Clients are the lifeblood of any medical practice. At the end of the day, your clientele decides whether you remain in business or whether you go out of business. Hence, it is imperative that your practices (be they medical, dental, veterinary, etc.) are doing their best to ensure that their clients receive optimal care throughout the customer experience cycle.

As a business owner, you understand how important it is to help your clients achieve their goals. But there’s one area of the digital world which can cause more harm than good. Nevertheless, there are many things that can be done to improve your business’ local customer experience as well as get more positive reviews.

Practices that are looking to increase their revenue can benefit a lot from focusing on their local customer experience and here are some strategies on how they can do that.

Strategies To Improve Your Local Customer Experience

1. Make it easy for clients to review your business.

When you’re trying to get clients to review your business on a variety of channels — it’s important you show them how easy it is for them to do so. 

You don’t have to make a formal process for requesting reviews from customers. Instead, you can just come up with your own methods for making it easy for customers to give you their feedback.

That could mean sending them an email asking them to leave a review, or letting them know there is an option on the receipt. Think of it as an extra step on top of your old process that makes it easier and more convenient for your customers to do business with you.

2. Use a simple form that patients can fill out quickly and easily.

As more patients choose to receive care close to home, both healthcare providers and businesses are being tasked with providing the kind of customer service that keeps them happy. In order to stand out, you need an online presence that patients can use to book appointments quickly and easily.

If your business has a website or a mobile app, this should be pretty straightforward. But even if you still rely on a traditional paper-and-pencil method, you can use technology to make the experience a little more digital.

3. Remind them to leave a review.

Local businesses need great reviews to attract more customers. Good reviews mean your customers can be confident about your product or service, which prompts them to become long-term clients.

Asking clients to write reviews is a great way to grow your business. Not only does it make you seem more legitimate and trustworthy, it also gives potential customers plenty of information about you. 

4. Make sure you praise clients who leave great reviews.

It’s important to recognize and say thank you to the clients who recommend or support your work. You never know when they might call on you again, but even more importantly, actively engaging with a customer online shows that you’re an invested businessperson.

People in general respond better when they’re appreciated, so it never hurts to show appreciation, even if your tone is positive and encouraging. It builds trust between you and your followers, and shows them that providing quality services is more than just what you do—it’s who you are.

5. It’s ok to ask clients what they didn’t like in addition to what they did like.

Improving the customer experience is one of the ways you can get an edge over your competition. And knowing about what your patients are thinking and feeling, whether good or bad,  is a huge advantage over your competitors.

Because when you know their thoughts, you can implement strategies that help improve their experiences and even increase word-of-mouth in your business. And if your business is based on repeat customers, it’s imperative you do everything you can to retain them. 

Providing the best possible customer experience and then asking customers to share it with others is the key to getting and keeping positive reviews.

Your local presence’s quality makes all the difference in the world. Before making a decision, the majority of savvy individuals who are interested in supporting your business look at photos, comments, and more in addition to reviews and pricing.

Therefore, it is essential to respond promptly to inquiries and to maintain an up-to-date website. Although there are a few tools that can make this process easier, the most important thing to remember is that it won’t be worthwhile unless you actually use them to help your local customers in a meaningful way.

Social media is rapidly becoming an indispensable part of online marketing campaigns, especially as far as local businesses go.

And while it may seem simple at first glance to simply advertise a good business and hope that people will find it and leave glowing reviews, it’s actually much more effective to provide the best possible customer experience in your day-to-day operations. Good reviews then tend to fall into place almost automatically.

Last but not least, don’t forget to keep an eye on your company’s star rating. Even if you don’t have any bad reviews, you should still check in on your business on a regular basis to see if it’s still being well represented.

Let’s work together. Book a call now and we’ll help you improve your customer experience through strategic marketing.