested buyers. Webchat is a chat icon that shows up on the bottom right side of your screen. Prospective buyers are asked to leave their names and phone numbers along with a message. 

Answer questions through FB Messenger 

Of course, Webchat isn’t the only communication channel that’s available. BirdEye customers are also answering questions from clients on FB Messenger. 

For more tips on how to communicate with clients, check out our blog post on realtors dealing with COVID-19. 

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Communication tips for mortgage brokers during COVID-19

With a seemingly unstable economy and news of U.S. Federal Reserve’s recent rate cut announcement, homeowners everywhere are wondering if the time is right for refinancing their mortgage. With a refinance boom coming, everybody probably has a lot of questions. As a mortgage broker, this is the time to step up on communicating faster and better. So, how are mortgage brokers communicating during COVID-19?

Typically customers could call and reach their mortgage broker on their broker’s office landline. With offices closed or working shorter hours, mortgage brokers need new and innovative means to stay in communication with their customers. If you are looking for ideas, learning from the best practices of fellow mortgage brokers and loan officers is a good place to start.

Here is how mortgage brokers are using BirdEye’s platform to communicate during COVID-19 crisis:

Use text to communicate effectively

Text messaging has an open rate of 98%. Use this trusted channel to communicate with your customers effectively. With changes in work routines, text messages can be a reliable way to reach your current and potential customers. Here is how one of our mortgage agency clients is using text messages to communicate:

Stay connected with text messages

With so much changing around us, not everything feels like a priority. It is also likely that a few things slip our minds, such as making appointments or even mortgage payments. Mortgage brokers are using text messaging to stay connected by providing information via texts. It also makes customers feel less uncertain. Here is an example:

“We are an essential business. We need to make it as easy as possible for our clients to keep moving forward. BirdEye has allowed us to communicate in a way that reaches people.” — Contour Mortgage Corporation

Mortgage brokers are also making use of texting from the landline feature to get more leads. This way the customer retains the single point of contact, which enables effective communication.

Use Webchat to get new customers

With so many offices cutting down on work hours or shifting to a work from home situation, it can be difficult to make and answer phone calls. With Webchat installed on your website, you can get leads straight to your BirdEye Inbox. Here is how one of our clients is using Webchat to get new customers:

Update your listings to keep customers informed

Chances are that your working hours and contact information have temporarily changed. Keep your customers updated by fixing your listings. For example, are you working shorter hours? With BirdEye, you can update your business hours or modify your business description to reflect the changes you have made during this crisis. This information will be updated across 50+ sites across the internet.

Customers will appreciate the updates and it will make your business the obvious choice. You also maintain transparency and promote loyalty by keeping your customers informed.

Read our blog post to find out more about how mortgage brokers are communicating during COVID-19. 

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Patient communication tips for healthcare practices during COVID-19

Healthcare is on everyone’s mind right now. While most things are avoidable, a visit to the doctor or healthcare provider may still be needed. With hospitals and healthcare staff busier than ever, keeping patients informed is extremely important and necessary. This means that healthcare practices communicating during COVID-19 need to use industry best practices and strategies for top results.

In this blog post, we talk about seven effective patient communication tips. We also have examples of how healthcare and wellness experts are using BirdEye’s platform to provide an exceptional patient experience even during the pandemic. Let’s get into it.

Use Text messages to reschedule appointments

Text messaging is an easy way to connect with patients to remind, confirm or reschedule appointments. Healthcare practices communicating during COVID-19 are using text messages to keep patients updated on wait times in real-time, which also helps everyone practice social distancing. Here is how one of our fertility center clients is using text messages for appointments:

“BirdEye allows us to make timely connections with old and new patients.” — NewLife Fertility Centre

Use Messenger to monitor all communication

With BirdEye Messenger, all your incoming and outgoing communication can be viewed in one place. This includes Webchat, text messages and Facebook messenger as well. You will no longer miss any patient communication because everything is right here in one unified Inbox.

