Excellent customer service is truly the optic nerve of your Practice and therefore the key to its success. According to “Understanding Customers” by Ruby Newell-Legner, it takes 12 positive experiences to make up for one unresolved negative experience. Most dissatisfied patients will be far down the road at the next optometrists’ office before they will give you 12 chances to fix a bad impression.  Keeping patients happy, loyal and willing to continually turn to you for their eye care needs requires a staff that focuses on always being courteous, professional, and determined to make customers happy.

Customer service isn’t something that just happens on its own. It needs to first of all be an underlying value in your Practice and then it needs to be taught. In this series on customer service, we will give some surefire tips to creating a foundation of customer service at your Practice:

1. “It Starts with Hello” –Building the relationship

• Customer service is about relationships. The greeting, whether it is on the phone or as the patient walks through the door is the first encounter, so make sure that your receptionist is trained to greet with a smile (yes even on the phone – you can hear a smile!).
• Make an effort to get to know your patients and remember details from one visit to the next by jotting some notes in their file to review before their visit. Remembering to ask about the grandkids, the upcoming graduation or the success with the new business venture can go a long way in creating good feelings and customer loyalty.
• Make a note of any medical issues, new purchases or questions that are brought up so you can check in at their next visit. How are the new contacts working out? Did the dry eyes go away after treatment with eye drops? Knowing that you are listening and that you care goes a long way in keeping customers coming back to your Practice.
• Train staff to treat each patient like a member of their family and see just how effective this can be in building strong relationships.

Creating an office environment that enhances a strong relationship requires the involvement of the entire Practice –you want to make sure your patient feels welcome and cared for every step of the way.  This starts with the very first phone call or visit and continues with each and every interaction.

In part two of this series, we will delve into more tips on how to impress your patients with fantastic customer service to keep them coming back to your Practice for their eye and vision care.

Image licensed by Wikimedia Commons

According to comScore, the average user spends 16 minutes and 49 seconds watching online video ads every month. Additionally, a recent Content Marketing Institute (CMI) survey showed that about 46% of people say they’d be more likely to seek out information about a product or service after seeing it in an online video. Video is increasingly becoming the next big wave in online marketing.

Your video can be as elaborate as the amount of time and money you want to invest – whether it is a montage of photos set to a background dialogue or music, an animated tutorial, or one of those really cool video scribes (where a hand draws out impressive pictures at lighting speed). Videos can be effective on a blog or website, posted to a social media profile or even sent as part of an email marketing campaign. Here are five ideas of how you can use video to boost your optometry Practice’s online marketing.

1. Getting to Know You

A great way to introduce your staff and your Practice is through a short introductory video on the home page of your website. There is no way to welcome a new patient than with a warm smile!

2. Sharing Knowledge

Whether it is a video blog post or a contact lens application demo on your lens page, people love to be educated, and videos make for more interesting learning. Research shows that viewers are much more likely to watch a video than read a long written article.

3. Marketing Products

Video is a great way to show off your newest collection. Post it on your site, your Facebook Page or send it out to your email list. Just make sure the video is smooth and doesn’t involve a nauseating trip around your optical.

4. Sending Thanks

What better way is there to impress a customer than by sending a personal thank you video by email or text? Create it once and impress again and again.

5. Just for Fun

If you and your staff like to have a good time, share the laughs. Create a funny holiday video or interview customers in their new eyewear. Social media in particular is about entertainment and you never know…a good video just might go viral.

Now that you have some ideas of videos that will boost your image, you need to create them. We have found some fantastic tools out there to help with amateur video creation. Here are a few to look into:

Animoto

Animoto offers a cheap (maybe even free depending on your needs) way to create a photo based video. Animoto is easy to use – all you have to do is upload photos or videos from your computer, photo program, Facebook or Instagram and then customize your design, music and text to create a video that can be shared online.

Powtoon

PowToon is an animated presentation software tool that can be used to create animated video marketing, explainer videos or presentations. They offer a library of styles and animations to choose from.  They offer a pay per use plan or a monthly plan depending on your needs.

Sparkol VideoScribe

Have you been impressed by the hand drawing demonstration video trend? We have! This site offers you a way to create a video scribe of your own.

