In these days, eyecare marketing has come to include the phenomenon of E-commerce.  Selling contact reorders online is something that only 20 percent of eye care professionals are doing.  By choosing to get in early on the E-commerce bandwagon, you can increase your patient caseload and can provide a service that clients are already doing in other areas of their lives.

Did you know that less than one of five eyecare practices allow patients to order their contacts online?  Of those that do, most have the office personnel treat the order much like one that has been phoned in. It is highly inefficient and eyecare marketing has come a much longer way than that. 

Consider adding E-commerce to your armory as something you can do to maintain patients and draw in new patients.  A third of all your patients already buy things online.  As Internet technology becomes more and more affordable, this number of patients is likely to increase and so will the number of patients in your practice that regularly buy things online.  Your eyecare marketing needs to reflect this wave of E-commerce. 

When you offer your patients a chance to order things like contacts from your practice, you are giving them what they already want.  It is evidence of goodwill toward your customers and will likely enhance patient loyalty and satisfaction. 

Online Contact Lens Ordering is a Value-added Service

The more convenient the transaction is for the client, the more likely he or she is of completing that transaction.  You should be providing a one-year prescription, refillable online, for as many patients as possible. Otherwise, they can go somewhere else that is more convenient.  While price drives purchasing decisions in buying contacts, so does perceived service and value of the experience.   You distinguish yourself and your practice by offering online contact purchasing as a part of who you are.

E-Commerce and Your Revenue

Most eyecare professionals get requests from third party retailers to give a patient’s prescription. That involves lost revenue on your part. Using good eyecare marketing strategies, you can get some of that business back by offering contact lenses as part of the service you provide the customer.  Research shows that if the price you offer is in line with online services, the customer would rather purchase from you. 

E-commerce can Improve Staff Productivity and Efficiency

This means that you collect the order online and it is automatically sent to a fulfillment center who dispenses the contacts and mails them to the patient.   This saves time and energy on the part of your staff and is an eyecare marketing strategy that makes you money without all the work involved.  This also reduces the number of phoned-in requests and frees up your staff to do other things. 

Those who adapt Sooner will have the Edge

E-commerce is destined to continue increasing and those in eyewear who get in early will always have the competitive edge over those who come in during the end of the peak.  E-commerce will become a standard—expected by customers and patients who have come to expect being able to pick up a computer and get what they want.   If you act now, when fewer than one in five practitioners are providing E-commerce services, you will become the “go-to” practice in your regional area.

Send out a press release to your local paper, especially if you are one of the first in your region to offer contacts on the Internet.  Make sure every patient knows at the time they leave your practice after a visit.  E-commerce can put a spin on your practice that drives in patients who come to see you because it has suddenly become convenient to see you. 

Most doctors use less than 20% of the potential of their website for gaining new patients. A great looking website is only one part of getting patients from the internet. Are you getting as many patients as you can from yours? You may find the free expert guide, '7 Mistakes Doctors Make When Getting Their Website Done'.  a valuable resource.