Use Webchat to communicate with new patients

Using Webchat, you can turn your website visitors into leads. When a website visitor has a question, he or she can leave a message and their phone number via Webchat. When available, your staff can respond with the necessary information, which goes to them as a text message. Here is how one of our plastic surgery clients is using text messages to provide information to patients:

Check out our blog post for more tips for healthcare practices communicating during COVID-19. 

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Strategies for lawyers to communicate with clients remotely

Legal proceedings are confusing on a normal day. With a lot more uncertainty in the air now, chances are that your clients have more questions than ever before. This is why lawyers communicating during COVID-19 need to use effective channels and strategies of communication. Lawyers everywhere need to step up their communication strategies to ensure that all clients’ questions are answered through client-preferred channels and on time.

Suddenly plunged into this work from home situation, lawyers and legal firms everywhere have been trying to get up to speed on how to be helpful and productive while working remotely. Need more information? Learning from industry best practices is a good place to start.

Here is how our legal clients are using BirdEye technology to communicate with clients and provide exceptional client service during the pandemic:

Use text messages to keep in touch with clients

If your clients are already stressed, not being able to get in touch with you will only make things worse. If there was ever a time to over-communicate, it is now. This is especially true for criminal and immigration lawyers who need to continue to meet their clients and work on proceedings. You’ll also have a better chance of reaching your clients with text messages since texts have a 98% open rate. Here is how one of our Immigration law firm clients is using text messages to communicate:

Use Webchat to get new clients

A lot of people are using this break from routine to get their things in order. This might look like updating their will or work on their estate planning. By being available to clients on Webchat, lawyers can get new clients and help more people. Here is how one of BirdEye’s real estate and estate planning client is using Webchat to get new clients:

Make your landline textable and help more clients

With work from home policies and limited resources, most office landlines are not being answered regularly. By making your landline textable, you can ensure that you don’t lose out on clients. Here is how family law attorneys are texting from their office landline to answer queries that would’ve typically been phone calls:

Check out our blog post for more strategies for lawyers communicating during COVID-19.

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How contractors are communicating with customers during COVID-19

With many states, cities, and counties practicing shelter-in-place orders and social distancing, it might be difficult to know if your contract work will be put on pause. Though essential businesses differ depending on your location, many contractors and home services companies are still open for business. How is the industry adjusting, and how can contractors communicate during COVID-19?

New leads through Webchat 

Our contractors and home services clients are thankful that Webchat is still bringing in new customers during this uncertain time. Website visitors can easily ask questions by clicking the Webchat icon, leaving their name and mobile number, and typing in their query. A representative responds quickly via SMS text messaging. 

After realizing their roof had a leak, a customer contacted one of our home services clients through Webchat. Within minutes, a representative from this company responded to the customer’s questions and scheduled a time for a contractor to assess the damage. This helped the company get another client on board, and the customer was happy to have their roof repaired quickly. Tools like Webchat keep contractors communicating during COVID-19.

SMS text messaging to keep up communications

While Webchat is great at getting new customers or answering customer questions, SMS texting is how businesses can have sustained two-way communication with their customers. Having a unified Inbox that tracks all the communication via Webchat, Facebook Messenger and text helps  them communicate seamlessly and efficiently. By carrying on conversations over text, BirdEye contractors can keep communicating during COVID-19 while keeping everyone safe.  SMS texting also makes it easy to keep up with your customers in real-time. Let’s say you’re a gutter company, and upon cleaning your client’s gutters, you realize that one of the downspouts has been severely damaged in a recent storm. You can text your client, informing them of the issue. The client can then communicate with you, asking for options and more information on how to proceed. Texting is a great way to regain efficient communication with your customers during this unusual time we are living in. For the complete list of ways that contractors are keeping up with their customers, head to the BirdEye blog!

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Auto industry shifts gears with their customer communications during COVID-19

Even during shelter-in-place orders, there are many essential businesses that are staying open to serve their communities. Auto-related businesses are examples of essential businesses that are staying open during this time. What has changed since the spread of coronavirus, and how are auto businesses communicating during COVID-19?

New customers from Webchat 

The Webchat widget installed on the business website allows the website visitors to reach out to businesses and get a prompt response. Auto repair shops and dealerships are using this to answer questions and set up appointments.