Vine

Vine is a new mobile app developed by Twitter which enables users to create short, six second looping videos that can be embedded to social media sites such as Facebook, Google+ and Twitter. Right now the app is only available on iOS (Apple’s operating system) but should be available soon on Android as well. Vine is quickly gaining steam and you will likely see some examples of the results in the near future if you haven’t already.

Now that you have some ideas and some tools you can use to create simple and cheap videos to market your optometry Practice the options are endless. Just have fun and start shooting!

You have a Facebook page for your Practice…now what? If you are stuck trying to decide what to share or are simply sick of the same old boring posts that don’t differentiate your Practice from other optometry offices, let us help you tap into your creative side and get those Facebook interactions up.

By Toshihiro Oimatsu [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)

Everyone loves a little friendly competition, so why not try applying that idea to your Facebook with Trivia nights? Pick a night each week to ask your audience a trivia question. It can relate back to your Practice, such as “What year did our office open?”. Or questions can relate to optometry itself, such as “In the United States, how many schools of optometry are there?” Whatever the question, the goal is to get people interacting with your page and keeping your office in their mind. You can even heat up the competition with an incentive! Something like: “Like this post by the end of the day for a chance to win a $5 gift certificate!” often works well. You can increase the amount of money, give discounts on services or even ask people to comment.

Strike a Pose

Do you have a profile picture on your page? If you don’t already, this is a must. Putting a face to your Practice name is a crucial way to make patients familiar with you and your team before even stepping foot in the door. From there, keep sharing! Facebook has made posting pictures to your page extremely easy and every day is a perfect opportunity to share what’s going on in your office. You can also take pictures of your team in the office, around your waiting room, or even of your longtime patients (with their permission of course) to breathe life and personality into your Facebook page.

Sharing

Although it is a business Facebook page, don’t be afraid to share things that aren’t specific to optometry or your Practice.  You can share interesting facts, a word of encouragement to brighten someone’s day or even relevant articles about vision or health.

Demandforce, an EyeCarePro preferred partner, integrates seamlessly with your existing practice management software to automate your online communications and marketing. Demandforce has tools to help you better communicate with your existing patients and build your online reputation to help attract new patients.  For more information, or to request your personal product demonstration, please visit: Demandforce.com or call 800-210-0355.

If a potential customer called your office and asked you that question, would you be able to answer? Would your staff?

If not, it’s time to stop and figure out what defines your Practice and what is your Practice mission. And I don’t mean theoretically – I mean really sit down with a pen and paper and write out a mission statement and a list of everything that is unique about your Practice.

It is only once you have this list in hand, that you are really ready to take branding and marketing your Practice to the next level. Branding your optometry Practice involves defining and creating a consistent image that is presented across all channels of patient interface whether it is within the walls of your Practice, out of the mouths of your staff or on the computer screens of your patients. When done right, it presents potential new patients with the feeling you want them experience when they visit your office and ensures your patients that they made the right decision in choosing you over the competition.

Do you pride your Practice on cutting edge technology, having the best dry eye clinic around, focusing on patient relationships, or offering an exclusive selection of designer eyewear? You need to be aware of whatever it is that distinguishes you from the next guy and create your brand to reflect that uniqueness.

Standing out from the crowd (image found on kickitdigital.com)

Once you have established your Practice’s unique mission, the next step is to make sure that you convert this into branding that permeates all of your marketing materials. Put your mission right up front and center on your website homepage. Incorporate your unique Practice traits into the language and design of your logo, your content and the images you use. If you are cutting edge – your branding should have a cutting edge feel. If you focus on customer service, express that in words and in photos on your website and marketing materials. Your mission and your distinguishing marks should be clear at any entry point to your Practice, whether it is your Facebook page, your home page or your front desk.

This brings us to staff. As any salesman knows, when you believe in your product and are able to clearly express the value it brings, it is much easier to make a sale. Since your staff will often interact with patients more frequently than you will, it is essential that they know how to sell your Practice as well. Staff confidence will be felt throughout your patient’s entire experience in your office and can make the difference in ensuring that a consistent message is transferred from the initial contact to the actual office experience.

