Your practice flourishes when patients are happy with your services. Great patient experiences reduce the number of no-shows, increase retention rates, and boost referrals. However, you might not always consistently deliver a good experience to every patient that walks through your front door. So how can you know for sure if your patients are receiving the best experiences? Using Net Promoter Score or NPS.
Read on to learn more about NPS and why it’s essential for your practice.
NPS is considered the yardstick of the performance of your practice from your patients’ point of view. Data collected through Net Promoter Score reveals how loyal and satisfied your patients are. NPS uses a simple yet highly effective approach of asking just one straightforward question – On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our practice to a family member, friend, or colleague?
Depending on their answers to this question, patients fall into one of these three categories:
Promoters: These are loyal, satisfied patients who rate their experience with a score of 9 or 10. Promoters are strong brand ambassadors. They’re happy to refer your practice to everyone.
Passives: Patients who respond with a score of 7 to 8 are considered passives. Although they’re satisfied with your services, passives might not actually be loyal patients. What’s more, they may not be willing to endorse your practice.
Detractors: This group of patients answer with a score of 0 to 6 and are unhappy with your services. Detractors are essentially unsatisfied and would not refer your practice to anyone. They could probably tarnish your name through negative online reviews and word-of-mouth.
To get your NPS, you have to subtract the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters, with 100 being the highest score and -100 the lowest.
There are many reasons why your practice should use NPS, including:
Because patients only need to respond to one question, they’re more likely to participate in your survey. The question can be sent via text or email, patients’ most preferred methods of communication, rather than in-person, and completed with one easy and fast click.
More than that, NPS supports reliable, accurate feedback. Patients don’t have to complete the survey in front of your doctors or staff where they may feel inclined to provide biased answers in your favor. Therefore, their responses are more honest.
Having a high Net Promoter Score reveals that you’re doing a good job and your patients are taking notice. On the other hand, a lower NPS objectively identifies problem areas in your practice. Armed with that information, you can keep up the good work or up your game where you fall short.
A vast majority of healthcare consumers trust recommendations from other patients more than any other source. Thus, your most satisfied patients are an invaluable marketing asset. They’re the most loyal and enthusiastic enough to refer other patients to your practice.
Once you’ve identified your promoters, don’t hesitate to ask them for referrals and request positive reviews. You’d be surprised by how many new patients you can acquire from referrals and online reviews.
By tracking your NPS regularly, you can leverage the data to address areas of concern promptly, before patients are long gone. Remember, the aim is to find ways to elevate patient experiences, moving detractors and passives up the scale. As you probably know, happy, satisfied patients lead to increased loyalty, positive reviews, and referrals.
The sophisticated system from MDidentity can assist with your NPS. It can sieve stellar reviews and draw out negative feedback for your quick resolution.
Want to learn how one simple question can encourage returning and new patients, and help your practice grow? Request a demo today.
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