Welcome to the first edition of CLICK!
The latest in a series of popular e-newsletters from Vision Monday.
CLICK will provide ECPs and optical retailers with what they need to know to build
their presence online and grow connections with patients. It’s a monthly briefing
designed specifically to provide practical insights and ideas about the latest
Web site features, tools and web-based applications. CLICK will feature a variety of
topics including innovative ideas in Web site design, profiles of ECP sites, examples
of cutting-edge initiatives. We hope you use it to discover current web technologies
and learn how online initiatives can help you benefit your business – The Editors
Local EyeCare.Com Optimizes Search,
Connects New Patients to Practices
There is a significant shift taking place right now in local advertising. The Yellow Pages recently was delisted from the NYSE and declared bankruptcy. Several national newspapers are closing due to lack of ad buyers. All the while, online search is growing as the preferred medium for people to find local businesses. Last year, U.S. consumers conducted about 48 billion online searches—a 24 percent increase over 2007. The average adult user searches online for more than 20 times a month, 67 percent of the time, it’s for something local.
Yext.com was developed to be "The Next Yellow Pages" and originated several years ago with the mission of helping local businesses utilize the Internet in an effective way to find new customers. Instead of building Web sites and helping people get clicks, according to Todd Albright, division president, the company decided instead to use the Internet to deliver something much more valuable: a live, inbound phone call from a prospect, which can be tracked and measured.
LocalEyeCare.com is a specific offering built for eyecare professionals. "The service is very unique for two distinct reasons," Albright tells CLICK. First, we are totally pay-for-performance. Practices pay nothing until they receive a phone call from a prospective patient. Second, we record and process every phone call we send to our ECPs. The recordings can be used to hear how the front desk staff are handling new patient opportunities. The analytics provide previously unavailable insight into what happened on every call [What was the patient calling about? Was an appointment booked?]"
Launched just four months ago, LocalEyeCare.com is growing, with participating ECPs ranging from practices like Dr. Steven Weisfeld’s Spectacles in N.J. to the Nationwide Vision chain in Arizona.
Special Advisor to the ECP effort is Dr. David Nelson, the past president of the American Optometric Association. His comments on the site: "After 20 years in the eyecare profession, it is my sincere pleasure to introduce you to LocalEyeCare. I helped launch LocalEyeCare with one goal in mind: to deliver new patients to eye doctors such as yourself. The Internet has become the #1 place people go to find eyecare. LocalEyeCare makes it easy for your practice to connect with these potential customers and convert them into new patients for your practice."
NEW YORK and RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif.—Eyefinity/OfficeMate, the business solutions provider that is part of the VSP Family of Companies, and Jobson Medical Information’s Frames Data division, have announced the creation of a strategic alliance designed to leverage each company’s strengths and bring a better experience to eyecare practices.
 As a primary feature of the relationship, Eyefinity members with an active subscription to Frames Data will experience a series of enhancements to the Eyefinity Web site. These will include: Frames Data information powering the Eyefinity eLab order screen will allow the user to quickly and precisely select the proper frame for more efficient, accurate lens processing at the lab; Frames Data subscribers will enjoy more accurate, streamlined claims processing by accessing pre-populated wholesale price information, and Eyefinity will expand their site offerings to include current editorial content from Jobson’s
Vision Monday and
20/20 Magazines.
"By joining forces with Jobson Medical Information and Frames Data, we are providing enhanced resources to help ECPs utilizing Eyefinity to manage their practice with more precision and greater ease," said Jim McGrann, president of Eyefinity/OfficeMate. "This alliance helps fulfill our ongoing mission of empowering eyecare professionals and enhancing the patient experience." "With today’s technology, people are becoming more accustomed to having the information they need when they need it, regardless of where it originates," said Marc Ferrara, CEO, Information Services Group at Jobson.
Watch Vision Monday’s Marge Axelrad’s
video interview with McGrann and Ferrara to learn more about the alliance.
|