How-To Respond to Negative Dental Reviews (Examples)

It’s hard to hear when a patient has had a negative experience at your practice. It’s even harder when that patient’s negative review of your practice is the first thing others learn about you online! When it comes to managing your online reputation, it’s important to be proactive and respond to negative dental reviews in a timely and professional manner. If you do not respond to reviews, patients feel neglected. Potential patients could even see this as a lack of concern on your part and decide not to choose your dental practice.

In today’s post, we’re turning the tough topic of responding to negative reviews…into an opportunity! Each review (good or bad) can provide important feedback to help you make your practice even better. And, the way you choose to respond can help potential patients understand you are empathetic, you value their feedback, and you’re striving to be your very best.

No time to read? Watch this video on how dentists should respond to negative reviews:

In This Article, You Will Learn:

• Why it’s so important to respond to negative reviews
• 5 tips to help you respond
• Examples and templates to help you respond to different kinds of reviews

First, a quick reminder about reviews:

It’s Important to Respond to All Reviews, Not Just the Bad

Before we get to how to respond to negative dental reviews, it’s important to know that you should be responding to ALL reviews on your Google My Business profile.

This not only helps show Google you are engaging with your patients, which can help your dental SEO, but it’s also a great way to show your patients that you value their feedback and are always looking for ways to improve their experience. Some keys to responding to reviews:

• Be timely. Try to respond to reviews on Google My Business, Facebook, Yelp, or elsewhere within a day or a few days of seeing them. You can sign up for notifications on these platforms or create a daily reminder for your receptionist to check for updates.
• Be professional. When you respond, remember you are representing your brand. Be polished, professional, thoughtful, and use proper syntax.
• Be empathetic. Make sure you show that you truly care about the patient’s experience, whether it was positive or negative.

Why It’s Important to Respond to Negative Reviews

As a dental practice, it’s important to respond to negative Google reviews for a number of reasons:

Build Trust: First and foremost, responding to negative reviews shows that you value the feedback of your patients and are willing to listen to their concerns. This can help to improve the patient experience and build trust in your practice.

Improve Online Reputation: In addition to the impact on patient relationships, responding to negative reviews can also help to improve your practice’s online reputation. By addressing negative reviews professionally and proactively, you can show potential patients that you care about their satisfaction and are willing to go the extra mile to resolve any issues.

Improve Search Ranking: Responding to reviews can also impact your search ranking on Google. By actively managing your online reputation, you can help to improve the overall quality and credibility of your practice, which can lead to a higher ranking in the search results. You can learn more about Dental SEO here.

How-To Respond to Negative Dental Reviews

As a dental marketing agency, we have seen every type of review a dental practice can get. Here are five tips on how a dental practice can respond to bad reviews on Google and make sure you maintain a great online reputation:

1. Stay Calm: While it can be frustrating to receive a negative review, it’s important to stay calm and not take it personally. 

2. Apologize and take responsibility: If the review is warranted, it’s important to apologize for any mistakes or issues that may have occurred. A sincere apology can go a long way in diffusing a negative situation.

3. Offer a solution: If a patient has had a negative experience at your dental practice, try to offer a solution to make things right. This could be a discount on their next visit or an offer to resolve the issue in another way.

4. Use the opportunity to improve: Negative reviews can be a valuable opportunity to learn and improve your practice. Take the time to read the review carefully and consider whether there are any changes you can make to prevent similar issues from occurring in the future.

5. Thank the reviewer: While it may seem counterintuitive, thanking the reviewer for their feedback can show that you value their input and are willing to listen to their concerns. This can help to turn a negative review into a positive experience for both the patient and your practice.

Examples of How To Respond to Negative Reviews

As a dental practice, it’s not always as simple as just giving a generic response. Patients usually give feedback on specific issues about their experience. Here are some of the reviews we have seen and examples of how you can respond:

If the Patient Gives a 1-3 Star Review Without Feedback

• Hi there. We want to apologize for your poor experience with us sincerely. We would love to hear more about what we could have done better and how we can make it right. We are constantly striving to improve. Please give us a call at 000-000-0000 and ask for ______. Thank you!

• We’re sorry to hear about this experience. We strive to provide each and every one of our patients with the highest level of care. Thank you for taking the time to share this feedback. Please contact the office at any time if there is anything we can do to help improve your experience.

• We are always eager to improve patient care. Would you please call us at (XXX) XXX-XXXX so we can work to resolve any issues? We look forward to hearing from you.

• Hello there, we hope you are well. We want to sincerely apologize for your experience and dissatisfaction. If you can give [OM] a call at (XXX) XXX-XXXX, we’d love to chat with you and make things right. Thank you, and we hope to hear from you soon!

If the Negative Review Is About the Practice Having High Fees

• Thank you for the feedback. We believe that our fees are very fair for the highest quality of service and treatment we provide to our patients. We always go the extra mile to ensure everyone gets the best treatment.  If you would like to discuss this further, please contact us at (XXX) XXX-XXXX.

• We are sorry to hear that you have not had a perfect experience at our dental practice. We believe that our fees are priced fairly at the level of service we provide our practice and also the level of expertise you receive when visiting our dental practice. If there is anything we can do to further assist you or anything we can explain in more detail, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Thank you once again!

If the patient says the waiting time was too long

• We know our patient’s time is valuable. Our goal is to see patients at the time of the appointment. If you would like to discuss more, please contact us at (XXX) XXX-XXXX. We would love to assist you further.

• Our policy is to schedule plenty of time between patients in order to avoid long waits. We strive to deliver the best care possible to all our patients, but we occasionally fall behind schedule because of emergencies. If you would like to discuss this further, please contact us at (XXX) XXX-XXXX.

If a patient had a Negative Experience/Incident

• We appreciate your taking the time to leave a review. We strive to provide the best care possible to all patients. We value feedback, and if you would like to address concerns directly, please contact us at (XXX) XXX-XXXX.

• We deeply regret the inconvenience. We would love to assist you further. Kindly get in touch with us at (XXX) XXX-XXXX so that we can address these concerns.

• We appreciate all feedback. We try to make sure that all of our patients have great experiences. We’d love to get more details so that we can further improve our practice. Please give us a call at (XXX) XXX-XXXX so that we can discuss this further.

• We value all feedback and are always sorry to hear about any negative experiences. We strive to offer the very best experience to all of our patients, and this will help us improve. Please contact our office so we can further discuss this.

Pain-Free Dental Marketing Can Help You Respond to Negative Reviews!

Among a sea of positive reviews, we know those few negative reviews can be challenging and disheartening. If you ever need help responding to reviews or dental marketing for your practice, please let us know! We want to make sure you can focus on being a dentist, and we’ll focus on being the dental marketing experts!