Training staff how to support your Practice mission and brand will reinforce your Practice image during the visit to ensure the client that your image is true to life. With an all encompassing and clearly defined image, your Practice will naturally attract more patients. Once you have them sold on WHY to choose your Practice it’s up to you and your staff to create the great experience they expect.

Image found on www.jatech.ca

You don’t need to be a graphic designer to determine whether your Practice website needs some design help. The key to effectively assessing your site is to look at it with “new” eyes every once in a while. You can try pretending you are looking at the site for the first time and imagining what a new visitor would perceive – or better yet, getting an honest friend or two to give you their impressions.

As you look at your website for the “first” time, focus on these 5 things:

1. Your Logo - First of all, do you have a logo or a wordmark (a nice version of your Practice name) on your website? If not, add one! If you have one in place make sure it is the same one you are using on all of your other marketing materials (business cards, signage, invoices etc.). Is it presented at a size that visitors can easily read? Is it good quality with no blurriness or fuzzy edges?
2. Your Photos – Look at the photos on your home page as well as the rest of your site. Are the images current? Make sure staff, products or office spaces that are no longer part of your Practice are removed. If there are photos of your Practice, be sure they are of good quality and not “amateurish”, busy or blurry. Consider the overall impression the images provide. Do they reflect the “feeling” of your Practice? If you are a boutique optical shop high fashion models and frame images would be appropriate. For a Practice located in a beautiful geographic region or if one going for a spa or zen-like feel, natural outdoor imagery would work. Or consider focusing on your target audience by selecting photos of happy families, children, or seniors, depending on your clientele. Make sure that you have not used any “stolen” images as you could be fined for using copyrighted material without permission. Stock photos are a great low-cost, high-quality option to keep in mind.
3. The Big Picture - Does the design layout and color scheme you have work well for your Practice and the image you want to portray? Does it match your overall branding? If not, consider changing the design to something more appropriate or tweaking the layout and color scheme. If you do end up changing the overall look of the site, make sure your logo and photo selection go along with the new image.
4. The Home Page – Any time you log on to your Practice website, you look at your Home Page.  But do you really look?  Take a fast glance and then close your eyes. Was the impression busy and overwhelming? Often over time things “collect” on the home page – ads, old news items, links to out-dated pages, and other odds and ends. Evaluate each element to see if it is necessary. Consider how things could be better organized or situated on the page. From a design standpoint a bit of “white space” can be very beneficial. It is helpful to allow some “breathing room” around content blocks, images, tools and so on.
5. The Toolbars - Read each item in every toolbar on your site. Is each one really needed or could some items be removed or combined? Too many items on a toolbar will result in information overload for viewers so streamline whenever you can. Make sure the wording on the toolbars is clear and sensible. While you are at it, click on each button to ensure it goes to the page or section one expects.

You should consider your website a constant work in progress. Make a note in your calendar to check in at least every six months or so to ensure everything is up to date and working properly. If you do decide after assessing these five areas, that your website needs a total overhaul, then it might be time to seek a professional.

Image courtesy of www.servitokss.com

Whether you are in your last year of optometry school, or already practicing, opening your own optometry practice may be on your mind.  Graduating from Optometry School can incite a mix of emotions. You are probably excited to be finished with school and ready to start your career, but you may also be confused or nervous about where to start. You might be considering the option of opening your own practice as opposed to joining with an existing office. Currently practicing ODs may also be toying with the idea of becoming independent.

After more than 10 years of working at a private practice, I recently decided to take the plunge and build an independent practice from scratch. I’d like to share a bit of wisdom about what needs to be considered before making this decision.

Benefits of Having Your Own Practice                                  

The major reason I decided to open my own practice is because as an independent practitioner I have the ability to manage my own schedule, give more individualized attention to my patients and manage the operations of a business.

Requirements for Opening a Practice

While you do not need a business degree to run a business, it is necessary to learn the essentials before you jump in. Now that I have my own practice, my role has changed quite a bit. I am not only examining patients, but also managing every detail of my business; I have to interview employees, manage relationships with vendors, organize all my patients’ medical records, coordinate claims with insurance companies, set budgets and organize all the paperwork for tax purposes.

