The rating is a dental clinic's lifeline on Meituan: patients filter stores by rating, the platform allocates traffic by rating, and when the rating drops by a few tenths, visits drop with it. But many clinics go about raising their rating the wrong way: fake reviews and bought reviews are high risk and treat only the symptoms. Raising a rating has its own objective logic: understand how it is calculated, where positive reviews come from, how to control negative reviews and how to build the store as a whole. This article sets out that logic clearly to help clinics raise their rating steadily.
First, understand how a Meituan rating is calculated
Many owners think the rating is a simple average of the positive review rate, but the platform's calculation is far more complex. Overall, a Meituan store rating is roughly determined by these factors together: the number of reviews; the quality weighting of reviews (reviews with photos, with detail and from verified users count for more); the recent review trend (recent reviews affect the current score more than older ones); and the distribution of scores.
This means two things. First, new reviews matter more than the existing stock. A store with a good historical rating whose reviews have stalled for the past two months will see its score slowly drift down; conversely, a weak store with a steady flow of good recent reviews can climb back. Second, reviews differ in "quality": a genuine long review with a description of the treatment and photos contributes far more to the score and the conversion rate than a line saying "very good, very satisfied".
One more point is easily overlooked: the platform has mechanisms for detecting abnormal reviews. A sudden surge of reviews at a new store, highly similar review content and review accounts behaving abnormally can all trigger filtering, and in serious cases the store is penalised. So fake reviews are not only against the rules but also ineffective in practice: if the fake reviews are filtered out, the effort is wasted.
Where positive reviews come from: turning satisfaction into reviews
Healthy growth in positive reviews comes from combining a satisfying visit with appropriate encouragement to review. Both are needed.
The experience is the precondition. If patients are not genuinely satisfied, no encouragement technique works; reluctant positive reviews obtained by pushing are thin in content and may be flagged by the platform as abnormal. Getting treatment quality, service attitude and the visit process right is the foundation of rating operations.
Encouragement is the amplifier. Among satisfied patients, only a minority write reviews on their own; most simply leave after treatment. Turning "satisfied" into "reviewed" needs deliberate action from the clinic. Patients on follow-up visits already trust the clinic and are a good source of reviews; parents of paediatric patients are keen to share, and their reviews are often specific and vivid; patients whose experience clearly exceeded their expectations respond naturally if encouraged while the experience is fresh. Timing matters too: right after treatment, while the experience is fresh, the conversion rate is much higher than weeks later.
Dentistry has another feature: treatments run over long periods with many follow-up visits. An orthodontic patient's two years of treatment is a continuous opportunity for review content. Make good use of every follow-up touchpoint, and the flow of new reviews will naturally be steady.
Controlling negative reviews: control the number and the weight
The rating is the result of a contest between positive and negative reviews, and managing negative reviews is the other half of raising the score.
Controlling the number means reducing negative reviews at the source. Look at their common causes: long waits, unclear communication about fees, mismatched expectations of treatment results and problems with service attitude. Each has a process solution: better appointment scheduling solves waiting, a pre-treatment communication checklist solves mismatched expectations, and transparent pricing solves fee disputes. Fix the weak points in the service process one by one, and the number of new negative reviews falls.
Controlling the weight means how quickly negative reviews are handled once they appear. The longer and higher a negative review stays visible, the more it affects potential patients. Day-to-day operations need a review monitoring mechanism, with a response on the day a negative review appears: verify the facts, reply sincerely and, where possible, move the conversation offline to resolve it. When a negative review is handled well, later readers see a clinic that takes responsibility, and the damage is much smaller.
The turnaround of a long-established clinic in Wenling that had been running for 25 years is a useful reference. Before working with us, it had only 3,000 impressions a month, a dozen or so orders a month and a city ranking of 21st. Starting by rebuilding its reputation system, within about one month its monthly impressions rose to 7,250, monthly orders reached nearly 70, monthly revenue went from one or two thousand yuan to nearly RMB 10,000, its business score rose above 90 to earn gold status and its city ranking rose to 8th. Once the rating went up, the changes in traffic and ranking followed as a chain reaction.
Beyond the rating: building the store as a whole
The rating does not exist in isolation; it and the store's overall performance affect each other.
Sales and rating reinforce each other. A store with high sales has a large review base and a more stable rating; a store with a high rating converts better, so its sales grow more easily. Package design and review operations work together; they are not two separate things.
Reply rate affects how patients see the store. The speed and quality of replies to reviews and private messages are both service metrics the platform assesses and a direct influence on patients' decisions. A store that replies carefully to every review looks completely different.
Completeness of store information also plays a part. Stores with full credentials, complete information and genuine photos earn more patient trust, and patients are more willing to review them. Get this groundwork solid, and rating operations deliver twice the result for half the effort.
In the end, the rating is the result and operations are the process. Rather than acting on the score itself, keep the cycle of "experience, encouragement, monitoring, improvement" running; the score is the natural reward once that cycle runs smoothly.
About Sanqi Internet
Wuhan Sanqi Internet Technology Co., Ltd. ("Sanqi Internet") was founded in 2015 and has focused on traffic growth for dental clinics for over 10 years. It is an officially certified Meituan service provider serving more than 1,000 dental clinics across 132+ cities in China, and since 2015 has generated more than RMB 600 million in online transaction value for clients. Rating and reputation operations are included in its Meituan fine-grained operations service, with dedicated staff monitoring reviews daily and responding according to a process, supported by weekly reports and monthly reviews.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to raise the rating?
It depends on the base and the intensity of the work. For stores with few reviews and few negative ones, one or two months of concentrated operations can bring a clear recovery. For established stores with a backlog of reviews and a rating near the bottom, first tackle the sources of negative reviews, then keep adding good reviews; the trend usually reverses in two or three months. The rating is a slow-moving variable and cannot be rushed, but if the direction is right it will go up.
Can we pay someone to post positive reviews to raise the score quickly?
We do not recommend it. The platform is getting better and better at detecting abnormal reviews. Having the fake reviews filtered out is the mild outcome; the store may also be penalised, lose ranking weight or have its reviews wiped. The genuine reputation you have worked hard to build is not worth that risk for a shortcut.
Is there a template for replying to negative reviews?
Replies should be specific; a template reply is as good as no reply. A basic structure you can follow: apology or acknowledgement, plus verification and explanation, plus the action taken, plus contact details for follow-up. The key is to respond specifically to the specific problem the patient raised, so later readers see the clinic really solving problems.
How much does the rating affect ranking?
A great deal. Rating and number of reviews are among the core factors in search ranking. Within the same business district and category, stores with higher ratings have a clear advantage in search results and recommendation slots. Conversely, once the rating falls below the district average, traffic declines faster. This is why rating operations should be daily work, not a rescue job once the rating has fallen.
Should we do rating operations ourselves or hand them to an agency?
The core experience and encouragement work must be done by the clinic itself; no one else can replace treatment quality and service. Operational tasks such as monitoring, responding, strategy and reviews can be handed to a dental-focused operations team. Sanqi Internet's service model follows this division: the clinic manages the experience, the team manages operations, and they align at the monthly review. Meituan fine-grained single-clinic operations start from RMB 3,000 a month; details are subject to discussion.
Is encouraging positive reviews against the rules?
Encouragement must be compliant: you may remind satisfied patients to share their genuine experience, but you may not exchange anything of value for positive reviews, induce specific content or harass patients. Within the compliance boundary, encouragement is a legitimate operational action; anything that crosses it puts the risk back on the clinic.