Meet Urology Centers of Alabama
A pioneer of cutting-edge medical procedures and treatment options, Urology Centers of Alabama (UCA) has exemplified medical excellence for over 70 years.
Based in the Birmingham suburb of Homewood, Alabama, UCA specializes in the comprehensive treatment of urological disorders, with a focus on providing high-quality, personalized care. Over its history, the practice has expanded to include 16 locations, 34 physicians, and 14 advanced providers.
With clinics located throughout the state, UCA has established itself as one of the Southeast’s leading providers of urological and urogynecological services.
The Problem
In 2021, UCA faced a growing challenge: a relatively weak online presence that did not align with its stellar real-world reputation. Although known locally for their state-of-the-art facilities and exemplary patient care, UCA’s online listings showed an average star-rating of only 4.32 — a figure inconsistent with their immensely positive reputation. According to UCA’s Director of Marketing, JC Sandel, this disconnect was obvious: “We struggled for years to effectively encourage our patients to leave feedback about their experiences at UCA. Unfortunately, most of our reviews were from the very few who left our practices dissatisfied. We knew our ratings reflected the experiences of a small minority, not the excellent care for which we are known.”
This challenge presented more than just a misrepresented image, however. Due to their blemished online reputation, UCA’s listings regularly ranked below their competitors’ in local search results and rarely appeared in relevant Google 3-Packs. With over 50% of search results traffic going to those most visible positions, UCA’s listings thus drove significantly less web traffic, phone calls, and booked appointments than expected. “Struggling to be seen online was only half of our concern,” said Sandel. “We were certain that UCA’s suboptimal reviews and ratings were deterring patients who did find our listings. We probably lost countless new patient acquisition opportunities to other practices, all because their listings were more optimized than ours. We needed to make a change.”
Wielding hundreds of online listings associated with their practice, UCA’s leadership team knew a stronger online reputation was the key to becoming more competitive. As such, they recognized the need to forgo traditional marketing initiatives and adopt more cost-effective, impactful strategies like Reputation SEO to boost their ranking in its local search results (i.e., the “Google 3-Pack”) and trust marketing to develop dependable patient-practice relationships.
The Solution
In 2021, UCA’s leadership team made the decision to identify and implement a reputation management solution that addressed their practice’s struggling online presence, met the unique needs of the healthcare industry, and enabled their marketing initiatives. After reviewing other vendors, UCA chose to partner with rater8, healthcare’s leading reputation management solution.
Reflecting on the decision, Sandel shared, “rater8 offered what no one else could: a solution that not only improved our online reputation, but understood our needs as a urology center. With them we could build reviews for both our practice and provider listings. Plus, their post-visit surveys gave us a way to understand our patients’ needs like never before. rater8 was obviously a cut above all the rest.”
Additionally, the rater8-driven results allowed UCA to maximize their Reputation SEO and trust marketing efforts. Both natural extensions of reputation management, these digital marketing strategies build upon rater8’s primary results: optimized listings, abundant high-quality online reviews, and consistent patient engagement.
Overall, UCA’s goals were to optimize their online listings through the cultivation of 5-star reviews and improve their ranking in local search results to ultimately drive greater patient acquisition and retention. Their partnership with rater8 brought several solutions:
Online Review Builder
Fully automated, real-time online review requests that prompt patients to rate UCA’s providers and services with a single click or tap. Integrated with the practice’s EMR system, Veradigm (formerly Allscripts), rater8 sends requests directly to verified patients via text or email after checkout.
To maximize UCA’s online presence, rater8’s pollin8™ algorithm intelligently distributes reviews, directing each patient to the listing and review platform that needs the most attention.
Patient Satisfaction Surveys
Fully automated, post-visit satisfaction surveys delivered to patients via text or email. Designed to gather comprehensive feedback on the patient experience, rater8’s ergonomic micro-surveys cover the full spectrum of topics, including waiting room experience, staff performance, and more. With a customizable ratio, UCA can grow online reviews and receive patient feedback simultaneously.
The rater8 Platform
A unified dashboard that consolidates every satisfaction survey and online review to a single screen — for every listing, from every significant healthcare review site. With unprecedented visibility, UCA can easily monitor, analyze, and respond to reviews, and view advanced reports to evaluate the strengths and gaps in their patient experience.
The Results
Looking back on their experience, Sandel said, “We started our partnership in August 2021 and rater8 has met all of our needs since day one! Our online reviews jumped practically overnight and have continued to grow at rates we never thought possible. We’ve watched our listings not only improve in ranking, but dominate practically every local search result. Plus, it’s never been easier to receive and showcase our patients’ feedback. After our first meeting with rater8, we definitely had high hopes — but we never imagined results like this!”
Among UCA’s many successes with rater8 are the following:
57x increase in online reviews
UCA experienced not only a 5,587% increase in review quantity after their first full year with rater8, but also an outsized growth in high-quality 5-star ratings. In 2020, the practice accumulated just 57 5-star reviews. Two years later, UCA gained 3,792 5-star reviews, an increase of 6,653%. Notably, UCA’s 1-star ratings decreased from 14% of total reviews to just 0.6% over the same period.
Cultivated a 4.93 average star-rating
At 2020’s closing, UCA had a 4.32 average star-rating across their practice locations and physician listings. While respectable compared to most practices nationwide, the mark positioned UCA lower than their direct competitors in local searches, leading to poor visibility, fewer actions, and missed opportunities.
However, as they experienced a surge in new reviews and a much higher proportion of 5-star reviews, UCA’s star-ratings quickly surpassed competitors’ and elevated them to the top-rated urological practice in the region. By the conclusion of their first full year with rater8, UCA achieved an overall star-rating of 4.93 across all their online listings.
Increased website views by 27%
Since the beginning of their partnership with rater8, UCA’s strategy was simple: improve the practice’s online reputation through the cultivation of verified 5-star patient reviews.
Less than two years later, they have done just that. With thousands of positive reviews and an average rating of 4.93 stars across their enterprise, UCA has developed a pristine online image — allowing them to maximize their trust marketing and Reputation SEO efforts.
UCA has positioned itself as the dominant online presence in their market, occupying the top-ranking listings in relevant searches throughout the region. For example, the practice owns all three listings in the Google 3-Pack for the state’s most lucrative keywords: “best urologist in alabama.” By earning these coveted spots, UCA is effectively guaranteed to receive more actions (website visits, calls, and direction requests) on their local search listings.
Since going live with rater8, UCA has experienced a 27% increase in website views generated by their provider and location listings. As a result, the Birmingham practice has been able to steer more patients toward their services, driving greater new patient acquisition and long-term retention.
Today, 86% of patients read online reviews when searching for providers, a number that increases every year. In dominating relevant searches across the state, UCA is essentially monopolizing one of healthcare’s most prominent local decision-making methods — causing their brand awareness to grow exponentially.
Fortunately, the growth UCA experienced in 2022 is just the beginning. With rater8, the practice will continue to collect timely, high-quality patient reviews, keeping them ahead of competitors and maintaining their top-ranking status in perpetuity.
Overall, rater8’s comprehensive solution has become an integral part of UCA’s infrastructure, providing them the insights necessary to deliver exemplary patient care, and the online presence to properly showcase it.
