ECOMMERCE SPRING CLEANING: 10 EASY STEPS TO FRESHEN UP YOUR SITE
Eyes On Sheppard, an optometry practice serving their community for over 50 years, felt the immediate, crushing impact of the COVID- 19 pandemic lockdown. An office of eight practicing optometrists meant a large patient roster with a multitude of complex eye care needs that would soon be interrupted, in addition to potentially business-crippling revenue losses. The decision to create an online storefront, that was fully integrated into the Eyes On Sheppard practice, opened up an opportunity to for continued connection with patients and offered a convenient and accessible way for patients to reorder their lenses and dry eye solutions.
"Now that we are back in the office - we are still encouraging [patients] to place their order on Sightly. Since we are trying to limit the amount of people coming in the office for their drops and Macuhealth - we direct them to the webstore."
Challenge:
Global pandemic resulting in business closure and threatening interruption of patient care.
Solution:
Implementation of a fully customizable, Sightly online storefront to facilitate patient delivery of eye care products and lens reorders.
Storefront:
https://eyesonsheppard.sightlyapps.com
Quick Stats:
"Sightly has made us more accessible to our patients. They now have the option to purchase products anytime, anywhere and it's delivered to their homes."
Sightly (S): What has made Sightly a successful addition to your practice?
Eyes on Sheppard (EOS): Sightly has made us more accessible to our patients. They now have the option to purchase products anytime, anywhere and it's delivered to their homes.
S: How did you introduce your online storefront to your patients?
EOS: When COVID started - we had been sending out monthly updates to our patients via online newsletter to let our patients know we are there for them during this difficult time. We let them know that we now had a storefront available where they can order their contacts, eye drops, vitamins, etc - and we were offering to deliver it to their home.
S: How often are you communicating with your patients, directing them to your storefront?
EOS: Anytime a patient calls to and wants to make an CL order or purchase products - we direct them to the store front. If they are in office and they are purchasing something, we let them know that whenever they need to order more they can do so through our sightly website. We almost always onboard the patient right after speaking to them so they get the email shortly after.
S: What communication tools (i.e. social media, newsletter) are you using to share your storefront with patients?
EOS: With the exception of the month of June, I would create 1 post weekly letting people know on social media that they could order from our webstore. Between the end of April-May we had sent out 2 newsletter updates and included that they could use Sightly to purchase what they needed.
S: What is your favourite feature on Sightly?
EOS: My Favourite Feature on Sightly is recall system. Knowing that a patient will get a reminder when it is time for them to reorder is beneficial for both us and the patient. When they get the email for them to order their contacts again and they can just do it online instead of having to call the office is a time saver.
S. What do your patients find most beneficial about using the online Storefront?
EOS: I believe it's the ability to order it at their leisure and that the payment method is secure.
S. Did you assign a specific team member to be in charge of administering the platform?
EOS: Yes - right now I have the contact lens administrator handing all the CL orders. She processes the payment and proceeds with the rest of the order.
S: Can you describe your playbook for bringing your storefront from $0 to approximately $40K in sales in a short period of time?
EOS: We take a lot of CL orders through the phone, so we made sure that all of those orders were being directed to the storefront and processed through Sightly. Now that we are back in the office - we are still encouraging to place their order on Sightly. Since we are trying to limit the amount of people coming in the office for their drops and macuhealth - we direct them to the webstore.
Powering Your E-commerce Store for Your Practice
Sightly is YOUR e-commerce store for YOUR patients to continue purchase the products YOU sell in between their visits (contact lenses, eye-drops, eye-vitamins, frames, etc.).
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