Unlocking the Power of Online Reviews to Attract More Patients to Your Pediatric Practice

Pediatric Associates of Fairfield is the region’s largest independently owned pediatric practice and the leading provider of comprehensive child and adolescent healthcare in Cincinnati, Ohio. With four locations, 11 providers, and several of their pediatricians recognized as the “Best of Cincinnati,” the practice’s average Google star rating did not reflect their reputation or the exceptional care they provide. Limited reviews and a few “unhappy” patients were causing their overall star rating to hover around three stars. The overwhelming majority of their patients were extremely satisfied with the care they were receiving, so they needed to find a way to collect positive reviews in order to improve their online reputation and findability on the web. They found RemedyConnect’s suite of patient marketing solutions to be the perfect fit.

Perception is Reality: Tackling Online Reputation Management

A few negative reviews did not accurately reflect the overwhelmingly positive experience that the majority of families had with Pediatric Associates. With a lack of high-star ratings, the negative reviews led to a suboptimal overall star rating that was visible on internet searches. “I’ve been here for 28 years and I know the hearts of the doctors and staff”, says Leah Markewicz, Chief Operating Officer at Pediatric Associates of Fairfield. “It’s traumatic for us when a patient has a bad experience. I respond to every one-star review and say, ‘Please give us a call, and we’ll try to fix it’. But they never call.”

Leah knew she needed to find a way to capture all of the positive feedback their patients were willing to share so prospective families had a better snapshot of their practice. Having just completed a new website build with Remedy, she turned to us for help. “Our Mason office just won ‘Best of the East’, a community-voted award recognized by Cincinnati Magazine. Best pediatric practice. That’s a big deal. We have 11 providers, and six of them have won Doctor of the Year.” It was crucial that their reputation was presented accurately when others went searching for pediatric care.

Immediate Results

“As soon as we saw Review Builder, we knew we had to have it,” Leah said. She liked how the automated surveys sent through Review Builder make it easy for families to leave glowing reviews for the practice. The positive feedback she was looking for was immediate, and Leah was ecstatic with the results. “In our second week of use, we had 13 five-star reviews come through, all thanks to Review Builder. It’s amazing for us!”, she said. Since then, the practice has received over 184 reviews and went from a 3.2-star rating to a 4.89 for onsite ratings. “We have great patients and we knew if we asked them to complete a survey, they would. Our staff is very committed to customer service, and we just knew we would get positive reviews.”

The process itself is quite simple and user-friendly. After a visit, the practice sends a text to the patient or parent asking for feedback Clicking the link opens the survey. 4 and 5-star ratings send the reviewer to Google to post their rating and comments. 3-stars ratings or lower are routed to the practice for follow-up. Leah notes, “I get an email that tells me that I have a new review. I am alerted immediately to see it’s actually gone through, then I can go in and respond to the person directly from Google. It has cut down my administrative time a lot.”

Focusing on Findability

SEO and findability are important if you want patients to find you, and no one was more aware of that than Leah. “We want to be in the front of the pack when people are looking for a new doctor. Our reputation is important, but being able to find us is too.” Ranking high on Google, Yahoo, Bing, and other search engines is the fastest and easiest way for patients to find you. If you aren’t on the first page of a search, you may as well not exist.

While Leah admits she initially didn’t know she needed an SEO + Findability solution, the results have made her a believer. “Everyone looks at Google reviews. And with parents getting younger and younger, that’s where they’re finding their information. They have to be able to find us if we want to compete”. It’s why Review Builder and SEO+ Findability work so well together. First, people have to be able to find you. Then, you need great reviews to convince them to come to your practice. Patients can’t connect with businesses they can’t find.

Actively monitoring SEO analytics, using the right keywords relevant to your patients, and optimizing your website play a significant role in making findability happen. It’s why Leah likes the dashboard included with the SEO + Findability package. “I’m able to look at the dashboard results for SEO and change things up based on the pages people are looking at. If I see a page is performing well, I boost it on our site and cross-promote it on social media so everyone can see it.” For Pediatric Associates, RemedyConnect’s SEO+ Findability solutions led to a higher ranking in internet searches, making it easier for new patients to find them. These simple changes had a profound impact on the pediatric practice’s ability to attract new patients.

Pediatric Associates of Fairfield’s slogan is: “Where Evidence-Based Medicine Meets Caring Providers” We believe that the same evidence-based approach to marketing your practice applies. Making it easy for patients to find you is the first step in delivering exceptional care.