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NEW YORK—One of the trends gaining much more adoption among independents as well as multi-location chains this year and much of last year has been the willingness to offer patients of brick-and-mortar eyecare offices and optical retail locations the ability to explore eyewear options even before they get into the practice as well as to follow up visits with the doctor or dispensing expert via online e-commerce. Optify is one of the companies facilitating that process with a range of customizable options that can expand the practice’s outreach, connection and product selection.



 
Dave Barton, co-founder and CEO of Optify, explained, “The patient experience has always been a great conversation topic in optometry but historically more focused around the experience once a patient enters the practice. This last year, especially at the recent Vision Expo East in NYC, conversations and attention to the patient experience in a practice’s digital footprint were more prevalent. It’s exciting and an honor for our team here at Optify to be such a big part of supporting independent ECPs shift to exemplifying the very start of the patient journey, which is happening more and more online.”

There are many ways that Optify can show up on a practice’s website through all of those choices made by the doctor and the dispending team, for glasses and contact lenses. Dr. Brianna Rhue, OD, FAAO of West Broward Eyecare and also co-founder of Techifeye, stated, “Optify has been a great addition to our practice to help engage our patients before their exam and help retain patients who want to shop online afterward, all while uplifting our online presence.”

In the Chicago area, Dr. Ansel Johnson, clinical director of Vision Salon, explained the benefits from several angles. “We have recently implemented Optify in our office, keeping patients engaged with our eyewear inventory before the exam to pre-shop, to reengage walk-outs and increase second pairs. It’s time for us all to be online and to keep patients buying from us.”

Added Jessie Mills, lead optician with Greene County Eyecare, “We absolutely love it and we were really surprised at how quickly we started getting pre-shoppers—we have at least a couple a day. It really streamlines the process and our patients have shared great feedback—it has way overperformed our expectations.”

Steve Green, operations manager of Urban Optics made the point that Optify options on their website have reinforced the brands and collections that Urban has on offer. “Optify has provided a great opportunity to select frames from our inventory which has helped close a lot more sales because the turnaround time is much faster. We see that Optify enables us to make sure patients keep buying from us.”