“The Webchat offers reassurance to our customers. You know ‘I’m here for you.’ We started letting people know in our emails and voicemails that you can chat with a live person on our website.” -Vanessa, Team Mazda Subaru

Use SMS text messaging to meet customers where they are

Auto shops have been using SMS texting to do curbside check-ins to adapt to these unique circumstances. Instead of customers needing to go to the front desk to discuss their car repairs, the customer can text back and forth with a representative in the comfort of their own vehicle. Auto businesses communicating through text during COVID-19 are limiting social interaction to keep both employee and the customer health in mind. Car dealerships are using SMS text messaging to answer questions their customers have that they would usually discuss on the sales floor. Questions like, “Do you have any Mazda CX-5s?” or “Is the white minivan I looked at last week still available?” can all be answered through business texting. Conversations that auto shops and dealerships would normally be having with customers face-to-face are now easily transferred to this two-way communication to keep everyone’s health a priority. Head to the BirdEye blog to read the rest of the article!

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COVID-19: Apps and tools for doing your best remote work

Start by putting yourself first

You know how on airplanes, the flight attendant will tell the passengers during the safety demonstration to put your own oxygen mask on first before you help someone else? The same idea applies to your work. In order to do your best remote work, you must first make sure that you are doing everything you can to stay healthy. 

It’s easy to lose track of time, forget to eat lunch, and not stretch your legs for hours at a time when you’re not used to working from home. To avoid this, be sure to schedule time in your day to:

Eat and drink plenty of water. There are many apps to choose from that can keep you on track for your meals, but some of the most popular are MyFitnessPal, Meal Reminders, and MyPlate. Some great apps that can help remind you to stay hydrated are Drink Water Reminder and Plant Nanny. 

Take breaks. Get up and stretch your body after being seated for long periods of time and spend a few minutes away from your computer screen. Here is an article featuring workout apps that only take 7 minutes to complete that you can easily incorporate into your work from home days.

Practice preventative measures. To avoid getting sick or possibly infecting others, remember to avoid touching your face, wash your hands thoroughly and often, and practice social distancing.

Limit distractions. Apps like Hocus Focus, Freedom, and RescueTime are all great resources to keep you focused. They can block distracting websites or apps and track your productivity. Also, give Brain.fm a try if you are eager for some focus-centric soundtracks. Finding ways to concentrate is key when doing remote work. 

Let’s get to work

One of the biggest obstacles when working remotely is keeping in touch with the people that you usually see face to face: your coworkers and your customers. 

Day to day conversation. Try a workplace chat app like Slack, Glip, Google Hangouts, or Discord to keep up your daily communications. You can easily add everyone in your organization to these apps, and by having one spot where everyone communicates with each other, you avoid important emails getting buried in your inbox. Glip, Google Hangouts, and Discord are free apps, and Slack has a free option for smaller teams.  

Project management. Apps like G Suite, Asana, Trello and Jira will help you keep track of which team member is working on what project. You can also track a project’s progress, create tasks and subtasks, assign tasks to people in your team, leave comments, and much more! Asana’s Basic package is free to use, and Jira is available for a free trial. 

Video conferencing. Text communications is great, but sometimes you can’t replace the need to see someone face to face. Some of the best video conferencing systems are UberConference, Google Hangouts, and Zoom. All three of these apps are either free or have a free option. Use these apps to get valuable face time with your team members to boost productivity and hopefully regain some sense of normalcy. 

Can you connect with your customers even when working remotely? You bet! Read the full article here. 

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Three Keys to Dental Practice Marketing

There are a ton of different ways you can market your dental practice, but ultimately every strategy works because it boils down to three key elements: visibility, credibility, and social proof. Let’s break down what these three factors are and why they work so effectively.

Key #1: Visibility The first step to an effective marketing strategy is visibility. Right now, open up a tab and look for “dental practices near me”. The first thing that you will see is something like this.

These practices have a big advantage over their competitors. Almost nobody browses through five pages of Google search results in order to find a dental practice. Studies show that 75% of Google users never go past the first page. The top practices on Google search are the businesses that get chosen by customers. 

