Reviews That Matter: How Feedback Shapes Senior Care Service

Consumers trust other consumers: 87% use Google to evaluate local businesses. That was in 2022. The year before, that number was 81%.

This is especially true in the healthcare industry, where consumers are increasingly likely to consult patient reviews before choosing a provider. When your client leads go looking for reviews of your business, what will they find?

Home care agency reviews across sites like Google, Yelp, Care.com, and Caring.com are hugely influential in an agency’s credibility, reputation, and competitiveness—and your business has the power to influence what appears on those sites in a way that is authentic and ethical. Here’s how.

Why reviews matter for your senior care agency

Reading reviews is part and parcel of buying local: 33% of consumers say they always review reviews when looking for local businesses, and 43% say they regularly do, according to BrightLocal.

Reviews are also a valuable way to hear frankly from your clients about what you’re doing well and what needs improvement. Here are more reasons to solicit public feedback.

• Senior care consumers are checking your reviews: Healthcare is the top industry where consumers feel business reviews are most important, according to BrightLocal. In fact, more healthcare consumers read patient reviews of healthcare providers in 2022 (86%) than did in 2021 (72%).
• It builds your reputation: Consumers are more likely to trust brands with reviews, according to survey numbers from Terakeet.
• It establishes trust: When consumers can see what real clients think of your agency, they can trust the services you deliver. Responding graciously to positive and negative reviews demonstrates your openness to feedback.
• It demonstrates your high standard of care: Detailed reviews from your happy clients put your excellent standards on display for prospective clients.
• Senior care is a personal business: Clients are asking you to come into their homes and take care of themselves or their loved ones—it’s personal. All the more important that you can demonstrate first-hand endorsements of your business.
• It helps you improve your business: Your agency must be open to client feedback. It’s how you’ll discover weaknesses in your care services and uncover strengths to capitalize on.

Don’t be afraid of feedback

Asking for feedback from clients can be nerve-wracking. We’ve all seen online reviews—what if an unhappy client decides to tell the world?

If you provide good services and maintain a high standard of care, your chances of landing a positive review are strong: Only 6% of consumers write only negative reviews, while 37% write only positive ones, according to BrightLocal’s 2023 Local Consumer Review Survey.

Your goal should be good reviews of your agency, but some negative reviews actually lend credibility to your public profile. If everything looks too good to be true, potential clients may wonder if you’re controlling or influencing those comments.

How to get reviews of your home care agency

You can ask your top clients to review your business—and it works. Here’s how.

Ask your clients to write a review of your agency with automation. No need to personally contact every single one of your clients and their family members. Use your marketing automation engine to quickly and easily (and automatically) contact clients via text and email, asking them to review your senior care agency.

In one experiment detailed in the Harvard Business Review, a travel company asked its customers to review them via email within four days of using their travel services. Researchers found that the email increased the number of reviews by 8 percentage points and reduced the share of “extreme” reviews (that is, very positive or very negative) by 10%.

Don’t write the reviews yourself. It’s easy to spot a fake, and it can damage your credibility with potential clients. Best to leave the review writing to others.

Make it part of your lead nurturing sequence to demonstrate that you value feedback. As you use your marketing engine to keep in touch with your potential clients—getting to know them while educating them about your business—ask how you’re doing. Conscientious attention to potential clients may sway their decision to go with your agency over a competitor.

Make it easy to leave a review. When asking for reviews, point clients to the site or platform where you want them to comment. Set up a customizable link to your Google Business Profile, add a prominent CTA in your emails that sends them to Care.com or Caring.com, and include a QR code in print materials.

Ready to get great reviews for your senior care agency?

Prompt your clients to leave reviews of your agency by automating text messages, emails, and more through Home Care Marketing Pros’ CareFunnels platform. Track patterns in review content and learn more about the characteristics of users who leave positive reviews so you can manage your online reputation and keep delivering care that motivates great client feedback.

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