Sunday, May 25, 2008

Helping patients make the right choice of medical tourism service

More and more people are using online reviews to make decisions about the products and service that they buy. Consumers worldwide want to hear from “people like me” before they make a decision about which product or service to buy. TripAdvisor has become the first place that many people visit when they are planning a holiday or booking a hotel.

So, would medical tourists benefit from hearing about the experiences of other people who have travelled abroad for treatment? Undoubtedly, Yes!.

The web is now the first place that people look to research hospitals and clinics online before they decide where to go. Choosing a doctor, operation, or hospital, is a big decision, and the more opinions a patient can gather, the more secure they feel with their ultimate choice.

The philosophy of our online business is "helping patients to make the right choice". That's why we've just launched Treatment Abroad Ratings and Reviews to provide patients with the “word of mouth” that will help them to make the right choice of medical tourism service, hospital or clinic. We know from other areas of industry that:
  • 63% of consumers are more likely to purchase from a supplier, if it has ratings and reviews.
  • 77% of online shoppers use reviews and ratings when purchasing.
  • 82% of those who read reviews say that their purchasing decisions are directly influenced by those reviews.

But how much trust can people put in reviews of such services? A medical tourism agency, hospital or clinic, doctor or dentist may be tempted to either:

  • Create a fake review to promote their own service.
  • Create a fake review to damage a competitor’s reputation.

We have chosen BazaarVoice as the partner for our Ratings and Reviews system because of their ability to identify fake reviews through the algorithms they run on review submissions, the tracking of IP addresses of reviewers, the validation of email addresses, and BazaarVoice’s experience of moderating thousands of reviews for major clients every month.

We have also warned clients and healthcare providers that any attempt to bias our reviews service will result in immediate removal of all review content.

We'll see how Treatment Abroad Ratings and Reviews develops over the coming months. But we're sure it will help potential medical tourists to differentiate between the good and bad in terms of medical tourism service providers.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I think that creating such a review service on treatment abroad was a great and much needed step. http://www.dentalholiday.co.uk i'm sure will benefit a great deal from the service.

Anonymous said...

I think fake reviews or ratings would be the most worrying aspect of online reviews. i think one could only get an idea of accuracy when theres a large database of ratings, a 100% rating on sample population doesn't always tell the whole story. Good idea in theory.

Keith Pollard said...

>>>I think fake reviews or ratings would be the most worrying aspect of online reviews

I agee 100%. That's why we use the BazaarVoice Reviews system, because of their ability to identify fake reviews through the algorithms they run on review submissions, the tracking of IP addresses of reviewers, the validation of email addresses, and BazaarVoice’s experience of moderating thousands of reviews for major clients every month.

Anonymous said...

Medical tourism service is a great tribute and social help to world's health care program.

Vas Reversals said...

I am delighted to hear that you run a very rigorous method of ensuring accurate reviews. Our site which you do advertise does attract visitors from overseas, the reverse of what you describe but it is always important to know that the surgeon is reliable and trustworthy.