Key #2: Credibility The fact is that finding a dental practice can be scary for a patient. They’re constantly hit with stories about dentists who overcharge for completely unnecessary procedures. Most of all, patients are looking for assurance that they’ll get a dentist that really cares about their dental health.

Your marketing strategy should establish your credibility. With all the horror stories they’ve heard about bad dentists, patients need to understand that you’re looking out for their best interests. 

Key #3: Social Proof Social proof is the reason why when given a choice, people are more likely to wait in a line that’s full than wait in a line that’s empty. If 500 people think that something is worth waiting for, they’re probably not all wrong. It’s human nature to want to seek out something that’s already in demand.

That’s why you should take advantage of social proof when marketing your dental practice. Make sure that the opinions of your happy patients are front and center.

Want to read more strategies that you can use to effectively market your dental practice? Check out our full article on dental practice marketing.  

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Get More Deals with Webchat

Are you a small business owner looking for more website deals? There’s one simple way you can accomplish this: webchat. Let’s talk about how webchat can help your business attract more customers. 

Do People Really Use Webchat?

The answer is a resounding yes. I’m sure some of you read our introduction and still don’t believe that webchat really works- but studies show it’s the channel customers prefer.  46% of customers prefer to chat, compared to just 29% for email. If a customer has a quick question about something like your prices, chances are that they don’t want to type out an entire email or drop everything they’re doing and make a phone call. 

Are People Actually Trying to Chat with Small Businesses?

For a long time, website chat was something that customers only expected from big companies. Only large enterprises had the ability to dedicate teams to chat with customers. But those days are over. 

The modern customer is used to ease and convenience. Whether it’s ordering an item with 1-click on Amazon or calling an Uber from their smartphone, the average person has been trained to expect things to be quick, no matter where they go online. Many people might not be willing to take the effort to fill out a lengthy form or make a phone call. But those same people might be perfectly happy to send a chat to your business. That’s because chat is simple and low-effort. If you still don’t believe us, let’s tell a story about a real small business. 

How Rick Patterson Got More Customers with Webchat 

Rick Patterson is the owner of Pretty Handy Guys Handyman Services, a one-location home services business located in Atlanta. When Rick Patterson got started with BirdEye, he implemented Webchat in a quick, easy process with a BirdEye customer support rep. 

Almost immediately, the results started pouring in. Potential customers with quick questions started reaching out to Rick through Webchat.

In the first month, Rick saw 12 new customers come in through Webchat. The best part was that it was convenient for him as well as his customers. It didn’t matter if they contacted him in the middle of a job— he could respond through his smartphone, at his own convenience. It was a great way to bring in new business, with minimal effort on his part. 

Check out our full article to learn more about webchat. 

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Relationship Surveys vs. Transactional Surveys

There are two types of surveys you should consider conducting: relationship surveys and transactional surveys. Let’s go through some of the differences between the two.  

Relationship Survey Definition

A relationship survey measures a customer’s overall relationship with a brand. 

Examples include: 

A survey asking how likely you’d be to recommend a law firm to your friend.

A survey asking how often you visit a restaurant.

A survey asking for your overall level of satisfaction with an e-commerce company.

Transactional Survey Definition

Transactional surveys are meant to measure customer satisfaction with specific touchpoints. Unlike a relationship survey, they are not meant to measure overall satisfaction. 

Examples include: 

A survey about your last visit to the dentist.

A survey from Uber asking you to rate your driver.

A survey asking how easy it was to book your last appointment with your healthcare practice.

Which One’s Better?

You might be wondering whether your business should use relationship surveys or transactional surveys. Remember, both have their own strengths and weaknesses. 

While a relationship survey is great for determining overall experience, a transactional survey can give you more specific feedback on how you can improve a particular touchpoint. While a customer might love your business, they might not be totally happy with a recent interaction with your customer service team. A relationship survey might not be able to uncover this but a transactional survey can. 

So what do we recommend? Use both. Relationship surveys and transactional surveys can complement each other. By improving each one of your touchpoints, you’ll improve your overall relationship with the customer. 

If you want to know more, read our full article on relationship surveys.

