28 Oct What are good reviews worth to you?

What are good reviews worth to you?

Would you trade $750 for $27,000?

A quick case study

A client I started working with just a few months ago, a local one-location Acupuncture practice – contacted me to say she was in the midst of her busiest three weeks since she opened her doors back in May.

She said she’d booked 9 new clients for the current week. Nine!

We enrolled Lavender Moon Acupuncture in our Online Reputation Management service back in June. They had a list of just more than 100 people. About 130 or so. Just a nominal list to start.

We set the business up in the basic service ($150 per month) and continued to send out the standard campaign for them for the next five months. June to October. In late September, we started an automated system of sharing their best reviews over Facebook.

In that time, the practice went from just 2 reviews on Google and Facebook each, to 11 on Google and 14 on Facebook. Not overwhelming numbers, but a steady lift for a small business.

Since we started, the business has been generating a steady 2-4 new patients every week, most of whom cite seeing good reviews as the driving force behind them choosing Lavender Moon.

This last week, Lavender Moon booked 9 new patients, ALL of whom cited the positive reviews as their primary reason for booking an appointment. This is a record for new patients in a week in 20 years of practice.

Add to this the authenticity of the reviews themselves. Because the practice has such passionately enthusiastic fans, these reviews read in a truly honest way which creates an even stronger gravitational pull for new patients.

Estimating the value of a new patient

One of the biggest weaknesses I see in clients when we get started with them is their inability to tell me how much a new customer is worth. How much is a new customer worth for one sale and how much is that customer worth lifetime including average referrals and other benefits?

We took a conservative, short-term view of estimating the value of new patients for Lavender Moon. Based on the revenue generated by appointments, and an understanding of how many visits the average patient remains with the practice, we figured most new patients come for at least 3-6 visits translating conservatively to about $500 per patient.

The long-term effect is much deeper, of course. Many of these new patients come for more than just five or six visits. More than a few continue to come monthly or weekly for months or years. When they are happy, these patients refer to other patients, some refer to many friends and family members resulting in a much higher lifetime value for each new patient.

Running the Numbers

Lavender Moon’s new online reputation effort is costing the practice $150 per month. Or $750 for five months so far. The program is generating 2-4 new patients per week (let’s conservatively call that about 10-12 per month). A conservative estimate of the value of each new patient is about $500.

NEW PATIENTS SINCE JUNE: 54
INITIAL VALUE OF THOSE NEW PATIENTS: $27,000
ONGOING VALUE: more than that in ongoing business, referrals, &c.
COST OF ONLINE REPUTATION EFFORT: $750

The Bottom Line

You tell me.

Is spending $750 worth revenue of about $27,000?

We say any any business with a steady stream of happy patients, clients, or customers, ought to have a steady stream of great online reviews, too. And this is a clear example of that idea at work.

Give us a call, I’m sure we can get similar results for your business.