re-educate independents
Independent practices have to offer free eye exams and two-for-one to compete with the multiples says Opticians Network (ON), a new firm that says practices can compete with the multiples in a digital world.
The firm says independent practices are closing at a rate of one a day, but it has an idea that can combat the marketing power of the multiples and drive footfall into practice through targeting specific geographical areas.
At its core is a process which enables independent practices to get their practice brand to the top of the Google searches made by customers looking for eye exams and spectacles in the chosen area. Optician’s Network is offering exclusivity to practices who join its service with the ultimate goal of having 200 practices across the UK based around cities and towns with a catchment of 50,000 people.
The blueprint for the idea is taken from the car industry where corporatisation of the market and Google search is forcing small independent garages offering MoTs out of business.
Mike Bull, a partner in Digital Incubator which came up with the idea, says about eight years ago he worked with a garage that offered MoTs but increasingly found itself up against the likes of Kwik Fit and Halfords with their multi-million-pound marketing budgets. Bull says he competed by taking a leaf out of the big boys’ book. This meant offering enticing deals and making sure the local garage was at the top of the Google searches by using Google’s pay per click advertising system. A free MoT featured in much the same way as an eye test might in optics.
The way the Optician Network operates is by charging the practice a fee to ‘own’ a particular area. ON creates the advertisements to appear in the Google searches and a web landing page where the click is transformed into a visit. The practice then pays Google for the clicks made on its web advertisement.
From its early experience with Batty & Dexter in the North West Opticians Network is estimating it can generate 30 leads a month for a practice at a cost of £9 per appointment. Its pilot scheme with Batty & Dexter ran from September to November last year. In the first month it produced 24 eye test appointments, in month two, after ON had made changes to the offer and re-designed the website to make it more simple, it produced 51 eye test appointments.
Where things start to get a little more controversial is the way in which ON suggests independents generate those leads. ON creates the web ads and says it knows how to hook the customers’ attention. While Bull admits that the Google sponsored ad system can be complicated it boils down to paying a bit more. ‘For us to get you above Specsavers it only costs a penny more,’ he says. ‘You don’t even need to be at the top, just near the top so your brand can be found.’ But he says he advises independents that they must match the other offers close by and that means free eye exams and two for one offers. He says this does not need to impact the quality or product offering presented to the customer, it is just a mechanism to get them through the door.
Heading the Optician Network is Leanne King, a former area manager for Specsavers who joined the business in August. She says while she is aware of the reticence of independents to use free eye exams and two-for-ones she says most practices know how much each patient is worth to their business on average. Once they have the customer the way they convert that footfall is down to them.
‘There’s a mental hurdle that independents have to get over,’ says Bull when it comes to free eye tests. He draws a direct comparison to MoTs when the Digital Incubator first started with the reticence of independent garages to offer free MoTs. ‘Our job is re-educating the opticians.’
He says ON is not trying to make independents operate like the multiple but simply using the realities of modern commerce to use the same methods as the chains to drive customer into independent practice. He says regardless of the price point most consumers are price sensitive and like to feel they are getting good value whether they buy budget or luxury products.
‘ I can send the footfall your way using the methods Specsavers use. We can lead a horse to water but we can’t convert them [the customer], that’s down to them [the practice],’ says King.
It is early days for the model but practices are told to expect each lead to cost around £10. The cost per click of Google ads is in the region of £2 with one in four of those clicking the ads going on to phone the practice.
‘One optician goes out of business every day,’ says Bull. ‘It’s OK having the best eye care and the best products but you need customers.’
King says her role is to bring an understanding of the optical sector to Optician Network but is aware of the pushback she may encounter on free eye tests and two-for-ones. She says some early adopters have refused to offer free eye exams but have either linked a free eye exam to a purchase or substituted other customer offers.
Since August opticians in Hull, Bradford, Southampton and Gosport have joined the scheme.
The scheme has also caught the eye of Google which has invited Optician Network to officially launch at its headquarters in London next spring.
Upping your game
20/20 Vision has four practices and has signed up its Park Gate, Southampton branch to the scheme following the opening of two massive Vision Express and Specsavers stores in a business park about a mile away.
Manager Sharon Macleod, pictured below, says the new stores’ opening was a factor in joining Opticians Network as the level of marketing, through things like leaflet drops in the area, had risen as a result.
She says there has not been a dramatic impact on 20/20 footfall so far but it made the practice realise it needed to up its marketing. She says the practice is aware some of its customer have visited the new practices already simply to see what they are like, while for other patients the new stores are more conveniently placed.
‘We’ve been going nearly 22 years and we have a lot of clients that have been with us a long time. But we realised we needed to take action because the new Vision Express and Specsavers branches just down the road are going to affect us.’
She says 20/20 Vision tries to be proactive and flexible about the way it works. ‘We have always tried to price match, if we can and we try and be flexible.’ It is early days at the moment.'