Updated May 2017: Practice Management Software Integration Partners

For a complete list of dental practice management softwares that our review platform is integrated with, click here. To learn about best practices to generate more reviews, keep reading!

For the past 2 years, the team at Connect the Doc has been working hard to develop a suite of tools to help dental practices improve their internal marketing. The cost of advertising online (namely search engine optimization, Google Adwords, and Facebook advertisements) is increasing every year and we felt it’s always made the most sense to focus on the 5 R’s of internal marketing. If you have not read and of my blog posts or my eBook, I mention that phrase quite often. The 5R’s include: reviews, referrals, reminders, reactivation, and recall. We ourselves do not have 1 unified solution to solve all the pillars of internal marketing; the jack of all trades is a master of none. But, we do have partnerships with the best softwares in the industry to provide you with best technology for each of the 5 R’s.

This post is about review integration and how this new feature helps our clients get more 5 star reviews, completely automatically with no manual entry. For the first time ever, your front-end staff can be hands-off when it comes to managing online reviews. Our review platform now sends patients with positive experiences directly to Google, Yelp, Facebook, Healthgrades, or RateMDs. Note, this is different from patient communication softwares that collect reviews on their own company branded pages (ie. Demandforce, SolutionReach, Lighthouse360, or ReveneWell, who post post on Demandforce profile, Smile Reminder profile, Rateabiz, and Patient Connect 365, respectively).

With integration, the results for our clients have been incredible. We took a look at a few of our clients and created a table with the average number of reviews a practice gets on “good review sites”, factoring in big variables like number of patients treated. Keep in mind that for most of the review sites that matter (ie. Google, Facebook, Yelp) the patient will have to have or create an account, which can deter some patients from posting. The important things is you will receive reviews where it really matters, on high traffic sites. I guess that’s the reason ‘Google’ became a verb.

Here are the average number of reviews our clients are getting on top review sites based on patient volume:

Patient Volume / MonthAverage # of Reviews / Month on “Good” Sites0-50 Patients250-100 Patients4Between 100-2008Between 200-50016Between 500-1000351000+ Patients45

Now the math for this chart may not make a whole lot of sense. For the most part we find that 1 out of every 20 patients that receive communication through our system will write a review on Google, Yelp or Facebook. Because we have artificial intelligence built into the system, that’s actually a pretty high number, but every practice is different. I’ve got some practices that have a 10% conversion and others have a 3% conversion. Lots of different factors go into doing this successfully. First and foremost, your practice’s quality of care and attitude. If your team takes the time to build strong relationships and actually verbally ask, you have a much higher chance of boosting your reviews. Other factors to consider are: message format (verbal, email, text message), subject line, text body, call to actions, quality of contact information, reminders, timing of message delivery, age of patients, location / demographics etc. etc.

If you are using Connect the Doc to generate more reviews, here are some suggestions to help you maximize the number of positive reviews you are getting…

1. Take Advantage of Our Direct Integration:
   We integrate with 95% of practice management softwares including Dentrix, Eaglesoft, SoftDent, OpenDental, MaxiDent, Curve, Ortho2, OrthoTrac, Cleardent, Dolphin, AbelDent, DentiMax, EasyDental, and Mogo. This is like 10% of the integration list. Full list is below.
2. Split test SMS and Email Communication:
   Most of our clients use email because they are worried that the phone number in their practice management system for the patient is a home phone and not a cell phone. I still prefer email, but we now have a SMS feature where if it is a home phone, it will reject the number and send an email instead.
3. Best Subject Lines:
   The best subject lines that we have used are “Following up on visit” “Follow Up” and “Your Visit to ______”. Always split test headlines to test open rate.
4. Best Headings:
   Headings on our system is the “title” in the email. We find the best title is “Would You Recommend Us”. The call to actions are clear, yes and no. If the patient says yes, we take them to a landing page with your top 3 review sites.
5. Best Body Text:
   Use words like small practice, help, local, and family. It makes something that is totally automatic, appear human. The language I use is “Thank you for visiting ________. As a small practice, we rely on your feedback to grow and improve. How was your visit? Would you recommend us to friends and family?”
6. Change 1 Review Site Every 3 Months.
   Getting reviews on Google, Yelp, and Facebook are all great, but you never want to have 200 reviews on Google and 1 on Healthgrades. We find the best solution is to always have Google and Yelp as 2 of the 3 options and then rotate between Healthgrades, Vitals, RateMds, and Facebook as the third option.
7. Limit Reminders and Share Review Emails to 1 Max
   Too much communication will annoy your patients, especially if you are already using an awesome reminder software like Lighthouse360 to confirm their appointments. In our system, if a patient does not open the review request email or does not click on the call to action, you can add a reminder. My suggestion would be to limit this to 1 reminder. I know reviews are important, but your relationship and how your patients perceive you is more important.

Below is a list of practice management softwares that we integrate with. If your PMS is not on the list, don’t worry... We have a few alternate solutions:

1. You can send us a list of patient names and emails each week and we will run your review campaigns. Keep in mind that we are BA and are HIPAA compliant.
2. You can integrate our links and technology into your existing patient communication software if you have one. If you do not (or are not happy with what you have, please reach out as we are partnered with Lighthouse360, and often bundle this together with subscriptions to our referral and review softwares).
3. You can enter names, emails, and phone numbers daily, which will trigger communications to your top patients. I know this option sucks, but it’s better than not getting any at all.

Hope these tips help. Client or not, please reach out if you have any questions or want to discuss your strategy to get more Google, Yelp, and Facebook reviews. And even if you do not use Connect the Doc, there are lots of great ways to get reviews...You just have to ask (your patients, not me!). Also, if you haven’t already downloaded my eBook, you can do so here: bit.ly/ctdwhitepaper

Here is a list of all the softwares we are compatible with: