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Senior Living Reputation Management: 7 Tips

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Reviews matter. Full stop. People rarely make purchases without checking reviews on places like Amazon and Yelp, Google and Facebook—to all the many sites in between.

According to Qualtrics, 97% of all consumers use online media when researching products or services in their local area. And 93% of consumers say online reviews influence their purchasing decision.

Bottom line: Senior living reputation management is extremely important and should be a regular part of your ongoing marketing and sales tasks. Need some tips? Keep reading.

1. Claim and maintain listings on popular review sites.

The first step to effective senior living reputation management is to claim listings where people leave reviews. Focus on review sites that rank high in organic search, starting with your Google My Business listing (as well as Yahoo! and Bing Places for Business).

From there, focus on highly-trafficked review sites related to the senior living industry, such as Caring.com and SeniorAdvisor.com. (The latter has a turnkey approach to claiming your listing, responding to reviews, and soliciting more reviews.)

An important reminder: Whether you’re actively managing your listings or not, the listings most likely already exist. So even if you haven’t claimed your business listing on Caring.com, your senior living community is probably already listed and getting reviews.

Claiming a profile simply allows you to manage reviews better (as well as other information, such as phone numbers). Plus, you can respond to reviews (good and bad) as the business.

2. Actively monitor reviews and act on suggestions.

Pay attention to suggestions and criticisms brought up in reviews. If you keep hearing people talk about the same positive things, make sure you’re promoting these items throughout other marketing materials, like your senior living website, lead nurturing, and social media.

On the flip side, if you see a recurring theme in people’s grievances, do something about those complaints. Once you’ve made changes or addressed the complaints, pay close attention to reviews moving forward. Hopefully, you’ll see fewer rumblings about the issue.

3. Respond thoughtfully to reviews.

Let’s break it down into positive reviews, meh reviews (average, three stars), poor reviews, and abusive/trolling reviews.

  • Positive reviews. Acknowledging positive reviews is a nice way to say thanks to reviewers and to show other people that you’re actively monitoring and responding to consumers.
  • Meh/average reviews. While the goal is to gather positive reviews, the reality is average and negative reviews are a part of doing business. In fact, some savvy consumers might be suspicious if a business has only glowing reviews. Two- and three-star reviews usually involve the reviewer pointing out positives and negatives. If you respond, the key is to thank the person for their honest feedback. Let them know you’re glad they’re happy with X (positive stuff). And thank them for bringing your attention to Y (negative stuff). 
  • Poor reviews. In those truly negative one- and two-star reviews, people are clearly unhappy and they’re publicly calling out your community. Acknowledge their complaints. Thank them for their honest feedback, even though it’s tough to hear. Ask them if they’d be open to communicating offline so you can learn more about the issue. Let them know that you and your team members are listening and always striving to do better. This is where senior living reputation management can be difficult but is essential.
  • Abusive/trolling reviews. The customer isn’t always right. You do not need to tolerate reviews that contain toxic, offensive, or bullying language. Do not respond to the reviewer directly. Follow the platform’s internal protocols for flagging and disputing a review. Some sites will remove these sorts of reviews after an internal evaluation. But even if the site doesn’t remove the review, don’t fret. Today’s consumers are savvy. They can discern between someone who is leaving a legit review about a mediocre experience or a troll who is directing hatred at your community.

4. Don’t forget to monitor social media.

People often air their grievances on places like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Don’t overlook mentions of your community, especially those that are negative. It doesn’t take much for a negative tweet or Facebook post to go viral. 

Remember, be thoughtful in how you respond on social media. Empty sounding phrases or condescending-sounding responses (e.g., “We’re sorry you feel that way”) provide little value and come off sounding defensive or aloof. Sound human. “We’re so sorry about your experience and we want to know more so we can address it. Please DM us or call this number directly and ask for Susan.” 

5. Have a clear review solicitation strategy.

The best antidote to bad reviews? More good reviews. As we mentioned earlier, soliciting reviews should be an ongoing task.

In correspondence with residents/families, always remind people that you welcome reviews. In electronic communications, you can include a direct link to the place where you want people to leave a review. 

