Healthcare is undoubtedly a sensitive domain to act on. The type of business that deals with delicacy (medicinal and surgical treatment of humans) remain alert and fearful regarding negative reviews.
Sometimes, due to misunderstandings and minor issues, patients get upset and start bombarding bad reviews. In this world of excruciating competition, it’s tough to get a 5-star rating.
Thus, a negative review doesn’t mean your business is bad. There are various ways to deal with it and thereby provide better Patient Satisfaction and Experience.
How To Hande Negative Reviews
Face The Situation
Even the finest companies get negative criticism occasionally. Nowadays, people easily go online and share negative feedbacks on social media. If your healthcare practice receives a negative review, it’s better to face the situation upfront. In this situation, thank the individual and react cordially to their concerns.
If the feedback is vague or if the person did not elaborate much, let them know that you would love to hear about their experience and make it right if any unsatisfactory incident occurred. Share your contact information where they can reach out to you and address their issues.
In case you cannot settle the issue, you can also make a positive mark in the audience’s mind. They will know that the problems are being heard and addressed with sincerity. Apart from that, little automation can be implemented in your healthcare business ecosystem with a quality Patiently Loyalty Program that can maximize Social Media and Reviews system power.
Gauge the Necessity of Responding
The moment you see a bad review, your first reaction is to let the world know why the reviewer is wrong. But that is an incorrect way of handling the issue since responding in this heated environment may lead to other significant problems. Instead, take a moment to think, cultivate the case, and then act on the matter.
If the client’s points are genuine, take responsibility, and offer a sincere apology. After that, start amending the upset patients and heal them. This approach will help you to earn the respect of the reviewer (patients).
And in the future, if anyone reads the reviews, they will know that you care about your customers. However, every negative review does not need a response, especially if the reviews come from anonymous sources or accounts.
Prompt Response
It is essential to handle negative reviews quickly without much delay. Address and fix the issue earliest; otherwise, a negative environment will widespread, which may hamper your reputation and goodwill. Instead of hovering here and there, straightway come to the point and deal with it accurately.
Leave no space for misinterpretation. Always thank the reviewers (patients) for bringing their bad experiences to your attention, and act accordingly to solve the matter.
Managing Patients Unpleasant Feedbacks
Along with negative feedback, it is also necessary to take special care of unsatisfied patients due to any issue. Be alert if any patient is upset, and try to show them immense care.
A subtle showcase of sympathy can create a great impression on the mind of the patients. Having a caring and friendly attitude helps heal the patients’ distress and cool down the situation.
Train and Educate the Team
Provide adequate training to the healthcare staff and create awareness on how to deal with upset patients. Convey the necessity of keeping the patients happy for a better retention strategy. The administrative staff can play a significant role in managing the patients.
Thus, conduct a meeting to discuss and get suggestions from the team. Ask them to share some of their experiences with patients and how they have handled that.
Collect Contact Information
To have numerous contact sources for your patients is always helpful. It’s an excellent thought to gather phone numbers and e-mail addresses of your patients to be able to reach them.
With this, you may contact them personally and follow up about the progress of treatments. You may also address their issues and update them whenever you come up with a solution.
Customized Benefits
If a particular patient is upset with any issue, offer them certain benefits from your patient loyalty program. It might make your patients’ mood good enough. Reward them with complimentary services or additional treatments, provide a discount on bills, bonus offers, and many more.
To conclude, these are the high-level methods you may follow to handle bad reviews and manage upset patients. Provide top-notch customer service at every touchpoint. Genuine Patients and customers will recognize and appreciate your efforts. Should you think of automating some of these aspects, then feel free to contact NextBee for assistance.
NextBee is specialized in developing a Loyalty Program that boosts patient retention and brings high-quality referrals. It provides a robust and customizable Application for individual business needs. Implement a successful Patient Loyalty Program in your healthcare business ecosystem.