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Google Changes In 2020 That Your Business Cannot Ignore

In early 2020, Google made a big update. Danny Sullivan, Google’s Public Search Liaison, tweeted about the update. He said, “We (Google) do updates all the time.” While it’s true that small changes happen throughout the year (Google made over 3,000 updates and changes to its search engine last year alone, wow), the recent update once again brought to light the fact that Google search engine also keeps constantly evolving.

As a business owner, you need to update your knowledge of how the search engine works by keeping up with Google changes. SEO in 2020 is going to be all about your site’s E-A-T, which stands for Expertise-Authoritativeness-Trustworthiness. So for your content to have a high ranking in search you need to be an expert on the topic (think tons of relevant content), you need to be able to speak with authority (think well-researched content that adds value) and you need to be trustworthy (think backlinks and citations). Sounds easy, right? If the content on your site abides by these three rules, you have nothing to worry about.

While that’s easier said than done, the first time in the process is understanding the changes. Before you rush to work on your content, let’s understand Google Changes in 2020 and what you as a business owner need to know.

Changes in the Google search algorithm

Google’s search engine is constantly evolving and getting smarter. In late 2019, Google updated its algorithm based on BERT (or bidirectional encoder representations from transformers, phew now there’s a mouthful). BERT uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) and a massive data set to help understand what people are searching for. Where a few years ago it only caught keywords in search, today the search engine also understands relevancy. Each update and change makes the algorithm smarter. This is so that the search engine better understands the end user’s (your customers) search intent.

Pandu Nayak, Google VP of research, said “This is the single biggest … most positive change we’ve had in the last five years and perhaps one of the biggest since the beginning.”

What about ‘local’ and ‘near me’ searches?

Studies show that 92% of customers choose businesses on the first page of search results. Google said that the number of mobile searches checking for local businesses grew by over 250% between 2017 and 2019. According to Google changes in 2020, there are three factors that matter when it comes to ‘near me’ searches: distance, prominence, and relevance.

Reviews, reviews, reviews: No such thing as too many reviews

Reviews will continue to have an important influence on the ranking of the website. Businesses with positive reviews will continue to rank higher in regular and local searches. Websites that get reviews and comments will also rank higher in searches.

Think of the bigger Schema of things

We couldn’t resist the pun. Simply put, schema helps search engines understand what content is present on a page. SEO experts swear by Schema.org and your in-house SEO guy will agree that it is extremely helpful in getting those SEO results. Schema helps Google understand if there is a list or a survey or an image on a page so that it brings up the appropriate search results. On January 21, Google announced that starting from April 6, 2020, it will go all-in with Schema.org and will no longer support data-vocabulary markup (another type of code) for rich results.

Check out our full story on the 11 Google changes in 2020 that your business shouldn't ignore for more on algorithm changes and what this change means for your business.

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What is Search Engine Marketing?

There are around 3.5 billion Google searches a day. It’s been estimated that 92% of Google users choose businesses that rank in the first page. That’s why it’s important to pay attention to search engine marketing (SEM).

Defining Search Engine Marketing

Search engine marketing is the process of optimizing your website to get more traffic on both paid and organic channels.

Why is SEM Important? 

The more visible your business is on search engine result pages, the easier it will be for potential customers to find you. Chances are that you’ve been already trying to rank higher for keywords relevant for your business. 92% of searchers will choose businesses on the first page of Google. 

Of course, you can achieve the same thing by paying for Google ads. For example, let’s say that you run a law firm and you want to advertise and reach potential clients who haven’t heard of your firm before. 

An easy way to do this is to spend money on a keyword like “law firms in Detroit”. Chances are that anyone searching for this is in need of a lawyer. Paying for ads can help you get in front of interested prospects. 

Search engines like Google and Bing allow you to bid on keywords like “law firms in Detroit”. While paid ads cost money, it’s a great way to drive relevant traffic to your website. Since more and more customers are turning to search engines to discover businesses, search engine marketing will only be more important in the future.

Learning SEM for Beginners

Want to get started with search engine marketing, but don’t know where to start? Luckily, Google has resources designed just for you. Google Skillshop offers free courses designed to help you learn how to use the Google Ads platform. You can work to get a Google ads certification at your own pace.

