Why Reputation Management For a Plastic Surgeon Is Important

If you’re involved in the business of cosmetic procedures, reputation management for a plastic surgeon is one of the most important marketing practices you can do. 

When looking for a plastic surgeon, most people will scour deep online and scrutinize every review available. Can you blame them, though? Their bodies are at the stake and they simply want to make sure that the cosmetic surgery professional they choose will provide the results they want with minimal risks.

To present your brand in the best light possible and show just how good of a surgeon you are, reputation management is something you have to take extra seriously. 

Here’s why reputation management for a plastic surgeon is so crucial in this line of work and how you can make yours better.

What is Reputation Management?

Before we get into the concrete details, we’ve got to define reputation management for plastic surgeons. In short, it’s a way of influencing public conversation about your brand by keeping track of opinions and conversations and finding opportunities to increase your respectability. A major part of this process is also addressing reputational threats such as allegations of improper business practices, for example. 

Why is it so important in the digital age?

Reviews play a major role in customers' preferences.

According to a 2022 study, 70% of participants revealed they read reviews from other patients when looking for a new healthcare provider. What’s even more revealing is that 72% of people only trust doctors who have a review score of 4 stars and above.

This is why a bigger focus on reputation management for a plastic surgeon is something that has to happen as soon as possible. That is if you want to attract more patients.

Why You Should Address Your Online Reputation?

If you think that you can just relax and let the positive reviews roll in, that’s unfortunately not the case. Patients who are satisfied with the work you’ve done probably won’t leave positive feedback unless they’re motivated by you to do so. 

On the other hand, you can bet that unhappy patients are more likely to post their negative experiences. 

So, the failure to do reputation management for plastic surgeons might even lead to bad reviews dominating your online reputation. A scary thought isn’t it?

However, if you put a bit of effort into managing your online standing, you’ll experience three major benefits:

• Significant increase in your yearly revenue
• Increased trust with your patients
• Improved SEO

Now, do you want more revenue or that first thing with bad reviews?

How to do reputation management for a plastic surgeon?

There are a lot of tactics you can leverage to perfect reputation management for plastic surgeons. The good news is - most of them only require consistency if you’re to see mind-blowing results. 

Let’s begin with one you should start doing right away:

1. Address your patient experience

No matter how much you try to implement the other techniques of reputation management for plastic surgeons, you won’t be able to change the fact that your clients are unhappy.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• Is your staff responsive and compassionate and how do they communicate with patients?
• How easy is it to schedule appointments and checkups, and how easy is it to reach you and your staff?
• Have you made the necessary investments in technology that will save time for your patients?
• Are there any common complaints in your patients’ journeys?

Even if you feel that your practice is flawless and that you’re providing nothing short of a smooth patient experience, just place yourself in your patients’ shoes. There’s a chance you’ll discover a number of small issues that, if left unchecked, will manifest as average to poor reviews.

2. Streamline the process of leaving reviews

If your patients have to jump through hoops to find your review page, no amount of encouragement will help them leave more reviews - simple as that. It’s your job to make this process streamlined and more accessible. 

The same applies to your Google Business Profile. Don’t rely on your customers’ willingness to look up your business to leave a review. Always have a link to the review section ready. 

As a rule of thumb, keep in mind the number of clicks or taps that a customer must make to give you feedback and try to lower it down to a bare minimum.

3. Encourage reviews

The essence of reputation management for a plastic surgeon is getting more positive reviews. We already mentioned that you’ll have to be proactive about this. Here’s what you can do:

• Pinpoint the stages at which you can ask for a review

You first need to identify the best times in your patient’s journey at which it’s favorable to ask for a review. This also helps you to the exact triggers your automated email software can use to send an email where you kindly ask for feedback. 

• Onboard your staff on the importance of asking for reviews

Reputation management for plastic surgeons is a company-wide effort. This is why you should train your staff to also solicit feedback - be it on the phone or in person. Try giving your staff a script they can work off and incentivize asking for reviews by offering rewards. 

• Automate the process

We briefly mentioned email automation, for a good reason - you will save a lot of time by having a way to automatically send an email with a review form after a certain trigger happens. For example, post-op, or after appointments.

4. Respond to all reviews as fast as possible

Responding to reviews shows that you care about the opinions of your patients. Responding to negative reviews matters even more because potential patients will see that you truly respect the feedback, and that you’re doing everything that you can to improve. 

It’s not just us saying that - data says so. According to a recent survey on online reviews, 45% of participants say they’re more likely to reconsider visiting a business that responds to negative feedback.

Can you let the reviews sit for a few weeks and respond to them all in bulk or does it matter how fast you respond? If we’re to trust the people, the response time matters too.

More than half or, 53% to be precise, expect to see a response to a negative review within a week. Some have even higher expectations, as one in three expect the business to respond in 3 days or less.

5. Write a gripping About Us page

Most of your patients will land on the About Us page on your website first. This makes it a great opportunity to use this page as a tool in reputation management for a plastic surgeon. 

We suggest reframing this page around the needs of your patients. What do your patients want to see? Yes, credentials are fine if you explain exactly how your background provides value for the customer.

Your About Us page should also showcase the rest of your staff, as well as their credentials and accomplishments. We also recommend putting up photos of yourself and your staff. This way, your patients won’t view you as just a name on the screen as they’ll be able to connect with you on a personal level.

6. Put patient testimonials on your website

Using patient testimonials as a marketing tool is a great practice in reputation management for plastic surgeons. Your prospects can use this material to decide whether you’re a right fit for their cosmetic surgery needs.

This is just a simple method for social proof that can wildly boost your credibility and show your patients what you have to offer.

You can take it a step further by using your storytelling chops to turn a testimonial into a success story. Again, this is an opportunity to describe the patient’s journey in your clinic so you can paint a vivid picture of the experience patients can get if they go with you.

Quick tip: Even if you’re using online reviews, don’t forget to ask for permission to use them in your marketing materials. 

Get Some Help With Reputation Management For Plastic Surgeons

Using these techniques will not only help you attract more customers and get more reviews but will also aid in standing out from your competition.

While you can do reputation management for a plastic surgeon yourself, we recommend having a professional in your corner if you want to make your strategy successful as quickly as possible.

Here at Oamii, we’ve got a team of experts in digital marketing who know how to create a brand that sells. We’ll work closely with you and help with reputation management for plastic surgeons in more ways than one.

At the moment, we’re developing a powerful software solution for managing online reviews that will address any and all pain points you might have with handling online feedback. Call us now at 561-228-4111 or fill out our form to find out more!