We recently received this email from a consumer: “I am unable to find anyone advertising Free-Form optometry services. Has anyone been trained to deliver this new technology? If, so can you recommend a provider near Gardena, California 90249. Please advise, thanks.”
We have blogged on this subject before: “Optical Lens Technology is Not Reaching Consumers”. And this email really brought home to us the need for more consumer marketing in the category of free form lenses. Shamir’s website has the dealer locator right there with free form so a consumer can find a qualified optical provider but why could this optical consumer not find a local optometrist providing free form lenses? Why isn’t this great new technology being promoted directly to the consumer?
Courtesy of Hoya Vision
Part of the reason might be is that we are so caught up in the BOGO’s, price deals and “designer frame” promotions that we don’t promote the lens and other technologies. Maybe the technology part is harder to communicate but consumers want to know the features and benefits. Male optical consumers are often a lot more interested in function rather than form! We need to do a much better job of promoting the lens technology and its benefits to the eyewear consumer.
Optimization Pyramid - Optician's Handbook
There is a danger to becoming too technical in the explanation of Free Form Lenses but most consumers understand the concept of “Good – Better - Best” really well so this is a good way to start explaining why Free Form is the best choice. Consumers also understand the concept of “customization” and “personalization” . Mark Mattison-Shupnick developed the “Optimization Pyramid” as there are many tiers of optimized lenses, by company, by level of optimization. You can use these suggested tiers to organize good, better and best for your lens offerings. Then you can talk to the optical consumer about Good, better, best with customization and personalization being the “Best”.
Props and visual aids are very helpful when it gets to explaining the more technical aspects. Hoya Vision has a simplified lens plot illustration chart (show above) that the eyecare professional can use to help explain the benefits of free form and lens personalization.
Our challenge is to find more resources that help optical retailers with marketing free form lenses to consumers. We hope this post helps as far as positioning and working with the consumer. Any ideas you have or resources you can recommend will be much appreciated.
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