Find ‘tipping point’ to convert potential LASIK patients, marketing expert says

SAN FRANCISCO — Triggers that convince potential refractive surgery patients to move ahead with the surgery are varied, and successful practices will find ways to highlight those emotions, said James M. Tenny, here at the American Society of Ophthalmic Administrators meeting.

In his keynote address, Mr. Tenny polled the several hundred audience participants and found 30% spend less than 2% on advertising or marketing, and 34% spent less than 5% of the center’s budget on advertising or marketing. Overall, the administrators said they believe fear and cost are the leading two reasons why patients opt out of refractive surgery once it’s been offered.

“The bottom line is consumers are generally OK with the vision correction they have,” said Mr. Tenny, who is a partner at Della Femina Rothschild Jeary & Partners marketing firm. “Until they present with a problem with their current vision, they’re not going to seek correction.”

All office personnel need to identify the potential customer, he said. Advertising should play a role in that identification.

“You need to find a trigger event; that will be the primary reason to entice someone into making a decision,” he said, even if the decision is to stop what the customer is doing, pick up a phone and call to find out more about refractive surgery.

“Advertising for your practice should focus on reminding people what they don’t like about their contact lenses or glasses,” he said.

Within a center’s advertising, “gear your message to a specific target,” he said.

Emphasis should be placed on the trigger event and first physician contact, he added. Trigger events that have worked include targeting people who play sports, who have ocular allergies or who need better vision for work.

“Fourth, you need to provide a non-threatening first step for these people,” he said. Allow the potential patient to qualify him or herself as a potential candidate, he said.

Once the potential patient has contacted a center, “stay with them,” Mr. Tenny said. Follow up with phone calls or letters.

“Next, you need to create ‘evangelists’ in the form of surgical support groups and individuals,” he said. For instance, the advertising message could be a simple one, such as “Last year, 1.5 million people had LASIK. Why weren’t you one of them?”

Physician offices should also work diligently at promoting themselves as information resources. He suggested the refractive surgeon speak to various civic groups in the community, or host an information seminar at his facility for interested patients.

Lastly, he said, “take a less aggressive stance on price.” One of his more successful marketing campaigns focused on the theme of “LASIK: Perfect eyesight is not a luxury.” In that campaign, the physician put a high quality tag on 20/20 eyesight, and geared his campaign to those who would associate the higher value with a potentially higher cost.

“You’re providing the ultimate brand promise — getting rid of glasses and contact lenses and starting to live a life without limits,” he said.

Mr. Tenny illustrated his point with an ad campaign of a woman swimming underwater with her eyes wide open. He called it one of the most successful campaigns with which he had been affiliated.