Fertility centers and reproductive endocrinologists are often instructed to respond to negative reviews. Yet we hear a lot less about responding to positive reviews. It is every bit as important to respond to positive reviews as it is to respond to negative reviews.

An example of a positive fertility clinic review on Facebook with no response.

These are the patients that bring us the most “word of mouth” referrals. They have spent a wealth of money, time, and emotional energy with your practice. Acknowledging and thanking them is part of the patient experience. Responding to happy patients shows tremendous dedication and good character.

Here are my guidelines for responding to positive RE reviews:
1.   Match the tone, length, and enthusiasm of the commenter.
2.   Be human: Comment on how cute the photo of their child is, use emojis if they’ve used emojis, etc.
3.   Tell them you will pass on their compliment to the person they referenced.
4.   Do not add any context beyond what is revealed in their comment. You want to be social and authentic, just be careful not to include any new information. That could be PHI.

This is how I would respond to a real life RE review:

Review: “Dr. T and his staff are awesome. My wife and I had been to 2 other fertility doctors before seeing Dr. T and he is by far better. He is caring, knowledgeable, honest and patient. We highly recommend Dr. T and his staff”.

My ideal response: "Thank you so much for your incredible words, Kyle. We are honored to hear that you think both Dr. T and our staff are awesome and we will definitely let them know. We are so grateful that you would take the time out of your day to make us feel good".

Want extra credit? The response will always carry more value if it comes from the physician herself.