While Google is the biggest search engine by a long shot, you should also pay attention to Bing’s paid advertisements. It’s been estimated that as many as 25% of online searches in the United States are done through Bing. Microsoft also offers free courses to help you manage your Bing ads.

If you want to learn more, check out our full article on search engine marketing..

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Why Texting From Landline Works

Do you use your landline phone to stay connected with your customers? Do you use your office landline to call your customers to ask questions, provide information or simply to schedule appointments? If yes, then this article is for you. When your customers get a call from your number they know it is a call from your office. But there’s one more thing you can do to communicate with your customers more effectively - texting from landline. 

 Here’s why texting from your landline phone matters and how your business can get started today. 

Why do you need to make your landline phone textable? 

So, why do you need to text through your landline? It’s the form of communication your customers prefer. Studies show that the open rate for text messages is more than 4x the open rate for emails. While it’s easy to miss an email, customers almost always check their text messages. 

Texting doesn’t just help your customers. Adding text capabilities to your landline makes communicating more convenient for you —  the business owner. You don’t need to drop what you’re doing to take a customer’s call. You can text your customers when you’re available. 

So, why does landline texting make a difference? While many businesses choose to send customers text messages with a separate number, this can be risky. After all, this number often won’t be recognized by customers’ phones. Meanwhile, your landline phone number can show up in your customers’ Caller ID, making it significantly more likely that your messages will get a response. 

Reading and replying to texts to your landline 

Now, it’s time for the obvious question: how are you supposed to check texts that are sent to your landline? Chances are that your landline doesn’t have a screen like your smartphone. 

The answer is to have a solution like BirdEye that can add the texting functionality to your existing landline.

Read our full blog for more information about texting from landline. 

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Why Patient Experience Matters

Studies are showing that patients are leaving practices — but not because of the actual doctors. Instead, practices were losing patients because the younger cohort is increasingly demanding what they’ve learned to expect from other industries- an easy, seamless patient experience with quick communication and great service.

Consider Patient Expectations

Remember, patients are getting used to seamless experiences with businesses— whether that’s easily ordering a new book on Amazon or calling an Uber from their cell phone. Those same expectations carry over to healthcare practices. While it’s not fair that the customer experiences of billion-dollar companies are being used as the benchmark, it’s the unfortunate reality.

Right now, practices are not living up to the high expectations that patients are placing on them. According to Prophet, 81% of patients are not satisfied with their healthcare experience. There’s a lot of room for improvement across the board.

Patient Experience and Health Outcomes

Believe it or not, patient experience surveys can even help your patients’ overall health. Studies have shown that collecting feedback on patient experience leads to better health outcomes.

But that wasn’t the only benefit of improving patient experience. The study also found the following:

- Great patient experience means less risk of a malpractice suit - Great patient experience means lower rates of employee turnover - Great patient experience means greater patient loyalty

So the evidence is clear: Taking steps to improve patient experience helps your practice, your patients, and your employees.

Here a few tips on how you can improve your patient experience.

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What You Need to Know About Healthcare Reviews

Healthcare reviews have redefined the way patients choose healthcare providers. Just two decades ago, most patients relied on word-of-mouth to find a new doctor. But those days are over. The rise of the Internet and the smartphone have changed the way that patients discover practices. 

Nowadays, patients start their search with Google. Studies show that 5% of all Google searches are health-related — a stunning amount when you consider the sheer number of Google searches. One of the very first things that they’ll see is a doctor’s online reviews, which makes reviews one of the biggest factors determining whether your practice gets chosen over the competition.

Healthcare Review Stats

Here are a few stats proving the importance of reviews for healthcare providers.

- 70% of patients call online reviews crucial in selecting a healthcare provider. - 59.9% of patients have selected a doctor because of positive reviews. Meanwhile, 60.8% of patients say they’ve avoided doctors because of negative reviews. - 70% of patients think it’s important for practices to respond to online reviews.