Some decisions seem trivial but they have a big impact in the way in which my business’ brand is perceived. For example, the type of carpet that I buy for my practice, the color of the walls, the quality of the shelves and my business furniture have little to do with optometry but they are very important from a business point of view. Your patients will judge your professionalism not only by your medical experience and your demeanor, but also by everything they see once they step into your practice.

As a practice owner, you are essentially an entrepreneur. You need to take care of managing and marketing your business in addition to practicing optometry and maintaining good relationships with your patients. Today that means you need a website, a solid web marketing strategy and offline advertisements. There is a lot to balance and a lot of decisions to be made.

The Reality of Opening a Practice

Opening and managing your own practice is a lot of work. When you have your own practice, you are supposedly in charge of your own schedule, but the reality is that even if you manage your own schedule, you end up devoting more than 40 hours per week taking care of all your responsibilities. Having so many chores can keep you awake at night and restrict the time that you are supposed to spend with your family.

Nevertheless, if you are serious about opening your own practice, I think you should go ahead and do it. There will always be financial uncertainties, but you should try to take one step at a time and solve each problem as it comes. My second piece of advice is to be perseverant and work towards your goals. Launching your business takes time so you should make an effort to take one small step every day. Don’t expect to do much progress in the short term; instead focus on taking small steps for several months. My third and last bit of advice is to have friends and family members who support you. There will be challenging days ahead and it is important to have people who can encourage you along the way.

Dr. Claudia Montana-Collins has a long career in the field of primary eye care. She studied her undergraduate degree in optometry at the Universidad de la Salle in Colombia, and completed an O.D. and a Master’s degree in clinical optometry from the Pennsylvania College of Optometry in Philadelphia. Dr. Montana-Collins has done research in prosthetic contact lenses and is a fellow of the American Academy of Optometry since 1999. Most recently, Dr. Montana-Collins opened an optometry practice in Orange County, CA.

For more information, or to contact Dr. Collins visit Foothill Ranch EyeCare’s website or Dr. Claudia Montana-Collins’s Bio Page

Acquiring continuing education credits can often be a time consuming and rather expensive endeavor. This is all going to change this coming July…

Mark your calendars for this July 17^th and 18^th for CEing is Believing 2013 – Optometry’s Newest Virtual Conference offering a live, interactive conference experience that brings continuing education and COPE approved courses right to your desktop.

After the success of SiB2013, it was clear that many ECPs are looking for ways to expand their knowledge, their network and better serve their patients, without the investment required to attend traditional meetings which include travel expenses, lodging and loss of revenue from being away from the Practice. This is why we decided to take the successful model of SiB and apply that to the clinical side of your Practice as well.

You need continuing education, but you don’t need to rack up a big bill to get it. With CEiB2013, you will have easy-to-access, high-quality COPE-approved lectures right at the keyboard under your fingertips.  At CEiB2013, you will learn about the latest developments in treatment, diagnosis, products and services from the leading experts in the field. We have designed the program for minimal inconvenience and expense to you and your Practice and maximum collaboration with noted authors, thought leaders, industry and colleagues.

Another benefit of virtual conferencing is that we have had the privilege to put together a world-class, international planning and education board to join forces to create the best possible educational content and the most value for participants. Not only will you get to fulfill your COPE requirements learning from the top experts in the field and benefit from meetings and giveaways from vendors in our grand exhibition hall, but you can do it on your own schedule and on an affordable budget.  Further, every registrant will have access to all of the lectures for three months after the actual conference!

Between the technical experience gained from SiB2013 and the fantastic team organized to plan the educational components, CEiB2013 is sure to be an event not to be missed. Visit CEiB2013.com to find more information about the virtual COPE conference and keep up to date on the newest developments by liking the CEiB Facebook Page.

Image courtesy of www.activatedesign.co.nz

Last month, in The Ultimate Optometry Website Checklist, we discussed the key components for developing a great, engaging Optometry website which includes special attention to design, content, and functionality.  Today, we’ll take a closer look at content and provide tips for generating interesting content that is unique to your Practice.

We previously mentioned that your content should be well-written, relevant, and unique.  Uniqueness is necessary to your success in the SERPs, or search engine results pages, but it also stands to separate you from your competition.  There are many ways to go about obtaining unique content; here, we discuss in-office approaches that will be of little or no cost to you.

