Patient testimonials are great resources for your medical practice. When patients write a glowing report, they act as self-referrers and attract prospective patients. Endorsements by people outside your practice are given much more credence than any advertising that you do.
3 Benefits to Patient Testimonials
- They give support to other viewers and prospective patients that you have the solutions to their problems through the services that you provide. The viewers feels that they are not alone in the problems that they have and that you validate them, address them and take care of them.
- Testimonials provide authenticity and friendly feeling that you don’t get from advertisements or brochures.
- They can go viral by being shared by friends and family once it is posted on various social media sites. And the best part of getting your name spread and strengthening your brand…No cost to your marketing budget.
How to Make the testimonials the most Effective
- Keep it Real: Don’t forget, you are trying to maintain authenticity. When people write with misspellings or poor grammar, do not correct the testimonial as long as it can be understood. Get permission to use the real name, town and if possible a photo. This shows the viewer that the person really does exist.
- Encourage Story Telling: people love hearing and reading stories. It captivates them and allows people to spread the stories they like.
- Consider making the testimonial as a video: You can create this right in the office with eager patients before they leave or after they have thanked you for your great care.
- Upload: upload your videos to your YouTube and Vimeo channels. Promote them across all your social media sites, like Facebook and twitter. Have the patients who gave the testimonials promote it too to their friends and family. (If they are happy with the way they look and sound, they will be most eager to promote the video and will not take any convincing on your part)
Many of these testimonials will not occur spontaneously. Ask satisfied or “pet” patients to send a testimonial to your office. You can have the staff at the front desk remind them and give them a little card with the email address where you would like the testimonial to be submitted. Remember, all the representatives that will go out in the community and promote you come right out of your office. Don’t forget to thank them!
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