It’s worth the time and effort to ask for a review. Online reviews are important for your business because families searching for your services rely on other opinions to make a decision. It is also beneficial for improving your search ranking—a win-win situation.
When asking for reviews, here are a few things to think about:
1. Ask while they’re still in the facility
Don’t wait until people have left your facility to ask for a review via email or text. Based on our experience, if you wait, the chances of them actually leaving a review drops significantly. By asking for a review while they are still in the facility you have a much higher conversion rate for reviews.
2. Target specific people
When you are determining who to ask for a review, don’t just stick to similar patterns. Try to get seniors and family advocates of different ages, genders and care types. By getting a variety of opinions your facilities reviews will be more trustworthy because they cover a broad spectrum of experiences. In addition, look at the services they are receiving. Work on asking those that are there for rehabilitation or residential needs as this gives a better representation of the services you offer.
3. Emphasize an area of service for your facility
When asking for reviews at your facility, mention to residents and or family members to highlight their particular service area such as independent living, assisted living or rehabilitation. For example, ask, “What made your rehabilitation visit over the past 4 weeks successful here at XYZ rehabilitation?” You can also ask, “What about our facility made you choose us over other facilities in the area?” By asking these questions you can get a better sense for how they feel. It also helps to get them thinking about their visit and/or decision and just what they liked about your facility. This can improve responses and reviews while showing that your facility and providers care.
4. Utilize technology
Most people use today’s technology. From iPhones to tablets and laptops, people can always be found online. To take advantage of their use of technology, it is important to have wifi available in your facilities. This will get people to explore more. You can also give seniors and family advocates the opportunity to write a review while visiting your facility via your Website, by texting them or even emailing them. Our experience shows that texting people while in the facility converts 72% better than an email post visit. Not only will they be more prone to leave a review, but they will often leave better reviews when they have such easy access to you online.
Are you making the most out of online reviews?
If you have not begun asking for reviews of your residents, patients and family advocates, reach out. My Senior Beacon offers a solution that allows you to send texts and emails to people instantly. This will help you to connect immediately and get reviews to the top sites such as Google and Facebook. And the good news is the reviews will increase with little to no effort from your staff. Our clients are generating hundreds of reviews monthly.