Tips for creating unique content:

1. The Usual: Consider the conversations that you have every day with your patients.  Are there particular topics that come up frequently? Which conditions do you treat most often? It is likely that you have already developed a script for explaining information that is consistent across patients.  These explanations can easily be written down and converted into website content.

2. Staff FAQs: Your staff is a cache of information about the many goings-on in your office; tap into them!  With the number of phone calls they are fielding each day, why not develop a FAQs page for your site?  Have each staff member write down the top 5 questions asked of them.  Bring this information to your next staff meeting, narrow down your questions and discuss your answers.  Now you have unique, relevant content that can be added to your website.

3. Multi-media: At this point, you may be thinking, “But I don’t have time for all this writing.”  Relax, content doesn’t all have to be written; it may also come in the form of videos.  With the advancement of smart phones, not only are you walking around with a tracking device, a computer, and a phone in your pocket, you’re also carrying a video camera!  Now you’re probably wondering, “But what will I record in my office?” Here are a few suggestions:

• Create a welcome message from you and your staff for inclusion on your homepage.
• Interview patients for video testimonials.
• Record yourself and your associates speaking on a given topic, e.g. products, conditions, procedures.

4. Take pictures!  Your website is where you are showcasing your Practice, so make it shine.  Include pictures of your exterior, interior, staff, and docs to really personalize your site.  For additional tips from EyeCarePro on picture-taking, click here.

5. Update your website.  Set a reminder to yourself, or tap a staff member to check the website every quarter.  Not only should you be making sure the existing information is still relevant, but also ask yourself if there is anything new to add.

• Do you have any new hires that should be included?
• Do you have a new piece of equipment, new product, or new service?
• Are there any community initiatives in which you are involved that you’d like to share?

Once you have content that you think may be ready to go on your website, be sure to review it; you’ll want to look for the following:

1. Good organization
2. Language and style consistencies
3. Relevance
4. Punctuation and grammatical errors

Adding unique content throughout your website will be a process, so don’t overwhelm yourself by thinking it needs to be tackled immediately and comprehensively.  The key is to make sure that you and your staff are always on the lookout for opportunities to create content. With this approach, you will quickly acquire enough content ideas to enhance your website and make the process a lot less daunting.

Taylor Jones, ECP Account Manager and more.

Image courtesy of teqno-magazine.co.zw

In the constantly changing world of social media, it can be hard to keep track of it all, especially when the changes are not as obvious as a total page redesign. So we will do it for you!

Facebook has recently made some changes to Pages that you may have not noticed, but are worth knowing about – the kind of improvements that will make you think, “What took you so long, Facebook?”   Here they are:

Cover Image Guidelines Loosened

Great news for Facebook Page owners! When Facebook first redesigned Pages, many business owners were frustrated by the strict restrictions on text usage for the Cover Image (the large horizontal image that spans the top of the Page). What many (our designers included) envisioned to be a clear billboard for attracting fans lost tremendous potential from prohibitions on posting calls to action, contact information or general sales and marketing content.

No more!

Facebook has quietly changed the rules about the permitted content you can have on your Page cover image. What used to be a laundry list of guidelines restricting sales and marketing content such as price and purchase information, contact information or calls to action is now one rather short paragraph including the one remaining restriction – that covers can’t include images with more than 20% text.

So, what does this mean? It means that you can now include marketing content such as calls to action or contact information big and bold for everyone to see on the top of your Facebook page. Here is the entire section on Facebook Page Covers copied from Facebook’s Pages Terms Document:

“Covers can’t be deceptive, misleading, or infringe on anyone else’s copyright. You may not encourage people to upload your cover to their personal timelines. Covers may not include images with more than 20% text.”

If you have any questions you can check out the revised Facebook Pages Terms guidelines.

‘Reply’ Option Added to Comments

A long awaited update, Facebook has finally released a “Reply” option to comments left on your Page. Until now, responding to a comment has never been easy, particularly for long conversation threads. Now, instead of responding to a comment after new ones have been added and creating a web of replies and tags, you can address each individual with a response that will appear under the original comment. This allows for more direct interaction and development of discussion around a particular comment.

Facebook will also highlight the most popular conversations, bringing them to the top of the thread.

For now, Brand Pages have to opt in to this feature. You can do so by visiting the ‘Replies’ option through the Page admin panel.

