Building Your Practice through Optometry Websites

Our patients have spoken, and they’re increasingly saying that they’d like to do their business on the internet. You probably already have a website for your optometry practice, but are you getting the most out of it? I have found that a few simple modifications can turn most optometry websites into excellent resources for patients.

There are many considerations to make when building a website for your practice, but I suggest simplifying the process by thinking of the process in terms of content and how your patients will access that content. Your patients will need to contact your office, so how do you want to display contact information, and what contact information do you want to include?

Your patients will also want to know about the products and services you offer. How will you display these items? You could give each product and service its own page, or list all of your products on one page and all of your services on another. You could even “tag” each product with a link to the manufacturer’s official website.

Some patients might even want to know about the history of your practice: how long it has been established, how it came to be established in the first place, and who works there. And speaking of “who works there,” including information about the optometrists and staff who work in your office—perhaps their own personalized pages, even—is definitely a plus.

Finally, you should consider linking to other relevant optometry websites, such as your state’s optometric association, and other vision-related sites.

While nothing will ever replace face-to-face customer service, well-designed optometry websites go a long way toward building, maintaining, and growing the practices they advertise. Be sure to keep your practice’s website updated to keep up with our ever-growing, ever-changing marketplace.

Using E-Mail for Effective Eyecare Marketing

If you’re using e-mail to connect with your patients and grow your optometry practice, congratulations! E-mail is an essential piece of contemporary eyecare marketing, and using it effectively can help you maintain the patients you’ve had for years and also acquire new ones.

Remember, though, that some uses of e-mail are better than others. Read the following examples, and, in each case, consider whether e-mail is being utilized properly.

• One optometry practice uses e-mail to send regular reminders for annual exams. These e-mails include links back to the practice’s main website for real-time scheduling.

• Another optometry practice uses e-mail to send a weekly newsletter to patients.

• This optometry practice uses e-mail to track clicks over to its website from e-mails that offer special deals on products and services.

• Our final optometry practice uses e-mail to solicit potential new customers, sending communication to a large number of unfamiliar addresses.

Can you tell which practices are using e-mail effectively? How about which ones aren’t? Of the four examples shown above, the first and third represent intelligent eyecare marketing. The second and fourth, conversely, represent approaches that should be avoided.

As with all business endeavors, eyecare marketing clearly has its own list of do’s and don’ts. If you use e-mail judiciously, though, you’ll build trust and loyalty among your patients, and greatly increase the chances of return visits.

Eye Care Marketing: Building Your Monthly Book

Hi Everyone-
Another eye care marketing observation that I’ve found helpful – especially as of late – is sending out a monthly recall and birthday note.

In addition to your normal snail-mail postcard and birthday reminders, you can send out an automatic email version of the same.

The birthday may not sound overwhelming and the recall email is not meant to replace the postcard, but you do get the opportunity and/or excuse to check in with a smaller segment of your practice. You could test an offer or simply point out some aspect of your website.
Here’s an article you might find helpful:

Eye Care Marketing – 5 Ways to Build Your Practice With Email

Best regards,
The Admin

Eye Care Marketing: Email and the Appointment Book

Here’s another (internal) marketing approach that I’ve come to rely on lately for filling empty slots in my schedule.

Yesterday I caught an early press-release in the WSJ about the new AMD findings that came out today.

So I sent out a quick e-note to my practice email list.

It took me about 15 minutes to put together and included a link to our website about AMD.

(Every note has a link to our online appointment page as well).
We not only generated new appointments (online), but perhaps more importantly, we know that so far, 40% opened the message and 10% clicked through to our website for more info – about 10 times more than our daily visitor average.

These little messages, in addition to weekly or monthly updates, are easy and fun to put together.

And patients really do appreciate them.

Click here for more on how email can make a significant impact on your eye care marketing.

Eye Care Marketing: The Power of Email And Website Analytics

Just wanted to share a marketing observation that I’ve found to be extremely effective and motivating – especially in the midst of these uncertain times.

I cover this in my free guide, but most people have not read it yet.
I’ve found that sending a regular email broadcast to my patient database containing useful and interesting information is a very powerful marketing tool.

Not only are you educating patients with your unique voice and style, but you get immediate feedback about your efforts, enabling you to learn and test what works with your group and according to your goals.

Again, I cover this in my guide, but power of ‘analytics’ applies (on a broader basis) to your website as well, arming you with the power to control your marketing direction.

Here’s an article you may find helpful with regard to email and building your practice.

Best regards,
Jeff Lewis, OD

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