Revealed: How much money negative reviews are really costing you!
Updated: Feb 7, 2022
We all know negative reviews hurt.. And not just feelings.
But why?
Today we're going to dig a little deeper, to understand why a business should invest hard won time and money into maintaining their online reputation...and what the impact will be if they don't.
First things first. Let's remember that one negative review turns away 22% of potential opportunities. - cmglocalsolutions
Bad reviews will cost your business money.
Technology has brought the world closer in ways that many of us never imagined possible. Through social media, a single person can start a trend and reach a global audience.
As a result, when it comes to patients leaving online reviews, all efforts must be made to make sure they’re positive.
The reality is, we can't please all the people all the time.
Negative reviews happen. They're increasingly unavoidable. If you don't address them right away, they’ll gain traction on search engines and could portray both your Personal Brand and Online Reputation negatively... to a wide audience.
Numerous tools are available to assist you in managing reviews, and it's important to remember when choosing the right tools, that each negative review will cost you time and money. How much, is dependent on the average sale price of your goods, or service. You should be choosing tools, or services appropriate to the cost of these lost opportunities.
So, how much can a single negative review cost your business?
Many business owners still believe that a single negative review wont impact their business significantly.
Nothing could be further from the truth. These days, information is constantly uploaded, shared, and transmitted digitally. The good, the bad and the ugly.
Each negative review can be seen by thousands, or hundreds of thousands. Your clients, colleagues, wife and children. The digital "word-of-mouth" spreads like wildfire, and can make or break a business.
As a result, the term "word-of-mouth" has an entirely new meaning in 2021.
A single negative review has been shown to turn away up to 30 potential patients. Fake or negative reviews can gain traction in search engines, and are shared on social media.
It's been estimated that up to 70% of patients share their thoughts and leave reviews online.
Users are increasingly sharing their experiences on social media, and we're no longer just talking about their dinner out. High value ticket items such as cars, holidays and medical procedures are now freely discussed, and critiqued on various channels.
One factor could be that most social media users are always logged in to their accounts. The average social media user uses their mobile app six times per day, to access their feeds. According to Review Trackers, social media platforms have become a significant source of "reviews", with more than 55% of medical patients viewing these platforms as a valuable and trustworthy resource.
These users can harm your business by leaving negative reviews or comments, even if they're not entirely accurate or they misrepresent what actually occurred.
As a result, dealing with your reviews and social media feeds, whether good, bad, or fake, is more critical than ever. A few negative reviews can be a real killer for any business!
So, let us look at some actual figures and how they can affect a medical practice:
If one negative review turns away up to 30 potential patients, for example, a hair transplant surgeon who charges around £5000 per procedure, the total loss to the clinic of this single bad review, could be up to £150,000.
To make this simple calculation yourself, enter your average sale or service price and multiply by 30.
Not only do you lose a new patient (and potential referrals from that patient) but your Personal Reputation can take a beating if the comments in the reviews are particularly negative.
The more negative reviews there are, the greater the loss.
As negative reviews are now a fact of life for those in business, we must then learn to limit the cost.
Begin by acquiring as many positive reviews as possible, to minimise the impact of a any negative reviews.
Your secret weapon against the negative effects of a bad review, is the QUANTITY of your reviews, combined with your overall rating, or the QUALITY of your reviews in aggregate (how many happy, versus how many unhappy clients reviewing you).
Patients not only trust a medical practice with a good rating (4.0 stars or higher), but they also tend to ignore negative reviews when they represent a very small percentage of the total.
For example, a surgeon with 500 reviews, mostly positive and sitting on 4.5 stars at Google, need not fear a single negative review, to the same extent, as their colleague with only 5 positive reviews in total. The impact on the aggregate score of a single negative review, is far greater for the colleague who has ignored the importance of managing their reviews and online reputation.
The importance of managing your reviews and online reputation cannot be overstated!
We're not suggesting that medical practices should panic in response to every patient complaint, but we think that a practice with a blanket policy of ignoring negative reviews is asking for trouble.
All of this is great, we hear you say, but who's got the time?
Businesses that employ expert advice, be it with public relations, advertising, human resources or accounting, often leave others behind. We're not suggesting a highly trained surgeon spends all night monitoring their reviews on Google, we do suggest however, that as you do with legal or insurance, you seek the help you need. Fast.
Whether it's the removal of fake or negative reviews, the building of your brand, or protection of the reputation you've built up over years in practice; perhaps all of the above, YESpbm will help. We will start that journey for you with no obligation and a free confidential 15-minute chat.
Schedule your time with an expert NOW by clicking HERE - Calendar.