Newsbite: Smartphone Users Check Facebook 14 Times a Day

Yes, that’s right. According to a report released last week by IDC which tracked phone usage of 7,446 iPhone and Android users in the U.S. for one week, the average smartphone user checked Facebook 14 times a day! The individuals surveyed were between 18 and 44 years of age. About half the time was spent browsing the News Feed while the rest of the time (about a half-hour per day) was spent messaging, posting status updates or playing games.

The study, which was sponsored by Facebook also showed that about 79% of smartphone users go for their phone within 15 minutes of waking up in the morning, with 62% not even waiting that long. Not surprisingly, if you just survey the 18-24 year-olds, the percentage that go straight for their phones immediately upon rising in the morning raises to 74% and 89% within the first 15 minutes.

This survey just shows how powerful Facebook addiction can really be and gives support for the rise of mobile usage. Bottom line: if you aren’t on Facebook and you aren’t at least thinking about reaching your mobile customer base, you are falling behind in the times.

You can read more stats from this survey here: Facebook Usage Survey

Image courtesy of : http://kgi.org/blog/roger-doiron/school-garden-checklist

By now, we all know that as an optometrist in the digital age you have to have a great website. Like your physical office, the look, feel and service provided by your virtual office represents who you are and what your eye care Practice is all about. When patients and prospects browse your site, they are getting an impression of your Practice, whether you like it or not, so you need to put your best foot forward.

To give your virtual visitors a great experience, you should uphold the same standards you would with your physical office and staff, providing an experience that is welcoming, easy, efficient, clean, professional and for many of us, cutting-edge.

If you are wondering whether your site is up to par, here is a quick checklist of essential elements for an exceptional site:

Design

□ Visual Appeal: Your site design should be attractive, neat and professional looking.  Whether it is ultra-modern, country-style or urban, the look of your website should resemble your office décor to reflect the experience and feel the patient will have upon entering the brick and mortar Practice.

□ Images/Videos: Multimedia such as photos and videos are more interesting than plain text so feature good quality images especially on your homepage because as the saying goes, “first impressions are lasting impressions.” Be sure to include photos of doctors, staff and your office so prospective patients can see the friendly looking crew that awaits them when they come in for an appointment.

□ Easy to Navigate: If your office has no parking or is located up five flights of stairs, this could deter patients from coming back for their next exam. Similarly, you want your visitors to be able to find all of the information they are looking for easily and quickly on your website. Ensuring that your site is easy and logical to navigate not only helps users find what they are looking for but it can also boost your SEO.

Content

□ Well-Written: Website content with poor grammar and a bunch of typos will certainly not give visitors confidence in your medical abilities. Enough said.

□ Relevant: All the questions a prospective visitor might want to know about your Practice should be included and easy to find- such as contact information (on every page), opening hours, specialties, location details (an interactive map is best), doctor qualifications and insurance information.  Try to use the terminology that your prospective patients would be commonly searching for (keywords) otherwise your site will not come up during a search.

□ Unique: Create interesting, informative and fresh content to keep visitors on your site. No matter how tempting it may be, don’t take content from any other website. In addition to being flat out plagiarism you will be penalized by the search engines for having duplicate content and your site will be buried in the search engines never to be found.

Functionality/Service

□ Appointment Scheduling: To ensure the highest conversion rate (the rate of site visitors that turn into patients), it is essential that visitors can schedule an appointment directly on the website. The “Schedule an Appointment” button should be promoted boldly on each page of the site.

□ Patient Forms: Add value to your website by including forms to expedite processes such as new patient intake, patient history, satisfaction surveys, insurance forms and more (all according to HIPAA guidelines of course). This will not only save your patients (and staff) time during visits but it will keep patients coming back to your site.

□ Contact Orders: These days a large percentage of your patients are buying contact lenses online. You can make your website a one-stop-shop and offer your patients this convenience of ordering their contacts online.  Don’t lose your hard-earned business to the competition!

Just like your physical office, you want your virtual office to give off a sense of visual appeal, professionalism and strong customer service.  Visitors that have a great experience will keep coming back…to both locations.

This article was co-written by ECP's trusty web analyst, Andrea Shore.