Did you know Facebook includes reviews and ratings on its business pages?
If your pharmacy has a Facebook page, your patients are likely going to read and write reviews about your business.
But this isn’t a bad thing. Negative reviews are opportunities for your pharmacy to make additional improvements, if needed, and they allow you to reach out to unhappy or disheartened patients. Plus, positive reviews let other patients—or potential patients—see just how wonderful your independent community pharmacy is.
Here’s what you need to know about Facebook’s ratings and reviews.
The power of reviews
Any Facebook user can rank or review a Facebook page.
Your pharmacy’s Facebook page includes a star rating that’s a combined average of all the ratings it received. The ranking is viewable to anyone who looks at your Facebook page.
Facebook reviews and ratings can directly affect your business. Positive reviews can garner growth for your pharmacy, and serve as an endorsement to attract potential patients to your store.
Alternatively, negative reviews can have a less positive effect. New patients might be wary of visiting your pharmacy if your store has lower ratings and worse reviews than others in the area.
What you can do
There is substantial power in online ratings and reviews, such as those on Facebook pages. Eighty-one percent of individuals claim to read customer reviews and ratings of a business, according to The Deloitte Consumer Review, The growing power of consumers, an insight report by Deloitte, an auditing, consulting, financial advisory, tax and related services company.
To ensure positive Facebook ratings and reviews on your page, provide the best possible service you can to your patients. And, if you have patients who you know are happy with the service and care you provide, ask them to rate and review your pharmacy on Facebook.
Facebook doesn’t allow you to delete ratings, but the site does allow you to report reviews that don’t comply with their guidelines.
Also, it’s a good idea to respond to reviews—especially if they’re negative. Doing so can showcase your excellent customer service and demonstrate that you want to help solve the problem. You can also ‘like’ reviews on your pharmacy’s Facebook page. Here are some tips for handling negative online reviews.
Reaching out to pleased and disgruntled patients will let them know you care, and unhappy patients might even change their review if they notice the extra effort you put forth to guarantee their satisfaction.
Facebook isn’t the only online platform your pharmacy can benefit from. Learn how to increase your pharmacy’s Google-ability.
