1 – Call Your Alumni After Discharge
It’s amazing to me how many treatment centers slack on this simple, yet important task to get positive Google reviews.
Every time a patient discharges from your facility, whether it be outpatient, inpatient, sober living or detox, there should always be a process to reach out to them shortly after they discharge.
For one, it’s the right thing to do. Second, this is a huge opportunity to learn how patients are truly experiencing your program. Best of all, while on the phone with your discharged patients, you have the opportunity to ask them if they would fill out a review on Google.
It’s so simple, yet so many facilities don’t do this.
2 – Set Up An Autoresponder
Another key element to get positive reviews on Google is in your discharge process. We recommend presenting a form that asks the patient for their email address. You want to get their permission to keep in touch with them through an alumni newsletter.
Every week, (or two weeks), you should be sending your alumni resources and tips for maintaining sobriety and reminding them that you are available for help.
Also, you want to set up an autoresponder that will send people a chain of emails that is triggered from them joining your list in the first place. So once you put a new email into the list, the act of adding that email will trigger the system to send a pre-built sequence of emails.
You guessed it. In this email chain is a satisfaction review and a link to the GMB page to fill out a review.
3 – Survey Monkey
Using surveys is a bit of an add on to the first two strategies listed above.
We strongly encourage treatment facilities send surveys to their alumni and their discharged patients. We recommend using survey monkey.
Why send surveys?
- You want to know how you are doing. Honest feedback from discharged patients is the best way to learn about what people are saying about your treatment services. Treatment is a serious, life altering experience and you want to know that you are doing the best you can.
- It will give you insight to the people who are more likely to leave you a positive review. Meaning, you will know which people are worth asking for a review and which people may not be likely to give you 5 stars.
Set up your Survey Monkey so that once a patient returns the survey, you will be alerted and you know which people to reach out to and ask for feedback and ask for a review.
It works wonders. It’s simple and extremely effective towards getting positive Google reviews.
4 – Alumni Events
Sometimes, we get too comfortable depending on phones and websites to do the emotional work of connecting to our patients.
Face to face interaction with alumni should always be part of your program.
Alumni events provide so much value for long term recovery. Also, they build community around your program because all of your alumni can continue to meet and support each other and remain in each other’s lives. It’s an integral part of the recovery process.
It’s also a great opportunity to get more positive Google reviews.
If a patient is motivated and excited enough to travel to an event, there is a high likelihood that they will be motivated enough to leave a review.
Getting Started
We get it, we just added another set of tasks to your already busy schedule.
A huge challenge for local treatment centers is that hiring employees for web management and marketing services is too taxing on payroll. But what else do you do? Many treatment professionals are busy doing the personalized work of treating addiction. Who actually has time to call people and set up mailing logic for reviews?
That’s okay. We are here to help.
You can’t afford to fall behind with your online marketing. Stodzy has been the leading SEO and internet marketing for treatment centers for the last 7 years.
We would love to have a chat with you. If for no other reason, to help you with tactics and advice to help you grow your treatment center and have a positive impact on the lives of others.
Fill out the contact form below to schedule a consultation.