For example, you might write: “Do you love living in The Elmwood Senior Living? Tell people about it! Provide a review about your experience.” You can swap out where you link to over time. Perhaps one quarter, you focus on your Google listing. Another quarter, you focus on SeniorAdvisor.com. And so forth.

6. Promote and repurpose reviews.

The words of other people provide that all-important “social proof” that consumers care about. Promote your positive reviews throughout your marketing materials.

  • Add a plug-in to your website’s home page that highlights the latest five-star reviews.
  • Sprinkle positive reviews on other high-traffic website pages, such as locations, amenities, and contact.
  • Share reviews on social media. “Another happy resident talks about her experience at The Elmwood . . .” 
  • Use stellar reviews in print collateral, such as brochures and print ads.

7. Work with a partner to help handle your senior living reputation management.

Monitoring and managing reviews (not to mention regularly asking for reviews) can be a lot of work. Turn to a trusted partner like Senior Living SMART to manage this task for you. We know senior living inside and out, including the review sites you need to pay attention to. Let’s talk about your community’s specific needs.

Interested in reputation management but don't know where to start?

We can help! Get in touch with us and let’s chat→

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Business man excited about maintaining five star review

Senior Living Reputation Management: How to Respond to Reviews

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Your senior living community’s online reputation is everything. In fact, it might be the only thing that matters. Perception is reality and all that. Not to mention online reviews almost always come up in local search results. That’s why when it comes to senior living reputation management, you MUST have a strategy for responding to reviews.

We’ve written a couple articles about managing your overall online reputation, including claiming listings and soliciting reviews. But today we’re going to get into the nitty-gritty of how to respond to those pesky one- and two-star reviews.

1. Never argue.

When we say never, we mean NEVER. Not even if you feel the review is unfair. Not even if you know the review is inaccurate. A combative response will cause more damage. Why? Because other people will see your belligerent response. This will influence their decision—and not in a good way.

2. Keep in mind that critical feedback isn’t always negative.

We all tend to think of one-star reviews as “bad.” But negative reviews provide opportunity. Your critics are giving you a gift: an unfiltered, unvarnished view of your community’s weaknesses. If you pay attention to your reviews and address legitimate issues revealed within them, your community will ultimately be in a better, stronger, more competitive position.

What should you pay attention to in one- and two-star reviews? Look for trends. Look for consistent complaints. If you’re hearing the same complaint in multiple reviews, you can no longer claim it’s simply one disgruntled person’s “opinion.” Uncover the core issue and address it.

3. Be genuine in your response.

  • Acknowledge the person’s pain/criticism. Again, don’t argue. Don’t make condescending statements like “We’re sorry you feel this way.” Instead, opt for something that sounds human: “Chris, we’re sorry to hear your mom isn’t happy with X. We’re sharing your feedback with the team. If you’d like to tell us more, we welcome your additional input. You can reach us here.” (Provide a real phone number and extension. Make sure someone monitors the messages and passes on messages to the appropriate person in your community.)
  • Do not end your response with “Have a great day.” It sounds silly to say something like: “We’re sorry to hear about your experience. Have a great day!” Try this instead: “Even though it’s hard to hear, we do appreciate your candid feedback. We’re discussing your review internally so we can address these issues.”
  • Don’t say the same thing in every response. People scroll through reviews. If people see the same response on every review, well—that doesn’t sound genuine, does it?
  • Respond to positive reviews, too! A warm “Thank you” is always welcome on a positive review. You’ll follow the same suggestions outlined above. Acknowledge what the person liked. Don’t say the same thing in every response. And sound genuine.

Need inspiration? Here are real examples of great responses to negative Yelp reviews.

4. Run your response by a committee before hitting publish.

Get in the habit of drafting a response to a critical review and sharing it with a couple members of your team. Why? Just to get a second opinion and a second set of eyes on the response. The problem with responding in writing is the tone issue. The person who writes the response can’t always “hear” if something might come across as snarky or defensive. When it comes to senior living reputation management, take a team approach.

