Pediatric Practices See More Children
Sounds like a no-brainer, right? But there’s more to it than you might think. Having a great lineup of children’s frames and a fantastic optical staff is simply no longer enough if you’re serious about ramping up your capture rate and optical revenues.
Assuming that you want to see more pediatric patients, you have got to make sure that you are positioning your practice as a pediatric practice. It isn’t enough to be a “family practice” and hope that people know that that includes children. You need to take proactive steps to make sure that you are attracting as many parents with children as possible.
Your Work Starts Online
When a parent who is engaged and proactive in their child’s health is looking for an eye exam for their child, you can be sure that if the parent isn’t taking the kids to their existing doctor, then they are searching on Google for an eye doctor who works with children. Google’s sophisticated algorithm strives to provide the most relevant results to a given search. It does this by looking at the kind of content you have on your website as well as your location. The question you need to think about is this: which topics, terms, and phrases do you want to show up prominently for on a local search? In this case, we mean terms like “eye exams for children” and “pediatric eye care” or “kids eye doctor near me”.
In short, Google loves content, and it’s fundamental to building a powerful online presence, which is exactly how you bring more new patients into your door. For more information on how to use content to grow, you can read this article here. Well-written articles, blogs, and videos on various topics related to children and vision will go a long way toward bringing in more parents and children.
And it Continues Into the Lane
Establishing yourself as a pediatric practice will definitely help boost your sales of children’s eyewear. But there’s more to it. Actively talking to parents about lifestyle and lens options right in the lane is indispensable.
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that your optical is distinct from your optometric care! What differentiates your dispensary from a big box retailer is that each and every pair of glasses you sell is backed by your medical opinion and the quality of lenses that you provide. Discuss lens options as “prescriptions” of sorts right in the lane and follow that up with a handoff to the optician, reiterating your medical recommendation. In this way, you are ensuring the best outcomes for your patients AND increasing your chances of making the optical sale.
You can even take that a step further. If the child has aggressive myopia progression, talk to parents about the importance of myopia control and the options for treatment that are now available. Pretty soon, myopia control spectacle lenses will be hitting the US, further intertwining the connection between the pediatric care you provide and the sale of children’s frames.
To summarize all this, make the effort to attract parents interested in eye exams for their children. This starts online and continues into the way your practice operates. In the lane, make a conscious effort to include discussions about eye comfort and safety in the context of the lens choices you actively recommend. These two approaches combined will result in more pediatric exams, and more children’s frames sold.
Do You Have What You Need?
At EyeCarePro, we want you to have the tools and knowledge to get the most out of your website in order to grow your practice. Keep a look out for upcoming informational pieces like this one.
Or Call Today 201-591-4350 and see how we can help supercharge your practice.
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