How to use patient testimonials to boost your marketing success

82% of consumers searching online will read a company’s reviews, making patient testimonials a must for your website and reviews

Marketing typically involves some form of self-promotion. Either you’re promoting the results your products and services offer or you’re offering up the latest sale. However, one extremely effective way to pique the interest of potential patients – testimonials — involves having others endorse you instead.

The power of a positive review

According to a 2019 BrightLocal Consumer Review Survey, 82% of consumers who are searching online for a local business will read that company’s reviews. Additionally, 91% indicate that if those reviews are positive, it increases the likelihood that they will choose that particular business.

You can ask your patients to go to major review sites like Google, Yelp, and Facebook to leave their praise for your chiropractic practice. While some will, many won’t. Creating patient testimonials offers the same type of benefits while ensuring that patients’ glowing reviews don’t go unpublished.

Testimonials in advertising

A testimonial is slightly different than a review in that, instead of the patient publishing the statement him or herself, you publish it for them. This could be on your website, your social media pages, in your marketing brochures, or via any other advertising medium.

Some brands use testimonials from celebrities to help improve their consumer appeal. If you treat a person who is well-known either in your community or within the world at large, this is an option to consider (with their permission).

However, the testimonial of a lesser-known patient can also help convince other potential patients that you are the chiropractic to see. This is evidenced by the nine in 10 people who are willing to choose a specific business as long as it has positive reviews, even though those reviews are provided by general strangers.

Effective elements

How do you go about creating a testimonial that delivers high-level marketing results? Simple. It must contain two elements: a clear description of the patient’s problem and you as his or her solution.

Creating a powerful testimonial begins with clearly stating the patient’s issues or concerns before you got involved. This not only helps potential patients understand the types of conditions you can help treat, but people have a tendency to remember stories better than other types of marketing materials. This is especially true if the story resonates with the reader or listener.

An experiment conducted by two journalists also reveals that people are willing to pay more than an object’s worth if a story is attached to it. Called the Significant Objects Project, this experiment involved purchasing thrift store and garage sale items for just a few dollars each. The total spent on these items was $128.74. Yet, after writers paired each object with a story, the total amount consumers paid for these same items was $3,612.51.

The second piece of an effective testimonial is that it must cite you as the solution to the problem. In the case of chiropractic, this could involve the patient having a complete resolution of back pain after regular appointments in your office or migraine headaches that have reduced in frequency, intensity, or duration after chiropractic, even though no other forms of treatment offered this benefit.

There must be a clear connection between the problem and you as the solution. If there isn’t, the validity of the testimonial may be questioned.

Tips for creating and publishing

To make the most of your testimonials, publish them in both written text and video form. This enables you to appeal to potential patients who like to consume their data in either of these two formats.

Also, if a patient is willing to share a positive review of your office but is concerned about saying the right things, you can alleviate this fear by hiring a writer to help the patient create an honest, well-sounding review. As long as the writer doesn’t change the context of the patient’s message, this testimonial is still valid.

If you choose to work with a professional writer, it’s important that the patient have the opportunity to review the final statement before it is published. This ensures that they agree with the testimonial in full.

Testimonials and legality

Because you’re publishing someone else’s statement, protect yourself and your practice by having them sign a waiver first. This waiver should indicate the details of their testimonial, as well as providing authorization for you to use it on all of your marketing platforms.

The Federal Trade Commission has also issued guidelines regarding the use of testimonials in advertising. Familiarizing yourself with these common practices can keep you from unintentionally violating this agency’s guide. For example, if you are prohibited from advertising chiropractic for a specific health condition, your patient’s testimonial cannot make that claim either.

Testimonials are a great way to market your practice. Start using them today to make your advertising more effective.