How patients choose a practice before they walk in

Most patients decide whether to trust a practice long before they meet anyone there, on a phone screen and in a matter of seconds.

The first visit happens online

Before a patient calls, they look you up. They read your reviews, scan your website and study your photographs, often late at night with a worry they cannot sleep on. Branding for healthcare is the work of making that first, unseen visit feel as careful as the care itself.

None of this replaces clinical excellence. It decides whether a new patient ever gets to experience it.

Judgement starts in a fraction of a second

People form a view of a web page's visual appeal in about 50 milliseconds, and that first impression tends to hold when they look for longer (Lindgaard and colleagues, 2006). In a large study of how people judge whether a website is credible, the look of the design was the factor they mentioned most, in nearly half of all comments (Fogg and colleagues, 2003). A dated, cluttered or broken website does not read as modest. To a patient, it reads as risk.

Patients sift first, then read

A study that followed patients as they looked for health information online found that they began with fast, surface judgements, quickly sifting out and rejecting sites, and only then weighed the information on the sites that remained (Sillence and colleagues, 2007). Your expertise is the second test. Your presentation is the first, and it decides whether the second ever happens.

Reviews are part of your front desk

In a national survey in the United States, 59 per cent of people said physician rating sites were important when choosing a doctor (Hanauer and colleagues, 2014). Reply to reviews calmly and in plain words, never confirm that anyone is a patient, and make it easy for people who were well cared for to say so.

Plain words build confidence

Clinical guidance recommends writing patient information at a sixth-grade reading level or lower (Safeer and Keenan, 2005). Plain words are not a lesser register. A clear page that explains what happens at a first visit, what it costs and how to book tells an anxious person that they will be looked after.

Show the people who will care for them

Stock photographs of smiling strangers are easy to spot, and they quietly undo the trust a practice is trying to earn. Photograph your own team, your own rooms and the way you really greet people, with their consent. Patients are choosing who will care for them, so show them who that is.

Where practices leak trust

• A website that is hard to use on a phone.
• No prices, and no clear way to find out.
• Booking by phone only, with hours that are hard to find.
• Stock photographs instead of the real team and rooms.
• Unanswered reviews, or replies that argue.
• Medical terms where plain words would do.

A ten-point trust audit

1. Can a patient book, or ask to book, from a phone in under a minute?
2. Are your hours, location and parking clear on the first screen?
3. Do your photographs show your own team and your own rooms?
4. Does each service page explain one thing in plain words?
5. Can a new patient see what a first visit costs, or how to find out?
6. Are your qualifications and memberships easy to find and easy to check?
7. Have you replied to recent reviews, kindly and without patient details?
8. Do your Google listing and your website show the same hours and number?
9. Does your practice look the same on your sign, your website and your social media?
10. Judging only by the screen, would you trust this practice with your own family?

Questions, answered

Are we allowed to market a medical practice?

Follow your professional body's rules on advertising. A trustworthy brand is built from clarity, care and consistency rather than bold claims, so good branding and the rules work together.

We are a small practice. Does this matter for us?

Yes, perhaps more. Patients compare you with every other option on the same screen, and a small practice that looks careful and clear can feel more trustworthy than a large one that does not.

Should we be on social media?

Yes, if you can post consistently and safely. Plain answers to common questions build trust. Never share a patient's story or image without their written consent.

Want to see your practice the way a new patient does? Book a Brand Evolution Session, and we will run this audit together.

Sources

• Fogg, B. J., Soohoo, C., Danielson, D. R., Marable, L., Stanford, J. and Tauber, E. R. (2003). How do users evaluate the credibility of Web sites? A study with over 2,500 participants. Proceedings of the 2003 Conference on Designing for User Experiences.
• Hanauer, D. A., Zheng, K., Singer, D. C., Gebremariam, A. and Davis, M. M. (2014). Public awareness, perception, and use of online physician rating sites. JAMA, 311(7).
• Lindgaard, G., Fernandes, G., Dudek, C. and Brown, J. (2006). Attention web designers: you have 50 milliseconds to make a good first impression! Behaviour and Information Technology, 25(2).
• Safeer, R. S. and Keenan, J. (2005). Health literacy: the gap between physicians and patients. American Family Physician, 72(3).
• Sillence, E., Briggs, P., Harris, P. R. and Fishwick, L. (2007). How do patients evaluate and make use of online health information? Social Science and Medicine, 64(9).