Frequently Asked Questions
You have questions. We have answers.
Find quick answers to common questions about rater8’s features, setup, integrations, and support — everything you need to get started or troubleshoot with confidence.
General
How does rater8 compare to general reputation management tools?
We don’t just build reviews — we help you improve your reputation inside and out to drive patient acquisition and retention, attract top talent, and ultimately grow your practice.
Do you provide other marketing services like website building, paid ads, or social media management?
rater8 is not a full-service marketing agency. We do not offer website building, paid ad services, or social media management. We focus on healthcare reputation management and we do it really, really well — better than the rest.
If your medical practice is in need of marketing services outside our domain, we’ll refer you to one of our amazing healthcare marketing agency partners.
Ultimately, rater8 is a complement to your marketing agency, not a competitor or replacement.
Why do I need to worry about online search results when I have a referral network?
With 84% of patients checking online reviews before choosing a new provider, the role of online word-of-mouth cannot be ignored. Patients will search for a referred provider online and use the search results — reviews, ratings, AI Overviews, etc. — as a second opinion. If your provider doesn’t come up or has bad or outdated reviews, that patient will turn elsewhere.
What are the Practice Excellence Awards?
rater8’s annual Practice Excellence Awards honor our exceptional clients who have consistently provided the highest level of patient satisfaction. Awarded across four categories — practices (small, medium, and large), doctors, advanced practitioners, and office staff — these winners are chosen based on the outstanding ratings they receive from rater8’s patient satisfaction surveys conducted throughout the year.
Customer Service
What kind of support can I expect to receive after starting with rater8?
All rater8 clients have full access to our support team and are assigned a dedicated client success manager to get them set up on the platform, provide ongoing tips, and conduct quarterly strategy consults.
How easy is the setup?
rater8’s activation process requires little to no time or effort from the client, which makes setup incredibly easy. We strive to make the process pain-free and seamless.
raVE Platform
What is raVE?
raVE (rater8 Visibility Engine) is what rater8 can offer that other reputation management companies cannot. Our collection of tools gives search engines, AI crawlers, and patients what they need to find you.
How does raVE help with AI-powered search?
raVE offers “AI-readiness” and generative engine optimization (GEO) by building listings with structured data, compiling patient feedback into search-friendly formats, and generating consistent, keyword-rich reviews that help AI understand and trust your practice.
Which practice management and EHR systems does rater8 support?
We integrate with 100+ EHR and practice management systems. Check out our integrations page to see some examples. If your EHR/PM system isn’t on the list, we’ll add it! Speak with a rater8 account executive to get started.
Which review sites can you target?
rater8 targets Google, Healthgrades, Vitals, WebMD, Facebook, and more. The preferred review platform can be set practice-wide and customized for individual doctors.
When and how often are the review requests and surveys sent out?
Using a real-time interface with your EHR/PM system, we send our RateMe email or text the moment a patient leaves your office. By the time they reach their car in the parking lot, the review request or survey is already on their mobile device. The time delay between checkout and receiving a survey is configurable and can be set in the software.
Do you help with Google Business Profile listings optimization?
Absolutely! We have a team of Google Business Profile consultants who are dedicated to helping you create, claim, and optimize your listings. We know this process can be tedious and time-consuming. Rather than simply giving you the tools to do it yourself, we’ll take on this work. If you prefer to manage this yourself, we have an abundance of literature and resources to help you along the way.
Can patients choose where to leave a review?
No, and this is by design. Unlike our competitors, we do not let patients pick where to leave a review. Our algorithm automatically directs patients to the listing or platform where you need the most help.
Imagine you have 85 reviews and 4.9 stars on Google, but your Healthgrades profile has just 3 stars and only 5 reviews. rater8’s algorithm knows to send the next review request to Healthgrades, not Google.
Your online reviews should look good across all review platforms, not just on one or two. Automatically redirecting patients to the right platform ensures you create a balanced, polished online image.
How does raVE ensure quality patient feedback?
raVE is fully HIPAA-compliant and built for healthcare. We keep our review requests simple, reach patients within 24 hours after their appointment, and ask questions that get them thinking about their experience so they can provide helpful feedback.
Is it possible to automate review responses from rater8?
