Have You Recognized Online Media's Influence?

The data on digital media and consumer behavior continues to underscore the critical role now played by active and interactive online presence and its connection to business for eyecare practices. As more and more consumers use internet tools to search for businesses, information and recommendations, an updated and integrated website has become crucial.

CLICK, Vision Monday's e-newsletter, continues to be an essential resource in its twice-monthly briefings to ECPs about web technology and Internet developments.

Past articles, featuring specific examples, programs and tips that you can use today, are available in our CLICK Archive. So, too, are dozens of Cool Tools and important Sites to See which offer content and resource ideas for your sites and your social media activities. The easy-to-access Archives are located under the CLICK button at www.visionmonday.com.

Have you tried something new on your website or launched a special social media campaign? Tell us about it and we'll consider it for an upcoming feature in CLICK.

—The Editors

comScore's Report Confirms Surge of Social and E-Commerce in 2010 Digital Trends

NEW YORK— In its comprehensive review of Digital Media trends, analytics firm comScore (NASDAQ: SCOR) identifies and confirms the shifts occurring in consumers' usage of digital media, reflecting the jump in overall e-commerce sales in 2010 as well as the rise of social media among all age groups and its implications for businesses and brands. The full report, 2010 Digital Trends in Review, is posted at www.comscore.com.

After two years of sluggish online spending, retail e-commerce bounced back to double-digit growth rates in 2010, as consumers opted for the convenience and lower prices enabled by the medium. As an advertising medium, the online channel also continues to be an important driver of offline buying, so marketers in all industries must not only have an online presence, but understand how it drives both online and in-store purchase behavior. Total U.S. e-commerce spending reached $227.6 billion in 2010, up 9 percent versus the previous year.

The report said 2010 represented yet another huge year for social media, and it can safely be assumed that 2011 will see a continuation of this trend. Social networking continued to gain momentum throughout 2010, with 9 out of 10 Internet users now visiting a social networking site each month. Social networking sites accounted for 12 percent of all time spent online in 2010 with the average Internet user spending more than 4.5 hours on these sites each month.

Businesses that have no social media presence in 2011 are likely to be left behind, the report showed, indicating, however, that social media may not necessarily be worth significant investment for every company or brand. The report stated, "To promote your product or brand through social media or to use it as a means of obtaining customer feedback, it is important to understand how consumers may (or may not) use the medium. Every brand should, at a minimum be listening to what consumers are saying and most should probably engage directly with them. Developing more advanced social media tools should be a function of whether or not your customers are likely to be strong brand ambassadors or not."

Zip Eyewear Takes E-Commerce "Site to Sight," Partnering With Local ECPs

FORT WORTH, Texas. —Consumers have traditionally avoided buying glasses online because of the inability to ensure proper fit, lens selection, and ongoing eyecare. But Zip Eyewear is aiming to revolutionize the way consumers buy prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses online by offering them a "Site to Sight" solution.

ZipEyewear.com ( www.zipeyewear.com), which launched this month, solves that problem. Consumers select and purchase from a well-priced assortment of the most popular name brand eyeglasses and sunglasses. What’s unique is that the order is actually fulfilled by a local optical center, ensuring proper fit, prescription, and lenses. A consumer can pre-order their prescription and lenses with the frames, or just order the frames. Even if a consumer makes a mistake online and orders the wrong size or just an unflattering frame, he or she can easily switch to a different frame or lens at the local optical center.

Customers receive a voucher for the eyewear they order which they can then take to a participating provider. Providers, in turn, have the ability to be notified of a pending customer order and prepare for the in-store interaction and sale.

Some 200 eyecare professionals have partnered to date with Zip and that number is growing, Michael Nason, Zip Eyewear’s CEO, told CLICK. Details of the provider agreements are posted on the site and followup is handled by Zip’s team, who walk providers through the process and policy. He said, "Zip Eyewear gives consumers the best of both worlds. They can finally get a great online selection of the most popular brands and the trusted, professional, local optical care that they and their families need." Zip is working with local eyecare professionals who are highlighted by zip code and by the patient’s eyewear choices on the Zip site. Currently, Zip ECP providers are in 45 of 50 states, and signups are continuing to expand.

Nason grew up in the optical business, the son of two longtime opticians (read CLICK’s initial profile of Zip in March 2010. He said, "We provide the e-commerce platform and are able to help the ECP capture customers who go online to shop, which is happening more often. We have a simple solution for them to acquire and serve customers online."

Zip’s future marketing, which will take advantage of search-engine-optimization (SEO) and other social media marketing initiatives this spring, will provide even more visibility for the concept and the profile of the participating eyecare providers.

Zip Eyewear was created by Nason, in partnership with eyecare professionals, powered by Jobson Medical Information’s Frames Data, and is backed by over 50 years of professional opticians' expertise.