If you’re running a dental, medi spa, ophthalmology or plastic surgery practice then chances are you’re using some sort of scheduling software. If you’re not then you seriously need to consider exactly how much time your receptionists are spending making appointment reminders and following up with patients. Patient reminder software, like the popular Smile Reminder, allows you to automatically send an email, text and/or postcard to patients letting them know that they have an appointment coming up. This type of software is especially important for dentists, since their patients should be coming in every 6 months.
While this type of automated reminder software is nice, what’s even better is having software that will not only remind patients of upcoming appointments, but also remind them after their appointment that you would appreciate a review from them. With most of these types of programs you can schedule a message to go out to a patient 24-48 hours after their appointment. The patient receives an email with links and instructions for leaving a review.  Ideally these reviews integrate with Facebook, Yelp and Google.
Given the rise in the importance of reviews, these automated software programs become that much more valuable. One such program is DoctorBase, a San Francisco-based company that provides a free platform for doctors and dentists to get reviews. However, the real value in their service is their PANDA software, which not only allows automated patient scheduling, but also automated patient follow up that integrates with various social media outlets.
Think about the amount of time and money you can save by simply having an automated scheduling software. It eliminates many the hours it takes your secretary or receptionist to reach out to each patient. Now, think about the value of an automated review request sent to every patient. Not only is this saving you and your staff time from reaching out to each patient, but it’s also spreading the word and increasing the amount of reviews online for your practice. More reviews tends to lead to higher rankings on Google Places and on Yelp.
It’s hard to quantify the exact value of a review online, but one can be certain that the more quality reviews that you generate online the more visibility and credibility that your practice will receive. Using a software like Doctorbase to generate a review will not only help you improve search engine rankings, but the review could also potentially be integrated with the the Facebook and Twitter account of the reviewer. If the reviewer has, say 500 Friends and Followers, that’s 500 potential patients that are hearing their review of your practice. Pretty powerful.
There are other competitors to DoctorBase out there that provide a similar service, but no matter which one that you pick, make sure that there is an automated follow up process that integrates with social media. If you have any questions about automated scheduling/follow up software for your practice then feel free to contact TRBO ADvance or call 877-673-7096 x2.