Yes! You can automatically respond to Google reviews from your rater8 dashboard. There are two options to automate: AI-assisted responses and templated ZipReplies.
Can I control the AI-generated review responses?
Yes — while raVE offers automated, AI-assisted, and HIPAA-compliant review responses with customizable templates, you always have final approval of the drafted responses.
If I generate more reviews, won’t that just bring our star rating down?
Not at all! In fact, 97% of reviews generated through rater8 are 4 or 5 stars. We make it easy for happy patients to share their positive experiences, helping you build a stellar online reputation.
How does rater8 handle especially rude or untrue reviews?
You can dispute inappropriate or untrue reviews directly with the review site. While rater8 doesn’t suppress or remove reviews, it helps you collect a high volume of positive feedback to offset any negative comments.
What makes rater8’s review-building process unique?
Our pollin8 algorithm streamlines the review process with a simple, one-click workflow. Patients can quickly submit feedback, which is then automatically directed to the listings and review sites where you need it most, minimizing friction and maximizing positive feedback.
How are review requests and surveys sent to patients?
Requests can be sent via email or text message, making it easy for patients to respond in the way that’s most convenient for them.
How soon after an appointment does a patient receive a review request?
Review requests are sent in real time after a patient checks out, giving them the opportunity to leave feedback within minutes of their visit.
How long are the patient satisfaction surveys?
Each survey includes one “rate your provider” question plus four additional questions—for a total of five.
Can we customize the survey questions?
Yes! Our surveys are fully customizable, allowing you to tailor questions to your practice’s needs. Plus, we can segment your patient base by appointment type, specialty, and more so that patients receive questions relevant to their experience.
Can I run reports on the data collected by rater8?
Yes, rater8 offers a range of turnkey reports designed to provide actionable insights quickly. All reports are exportable for easy sharing and analysis.
Can we benchmark against similar practices in rater8?
Yes! rater8’s benchmarking tools aggregate over 26.2 million data points from survey results, allowing you to compare your performance against similar practices based on specialty, association, or appointment type.
How can I tell if the reviews are from actual patients?
For better or worse, anyone can leave a review on Google, Healthgrades, Vitals, WebMD, and other top healthcare review sites.
However, with rater8 Verified Reviews listings, we can guarantee reviews are from actual patients. Only real, verified patients are invited to leave their feedback via text or email following their appointment at your practice.
Random individuals cannot leave a rater8 review — it’s invite-only. As a result, you can be 100% confident that feedback is from a verified patient.
Can patients leave a review on Google if they do not have a Gmail account?
No. Your patients need a Gmail account to leave a Google review.
Healthgrades, Vitals, and WebMD do not require user logins or profiles, nor do patients need a profile to leave a rater8 Verified Review.
Compliance
Is the patient data secure?
As a SOC 2-certified vendor, rater8 takes privacy and data security seriously. When your EHR/PM system sends us an HL7 file containing the patient’s appointment information, we process, encrypt, and store only the following in our database: the patient’s name, email address, and (optionally) mobile number. Other than these demographic fields, we neither receive from your EHR/PM system, nor store in our database, patient-related medical information like diagnoses, prescriptions, past procedures, etc.
rater8 does not share or sell patient names, email addresses, or phone numbers with any third parties, and all patient data is deleted after 45 days.
Can patients opt out of communications?
Yes. Patients can unsubscribe from email or text messages at any time.
Can I prevent a patient from receiving multiple review requests?
Yes! With rater8, you can set up blackout periods to avoid over-messaging. Many clients choose a 45-day interval to ensure patients aren’t asked to leave reviews too frequently.
Does rater8 review gate?
Review gating refers to soliciting feedback from a patient and then, based on their response, deciding whether to ask them to post their feedback on a public review site. This is strictly prohibited in Google’s review guidelines and comes with heavy penalties. Google review solicitation explicitly states: “Don’t discourage or prohibit negative reviews or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers.”
Unlike other reputation management vendors, rater8 does not review gate. We believe it is important to follow Google guidelines and remain in compliance at all times, and that pays off. Our clients see an average of 97% 4- and 5-star reviews, proving that your patients are happy. We just help give them a voice.