The Importance of an Online Review – Don’t Just Read Them, Learn from Them!
There is no doubt that we live in a digital society today. When being online, leaving and reading online reviews are now considered common or even expected.
Online reviews are so important to help you grow your practice. Online reviews not only help attract new patients to your practice but also help re-engage your existing patients. Perspective new patients can now go to your website or read online reviews when looking for a new provider. They often go to search engines, social media platforms, or your practice’s website to look for reviews from real patients. Authenticity is everything!
These reviews are great ways to attract new patients, but they are also a great tool for us as leaders. They are a wonderful way to see things through a patient’s eyes; thus, a great tool to help us improve our practice.
Being comfortable when handling a disparaging review is both a challenge and a learning opportunity for practice leaders. As leaders, we must learn how to manage the one-star review, respond to it, learn from it, and let it go.
Words on a Screen
Prospective new patients are looking at online reviews to see how others, whom they can relate to, were treated at your practice. Sometimes, they are looking to connect with another patient who has undergone the same type of treatment or experience what they are seeking. They are looking for the number of reviews you have as an office and looking for the standouts.
I want to think they are reading all the five-star reviews and focusing on those, but they are also seeing the one-star reviews. A great review can attract new patients to your practice. In contrast, a disparaging review can result in that prospective new patient moving on to another practice, with just one click, after reading about a poor situation or personal experience.
At our practice, we currently have over 800 five-star reviews, and my team and I have worked extremely hard to earn them. I personally read every review and respond to every negative one.
Occasionally, we miss the mark and get a one-star review. To me, it is like a gut punch. I take it personally; I feel like we let a patient down, or it reflects on our leadership skills. I understand that we are not going to make everyone happy 100% of the time, nor are we going to be the perfect fit for every patient, but it is hard to hear a negative review about something you are invested in.
It is easy to make excuses or blame the patient, but there are so many opportunities to gain experience and grow from this.
Grow from the Negative
The first step to responding to a less-than-perfect review is to remove the emotion. I take it as a personal failure when we do not meet the standards of our practice and let someone down, or worse, when they feel we did not provide the quality of care I know we can provide as an office.
I inform the reviewer that I would like to know more about their not-so-great experience. I collect all the pertinent information to see the experience through this patient’s eyes. Sometimes it is easy to see where the misunderstanding or miscommunication comes from, and that is the easiest thing to correct. Sometimes it is not so easy, and I really must explore further to see where things went wrong.
To grow, I must look at it from the patient’s point of view and try to understand how they felt. We have so many protocols in place, and if one employee misses one step, it can throw the whole appointment off, resulting in a missed connection or a less-than-perfect patient experience.
Leaving the patient with a negative perspective leads to a less-than-perfect review. I am not saying we are perfect 100% of the time, but we strive to be and have the tools and knowledge in place to be.
Righting a Wrong
When contacting the patient, I allow them to share their experience with me and listen. I show empathy and let them know I understand where they are coming from, so I can find a resolution to their concern. I apologize for their unhappy experience. I thank them for their honest opinion and review, realizing sometimes it is exceedingly difficult to share this information or to repeat their experience.
I also encourage them to try our office again. I let the patient know that reviews are not just for perfect appointments, and the office uses them as a tool to improve and grow as a leader and as a practice.
Most importantly, we need to learn from the experience to ensure it does not happen to another patient.
All reviews are shared with the doctors and team members. We talk about it as a group and share what they feel went wrong and where we could have made corrections beforehand. We revisit the office protocols to be sure everyone is on the same page. Everyone makes mistakes, and we are not going to please 100% of our patients, but we certainly strive to do so.
If we do not learn from these situations, then we set ourselves up to repeat them. We need to own our errors, analyze them, and create a plan or protocol to avoid repeating them.
I often remind the team that we do not know everything, but we can learn from our mistakes and, most importantly, we do not repeat them. Mistakes provide valuable lessons and experiences that guide us toward success and help improve our performance.
Do not be afraid of the less-than-perfect review or of making a mistake; be afraid of not learning and growing from those mistakes, which will make you a better leader.
“The only real mistake is the one we learn nothing from.” — Henry Ford
About the Author
Coreen Thompson, MAADOM
Coreen Thompson has been in dentistry for over 30 years, starting out as a CDA and working her way up to practice manager. Thompson is involved with her local and state dental associations, serving as a consultant on the professional development committee for the Connecticut State Dental Association.
Coreen has been a member of AADOM since 2020, received her FAADOM in 2024, MAADOM in 2025, and has been nominated twice for the Dental Office Manager of the Year award. Coreen is currently working on starting an AADOM DPLN in her state. She enjoys giving back to her community by volunteering with Mission of Mercy Projects.