Staying HIPAA-Compliant

Every healthcare practice wants to make sure that it’s properly protecting patient data. So let’s get this out of the way: requesting and sharing reviews are in no way a violation of HIPAA. We’ve worked with thousands of successful healthcare practices to both collect and manage reviews without running afoul of HIPAA. It’s not a violation to ask a patient for feedback. Once a review is posted publicly, it’s not a violation to share it on social media or your website.

However, responding to reviews is an area where you should tread carefully. Do not identify the reviewer as a patient. Something like “Thanks for coming in, hope to see you again soon,” could be considered a breach of privacy.

Let’s talk about how you can get started collecting and leveraging healthcare reviews.

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A Short Guide to the Google My Business App

Google My Business is the #1 factor determining your business’s search ranking. It’s also the first impression that anyone who discovers your business on Google Search is going to have. That’s why it’s important to download the Google My Business app. It’s an easy way to manage your business’s listing on-the-go.

First Steps

We recommend setting up your Google My Business listing on your desktop before creating the app. If you need to create a new Google My Business profile, click here. Google will ask you to claim and verify your Google My Business, a process that typically takes 2-3 weeks.

Once your Google My Business listing is verified, all you have to do is download the app and sign-in with the Google account associated with your listing. Then, you’ll be able to take steps to optimize your profile.

Google My Business Posts

Google gives you the ability to make posts that will be visible to customers viewing your profile.  These posts could be any sort of advertisement that you want to share with customers. Since these posts are temporary, it can make sense to promote something like an event, a sale, or a discount.

Respond to Customer Messages

Businesses have the option to enable messaging on their Google My Business listing. If you’re interested in doing this, check out this article. Once customer messages are enabled, you’ll be able to respond to these messages within the Google My Business app.

Customers will often use messages to ask about things like your pricing or the specific services that you offer. Responding quickly can mean the difference between a customer choosing you or a competitor — so make sure that you’re paying close attention to your notifications.

Want more tips on using the Google My Business app? Check out our full article.

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How To Spot Fake Reviews As A Business Owner

Reviews sway buyer sentiment. Research suggests that 92% of customers read online reviews before making a purchase decision. Think about the last time you bought something. Whether it’s a big purchase like a car or a medium purchase like a television or a relatively small purchase like a pair of sneakers, chances are that you looked at a few reviews before you made your decision. Similarly, every customer calling your business or walking through your door mostly likely looked up your business information online and read all your customer reviews.

What is a fake review?

With time, fake reviews became sophisticated as well. What do you think of when you hear the term ‘fake reviews’? Do you think of a business owner manually typing out a harsh review to lure some customers away from their competitors? A few years back this might have worked to lessen the credibility of a competitor. While this continues to be true sometimes, fake reviews are now an industry (especially online, for example on Amazon). They are not always just vicious either. With reviews planned to out-rave a product, fake reviews are more often than not overwhelmingly positive.

How to spot a fake review

Unless you are running a tight establishment and know all the customers who walk in the door personally, figuring out a fake review requires some detective work. A lot can be found after a little bit of snooping, thanks to search engines and social media. While this isn’t 100% effective and is more likely an estimate, it gets you some relief.

Check the dates. If a bunch of reviews cropped up on the product or service’s page on the same day or around the same time, you are probably looking at a deluge of fake reviews. Organically acquired reviews occur over a period of time and are likely going to have the timestamps to prove this.

Check the reviewer’s profile. Fake profiles are frequently shallow. They either have a stock image or no image at all. They have vague sounding names. When you click on the reviewer’s profile, you will have access to the reviewer’s previous writing history. Red flags include a high volume of only positive or only negative reviews or a sudden surge in the number of reviews.

Check language choices. Very few products are uniformly terrible that there is no redeeming quality about them or are so perfect that there is nothing wrong with them at all. Think of how you would describe your favorite pair of jeans. As much as you love the item and would recommend it to others, it’s hard to imagine 4-5 paragraphs of purple prose on them. Red flags here include vague, universal terms and incorrect use of words. Some research has shown that language patterns can also help in differentiating between fake and real reviews. This research claims that fake reviewers are frequently non-native English speakers.  

Check out our full blog post on dealing with fake reviews as a business owner.