When I received my first bad Google review, I felt like I'd been punched in the superior mesenteric ganglia.
In her review, the patient fabricated a story about her initial examination: She said it was too short, basic, and she didn’t learn anything new about her condition.
She claimed to be “somewhat of an expert in chiropractics” and hasn’t found anyone to help her, including me. She commented on my lack of care and attention, and maybe I should consider her feedback as constructive criticism since, you know, she’s an expert and all.
And of course, she asked for a refund.
Her one-star review was far from the truth. That wasn’t how I ran my practice. But her public criticism painfully overshadowed all the great feedback and five-star success stories on the same page.
Other than her misrepresentation of events: the exam wasn’t too short (52 minutes, we time all our visits), it wasn’t “basic” (digital posture, gait, ROM, ortho, neuro, sEMG, motion palpation etc.), I genuinely cared about her case. I even sat next to her in the waiting room to help her fill out the intake forms.
She was right about one thing: I was going to learn something that day. I had a decision to make, and my response could help or worsen the situation. I discovered a constructive way to handle bad reviews that later became a template for my practice.
Here’s my four-step process for handling a bad review in my chiropractic practice.
Step 1: Keep Calm and Analyze the Review
To start with, keep calm and don’t reply for 24 hours. One bad review can seem urgent, but try to react rationally instead of emotionally.
Every review becomes an opportunity to learn and improve. Take your time. Read the whole review and try to get to the bottom of what made that patient upset. Evaluate if the feedback is constructive and if it indicated some gray areas in your practice.
Step 2: Respond Publicly and Privately
Respond to the review in public but make sure that the patient's details are still confidential and private. Never mention anything in your public response that involves specifics about patient care or their visit.
Show respect for the confidentiality of the patient. Show that you take notice of the reviewer's experience in a general sense, and express concern at their unhappiness without ever referring to their condition or treatment.
Offer to discuss in a private conversation. This shows that you are committed to a discreet and professional resolution of the issue.
I’m sorry you had a bad experience in our office. That is not reflective of our day-to-day standards.
I will contact you privately and try to make it right.
Step 3: Take Action, Follow Up
If the review identifies areas that need improvement, take the necessary action. This might mean retraining your staff or changing a few protocols, but you might have to show that you are moving forward to bring about change in your practice.
After addressing the concerns, follow up with the reviewer privately, if possible, to inform them about the steps you've taken. In this instance, she had asked for a refund.
Dear _____ I’ve issued your refund as requested and closed your file.
Take care.
-Doc
Simple and straightforward. Notice I didn’t ask for the review to be removed. That’s up to her. No need to push if you’ve handled it correctly.
Step 4: Encourage More Positive Reviews
While a bad review can be annoying, remember that's just one side of the coin. Encourage your satisfied patients to leave more positive reviews in order to drown out the noise of those who are not being 100% honest.
Having a negative review is never fun, especially if you are committed to quality care. You can turn a negative review into an opportunity for growth.
Your public response is infinitely more powerful than a negative review will ever be.