5. Accept that negative reviews are part of doing business.

Your senior living community will get negative reviews. It’s a part of doing business. Your focus should be on responding thoughtfully to these critical reviews and addressing issues, as needed.

SeniorLivingAdvisor.com notes this in its FAQs: “Consumers do not expect every customer will have an ideal experience with any service provider. In fact, consumers tend to trust reviews more when they see both positive and negative feedback. What is important to those searching for senior care is that the organization acknowledges and addresses concerns.”

6. Flag any reviews that are truly inappropriate.

While you should never respond to negative reviews, your community—and the people reading the reviews—shouldn’t have to endure violent, abusive, racist, or other toxic language. Most review sites offer a way to flag/report/dispute problematic reviews. You won’t use this for someone who is irate about a legitimate issue. People have a right to vent their frustration. But if a reviewer ever crosses a line, you can ask to have the review removed.

An important note: People reading reviews will be able to read between the lines. Most of us can easily identify an incoherent rant when we spot one. And most of us won’t put much stock into those sorts of reviews. So even if you have a couple of “stinkers,” don’t worry too much about it.

7. Combat negative reviews with more positive reviews.

With many review sites, the most recent reviews are listed first. So if you have a few negative reviews cluttering the feed—even if you’ve answered them in a thoughtful manner—revisit your playbook for soliciting more positive reviews.

Some ideas:

  • Tap recent move-ins. While the experience is still fresh, ask the resident and/or family member to leave a review on why they chose your community.
  • Use text messaging apps. Sending a text message asking for a review stands a better chance of getting opened and acted upon. Capterra evaluates different text messaging apps here.
  • Audit your lead nurturing. Make sure you include “Love us? Leave us a review” call-outs on appropriate lead nurturing workflows.
  • Don’t overlook your employees! Make sure you monitor reviews on places like Indeed and Glassdoor. Savvy consumers will look at these sites to see what employees are saying about working in your senior living community. Happy employees make for happy residents.

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5 Steps to Successfully Managing Your Online Reputation

5 Steps to Successfully Managing Your Online Reputation

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According to Google, 70% of Americans online say they use reviews before converting to customers. A Harvard Business School Study found something they call The Yelp Effect. According to their study published in 2011, “A one-star increase in Yelp rating leads to a 5-9 percent increase in revenue.”

The senior living industry lags behind most other industries in creating and managing a strong online and social media presence. Online review sites will force an increase in awareness and action in ensuring that their communities are positively represented.

Here are some quick tips to pro-actively manage your online reputation:

  1. Review & Enhance – check out all of your online profiles for accuracy and utilize all available opportunities to provide content. Photos continue to be the most viewed components and virtual tours are also very effective.
  2. You can’t manage what you can’t see–get online and read reviews of your community. Check out Senior Advisor at https://www.SeniorAdvisor.com and Caring.com at https://www.caring.com, also Google Maps as well as Google, Yahoo! and Bing Places pages. (Whether you know it or not, your senior living community has a listing on all these sites.)
  3. Engage & Respond–regardless of the positive or negative content of the review. The more comments and responses that are posted about a community the greater the increase in revenue. Keep your tone positive and conversational, never defensive. A bad review is not the end of the day, as long as there are some positive reviews that put it in perspective and provide balance.
  4. Respond quickly–If there is a pattern of negative comments, respond quickly to address the issue. One negative review can be neutralized by counter balancing positive reviews, but there will be major damage control needed for unresolved complaints
  5. Be pro-active–encourage reviews throughout the resident’s stay. After a prospect chooses your community, send a link to review sites and ask them to comment about why they chose your community. After a successful resident and family event, a great state survey or nomination to a local “Best Of” award, reach out an provide links to online review opportunities. Post the best reviews on your website, acknowledge the review site and provide a link back to improve SEO.

The bottom line is that your families and prospects are already talking about you so now is the time to listen, respond, and join the conversation.

Free Download

The case for online reviews goes stronger by the day. Customers are increasingly searching online and referring to reviews before making a purchasing decision.

Members can download the ‘Why Online Reviews Matter’ tipsheet, or non-members may download the resource by filling out form in the link below: