Case study · Dental practice · Toronto, Canada
How a Toronto Dental Practice Collected 54 New Patient Reviews in 45 Days
A family dental clinic in Toronto had 18 Google reviews built up over four years. Three competitors in the same neighbourhood had 60, 90, and 110 reviews respectively. By using automated SMS requests timed to go out 3 hours after each appointment, the practice collected 54 new verified reviews in 45 days.
The situation
A well-run practice losing new patients to better-reviewed competitors
The dental practice had been operating for six years with strong patient retention. Existing patients loved the practice and many had been coming for years. The problem was new patient acquisition. When someone in the neighbourhood searched for a dentist on Google Maps, the practice appeared with 18 reviews at 4.2 stars while the top result had 110 reviews at 4.7 stars.
The lead dentist estimated they were losing 15 to 20 new patient enquiries per month to competitors with better Google profiles. At an average lifetime patient value of approximately CAD $2,400, this represented a significant revenue gap driven entirely by a review disparity, not a clinical quality gap.
The practice had tried asking patients verbally at checkout to leave a review, but this felt awkward for both staff and patients in a clinical setting. Patients said yes and then never followed through. There was no systematic digital follow-up.
18 reviews in 6 years of operation
Averaging 3 reviews per year while serving hundreds of patients annually. Satisfied patients were not converting to reviewers without a systematic ask.
Losing 15-20 new enquiries per month
Potential new patients were choosing competitors with better Google profiles. The review gap was creating a measurable new patient acquisition gap.
Verbal asks were not converting
The clinical setting made verbal review requests feel awkward for staff. Patients agreed but never followed through without a direct link sent to their phone.
The approach
What the dental practice did with Get More Review
Uploaded 3 years of patient contacts
The practice uploaded a CSV of patients seen in the past 3 years who had provided a mobile number. This gave them a starting pool of 186 contacts. They ran an initial one-time campaign to this list first, treating them as an existing patient re-engagement campaign before shifting to automated new-patient outreach.
Automated SMS 3 hours after each appointment
Get More Review was configured to send an SMS 3 hours after each appointment. The message read: "[Practice Name]: Hi [Name], thank you for your visit today. If you have a moment, a Google review would mean a lot to us: [link]". At 3 hours post-appointment the patient was home, comfortable, and the experience was still fresh. The SMS response rate was 29 percent.
Smart routing handled patient concerns privately
Before any patient reached the Google review form, they rated their experience first. The practice saw 11 patients rate 1 to 3 stars over the 45 days. All 11 were directed to a private form. The lead dentist responded personally to each one. Four were concerns about wait times, three were about billing questions, and four were about treatment discomfort. All were resolved. Zero posted publicly on Google.
One SMS follow-up for non-responders at day 5
A single follow-up SMS went to patients who had not responded to the initial message, sent 5 days later. For a dental practice, 5 days (rather than the standard 3) felt more respectful of the clinical relationship. The follow-up added 22 percent more reviews on top of the initial response rate.
The results
45 days of results
"The SMS approach was the right call for our practice. It felt professional rather than pushy. Patients respond to a text from us the same way they respond to an appointment reminder. It is expected communication. The review link just happens to be in there."
Lead dentist, Toronto family dental practice
Impact on new patient enquiries
Within 6 weeks of starting the campaign the practice moved from position 6 to position 2 in Google Maps for their primary search term. The lead dentist reported a noticeable increase in new patient calls, with reception staff noting that several new patients specifically mentioned finding them on Google.
The re-engagement campaign to existing patients produced 31 of the 54 total reviews in the first 2 weeks. The remaining 23 came from new appointment outreach over weeks 3 to 6. The practice now collects an average of 10 to 12 new reviews per month from ongoing campaigns.
The private feedback value
The 11 private complaints caught by smart routing were arguably as valuable as the 54 public reviews. Four patients who complained about wait times validated a scheduling bottleneck the practice had suspected but not confirmed. Fixing the scheduling issue reduced appointment overruns which improved patient experience across the board.
Three billing complaints identified an ambiguity in how treatment costs were communicated at booking. The practice updated their booking confirmation emails to include a clearer cost estimate. Subsequent patient complaints about billing dropped significantly.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions
Yes. Most dental practices already communicate with patients by SMS for appointment reminders. A review request SMS following an appointment is consistent with this existing communication pattern. It feels like a natural extension of the appointment workflow rather than a marketing intrusion.
The SMS messages did not disclose any health information. They referenced "your visit today" without specifying any clinical details. The messages were sent to patients whose contact details were already held for treatment purposes. The practice consulted with their compliance advisor before launching.
All 11 were resolved directly by the lead dentist within 24 to 48 hours. None escalated to a public review. The feedback also identified two recurring operational issues that the practice was able to address, improving the experience for future patients.
The ranking improvement was noticeable from week 4 onwards. The initial improvement was driven by the spike in review velocity from the re-engagement campaign. The position stabilised at number 2 within 6 weeks and has been maintained through consistent new-patient outreach.
Related
Related resources
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