Essilor experts from America, the United Kingdom and France have spoken to optometrists in Australia about the future of optometry as well as presenting their thoughts on best practices to support customers and maintain their loyalty today.
At a roadshow in October, Christine Jouvanceau, Brand Marketing and the Shopper Experience Essilor International, discussed the different stages of the customer experience, alluding to the different approaches that can be taken by optometrists and dispensers to guide them through what she described as “a roller coaster experience”.
She said when it comes to choosing eyewear, bricks and mortar stores will always have the advantage over online stores because of the personalised, concrete role eye care practitioners can take on the customer journey.
Nick Hornsby, Group Services and Training Manager at Essilor UK, spoke of the potential to increase the value of lenses sold in practice. He said Essilor research had shown 55 per cent of optometrists believed customers were price sensitive when it comes to lenses, whereas consumer research indicated only 16 per cent of patients were price sensitive.
She said when it comes to choosing eyewear, bricks and mortar stores will always have the advantage over online stores because of the personalised, concrete role eye care practitioners can take on the customer journey
Future of Optometry
Dr. Howard Purcell, Senior Vice President, Customer Development Group at Essilor of America spoke about the future of optometry. An optometrist, academic and futurist, he spoke about where the profession is going, and the things that will disrupt and impact the way eyecare professionals practise in the future.
Dr. Purcell spoke about new technologies for eye testing. “The exam room of the future doesn’t have a chair and stand… It has a little bar – you’ll have a large room with a lot of bars… The patient leans up against the bar and puts a virtual reality device over their head. (It) immerses them in the ‘real world’ that they experience. You will assess her visual performance… recommend the different pairs of glasses she will need for each environment (she encounters across the day).” Additionally, he said, the device “will snap a shot the retina, it will assess intraocular field and it will assess the visual field.
Dr. Purcell also spoke about automated refracting and dispensing kiosks of the future. He said within a few years people would be using kiosks on the street to test their vision and generate a prescription, select their frames then order their glasses.
Dr. Purcell urged optometrists to embrace change. “We have to up our a game, we can’t keep doing it the way we’re doing it… we have to grow… your customers are not comparing you to other eye care practitioners… you’re being compared to world class customer experience… you have to deliver that experience… put your consumer hat on and look at your practice.”
