The last year has been extremely tough on all businesses, with many businesses having to close their doors for prolonged periods of time with no clear end to the varying restrictions for a long time.
As the world began taking their entire lives online so quickly, even businesses who operated purely face-to-face services had to turn their attention to maintaining a customer base who would then return to their shops and practices when restrictions were eased. It was more important than ever to make sure they had a strong online presence.
It was during one of the later lockdowns that Smilecraft Dental Care – a dental practice in Stevenage – began working with us. During 2020 they’d had to close the practice for prolonged periods of time which meant they were also looking to generate even more customers through their website.
Stars in Google Organic Search Results
Smilecraft began working with us in February 2021, and in the following months they focussed on collecting reviews which were then displayed against their listings in Google organic search results as a result of the Trustist code on their website.
The stars, generated by the Trustist widgets, help their listings to stand out from any competition whilst also showing their amazing review base off to potential customers!
The Trustist widgets are also used to display their reviews directly on their website, so that any customers who land on the site are able to read all of the excellent feedback they’ve collected.
Increase in Website Traffic
To see how the stars have impacted the amount of traffic the website receives, we took a look at the most recent 30 days of data in Google Search Console and compared this to the same time period last year.
This showed us that the amount of clicks the website had received from Google organic search results had increased by 80% since last year!
The Click-Through Rate (CTR) also improved dramatically, going from 1.5% last year to 3.7% now. These increases were caused by the stars in Google organic search results, and they should continue to improve further over time as they continue to collect amazing reviews!
Improved Patient Numbers
Whilst it’s great to see the data showing the increase in traffic through to the website, it’s even better to see concrete evidence that drawing customers into the website where the reviews are displayed can improve the amount of business received too. So, that’s exactly what we looked at!
To show how the number of patients had increased, we were able to compare the number of new patients gained by the practice in March of this year vs the same month last year.
In March 2020, the practice gained 14 new patients. Unfortunately, Smilecraft did have to close towards the end of this month so it is safe to say they would have gained more patients in the last week of the month if they were allowed to open. With this in mind, for the comparison we have assumed they would have doubled that number of patients to 28 if they were able to continue trading throughout the month.
In March 2021, they gained an impressive 46 new patients. This means that, even with the inflated March 2020 figure, the amount of new patients who joined the practice this year had increased by 64% even during lockdown!
Happy Customers
The increases in the amount of traffic the website received, coupled with the incredible number of new members, has been generated by the combination of the stars in Google organic search results for the website and the Trustist widgets on the site. The widgets on the site are responsible for generating the stars, but they are also showing the amazing feedback Smilecraft have collected off to customers which can be the final step in convincing new customers to do business with you!
Dr Bradley Abrahams, owner of Smilecraft Dental, had this to say about using Trustist:
“My experience of Trustist has been absolutely superb. On the day after my initial discussion with Nigel, I was up and running. Ellie dealt with the onboarding process and it really couldn’t have been easier. The web page which gives our patients a choice of leaving a review on Trustist , Google or Facebook is accessible by scanning a QR code or alternatively the link can be emailed. I now have some clever code embedded in the reviews page on my website which automatically updates as new reviews are left. I really am delighted. Thank you very much.”
The last year has been horrendous for many companies, and it has been really difficult for owners to navigate their way through the restrictions to come out the other side with a stronger business. However, we’ve seen that one great way to boost the amount of new business you receive coming out of lockdown is to put your focus into collecting and displaying the reviews you receive – they really are the best advertisement your business can have!