Patient testimonials can be a great way to showcase your services and give prospective patients a flavor for your practice.  Use them on your social media and website.

Questions

Here are some questions to get the praise flowing:

  1. Why did you pick our practice/facility?
  2.  How did we improve your life?
  3. How did our staff and doctors show that we cared about you?
  4. What would you say to other patients that are considering the same procedure?

Pictures

Testimonials are always better with pictures.  It can be a simple picture of the patient or a before/after picture. Or even a picture of the doctor.  Better yet, a picture of the patient with the doctor!

Release

Always use a release – for name, for picture, for anything that identifies them.  I recommend keeping this in the patient’s electronic health record for easy access.  Don’t expect your marketing company or website company to keep up with it.  They won’t be the ones hit with a HIPAA violation – you will. If you don’t have a release, holler at us and we’ll share our template with you.

Format

Here’s an example of a great way to collect stories from patients from BMI of Texas. You might also consider working a release into this same tool.

You can also have patients fill out a comment card or pull positive reviews from online.  Create a custom graphic out of it and you have a great social media post!!  Here’s an example.

Video testimonials are ideal.  It’s best to hire a professional videographer that can film and edit the videos.  It is typically well worth the time and investment for the quality of videos.  Hire them for a block of time and you’ll save a lot.

If you go with the patient-made videos, a few items to consider:

  • Set up a drop box or some other online way for them to submit. The BMI way would likely work. The videos will likely be large enough that email won’t be effective.
  • Ask them to answer the three questions, plus anything else they want to share.
  • Consider having them break the questions up into three separate videos. This would require less editing, potentially.
  • Suggest they use a quiet place with a solid background that contrasts with their hair/skin color. For instance, don’t put a blonde/pale person on a tan background. Put them on a dark background.
  • Recommend they use the smartphone horizontally/landscape and balance the phone on something, maybe even a tripod to keep it still.
  • Tell them they need plentiful light. Take a test video to ensure the light is ample.
  • Here are some posts with specific info from people way smarter than us: How to Shoot Better Mobile Video, 7 Ways to Get Professional Quality Video on a Smartphone, and 9 Tips for Recording Better Video with Your Smartphone.

Good luck with your testimonials!  We look forward to reading them.