Modern Contact Lens Ordering

When it comes to ordering contact lenses, we don’t make it easy for our patients, yet we complain when they find other ways to purchase their lenses, resulting in revenue loss for us.

Strange as it may sound, our offices are closed most of the time. Take my office, for example. The main clinic is open 6 days a week, does not close for lunch, and we see patients from between 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM. Seems as though we have decent availability; however, we are closed for about two-thirds of the hours in a week. Fortunately, no patient has ever had a major complaint about our office hours, but such limited access to materials and services is exactly what has opened the door for disruptors to enter the contact lens marketplace. Patients expect to be able to get what they need on their own terms. There is no greater example of this phenomenon than Amazon.

THE AMAZON PHENOMENON

Amazon boasts 69 million members, and more than 80% of individuals between 18 and 34 years of age in the United States are Prime members.¹ Interestingly, the top reason consumers cite for ordering through Amazon Prime is for the free shipping, not for the price of products.²

Amazon processes roughly 66,000 orders per hour,² and its data can tell us quite a bit about when our patients are making their purchases. According to Amazon Sellers Forum data, the peak time for ordering varies a bit by time zone, but is typically between 1:00 PM and 2:00 PM (ie, while people are on lunch break).³ In addition, 42% of all orders occur outside the “normal business hours” of 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM, and 25% occur overnight between 9:00 PM and 8:00 AM.³ These trends suggest that we need to adapt our processes and availability to ensure that we are allowing patients to place orders when they want to, not just when we are ready to take their orders.

I spoke with Erika Jurrens, the senior vice president of Strategic Development and Commercialization for ABB Optical Group, who noted that the pandemic caused some already-changing patient order behavior trends to shift even more rapidly. She said that since the initial COVID outbreak, 59% of contact lens patients order their lenses online—an increase from 28% pre-COVID. And, once again, 49% of patients gave free shipping as their most important factor in choosing how to purchase contact lenses, with price being second.⁴

Data from The Vision Council further illustrate the shift among patients toward more convenient ordering methods, with online orders growing during the pandemic, while independent brick-and-mortar eligible contract participants (ECPs) saw contracture during the same period.⁵

HOW DO OUR STANDARD ORDERING OPTIONS COMPARE?

Consumer-focused platforms such as 1-800 Contacts have built their delivery models around patients’ desire for convenience. In fact, 1-800 Contacts has recently made its ordering process even more convenient by expanding how they take orders and by offering United States-based live call centers 24/7.

What steps do independent ECPs take to retain contact lens sales? Offering annual supply sales in-office, using manufacturer rebates, providing online store order button options on office websites, and creating contact lens reorder voicemail lines have all been used to try to prevent revenue loss to online retailers, with varying degrees of success. Fundamentally, the difficulty is that all patients are not the same.

If we keep doing things the way we have been, we will see many patients continue to seek out more convenient ways to get what they need. That said, some patients still want to be able to stop by the office to pick up a box of contact lenses in person, so there is also pressure to maintain onsite inventory. Other patients seem to always need their lenses urgently or simply do not want to deal with shipping. There is no one simple solution that will fit each individual’s unique set of needs and preferences. Notwithstanding, I believe we must find a way to meet our patients where they are to provide the services they need, no matter how they choose to seek them.

LEARNING FROM THE COMPETITION

Consumer-focused contact lens ordering sites aren’t going away anytime soon. We can buckle up and stay put on the struggle bus, or take matters into our own hands. Doctor-centric online ordering platforms can provide patient-focused tools that help ECPs develop innovative solutions. Examples of such platforms include add-on ordering fulfilment services, manufacturer-based systems, or distributor-based systems.

Add-On Ordering Fulfillment Services

Add-On Ordering. Ordering services such as LensFerry (EyeCare Prime), CLX System (CLX System), and Dr. Contact Lens (Dr. Contact Lens) can be added on as a service for use by any eye care practitioner. They serve as a link between practices and distributors that allows online ordering by patients from existing distributor accounts. Add-on ordering has the advantage of offering most contact lens brands, while preserving the connection with your distributor and local contact lens manufacturer representatives. Although they are not new to the market, their technology has evolved considerably since initial launch. Using these platforms, you can automate follow-up for patients when they do not order or when it is time for them to reorder. With such ordering services, the patient’s prescription data, including expiration, is exported by their prescribing optometrist to the external system and can be ordered and paid for by the patient through the interface.

It is important to bear in mind that these systems only function effectively if the exported contact lens prescription data from your patient records align with the service’s inventory listing. Some initial work may be required to ensure that your EHR system matches up with the ordering system. But, according to Dr. Contact Lens marketing materials, “30% of your patients are likely to reorder their contact lenses online, and another 30% never order their lenses from your office.”⁶ These systems can provide services that your office staff cannot by being available 24/7; therefore, any sale that is salvaged instead of going to an online retailer is theoretically a profitable sale. Furthermore, data accumulation on your sales can provide business intelligence that may help with management and decision-making.

Manufacturer-Based Systems. Manufacturer-based platforms are another option that allow our patients to order lenses directly from manufacturers. Alcon developed its Marlo system to streamline patient access to its own portfolio of contact lenses. Rather than providing a simple online store, Marlo attempts to create a more positive ordering experience for patients by linking their prescription data with a fulfillment and delivery system. Alcon reports that the average Marlo order costs $257—considerably more than the national average cost of an order per contact lens patient ($168).⁷ Another example is Johnson & Johnson Vision Care’s MyAcuvue subscription program, which features free direct shipping of contact lenses from the manufacturer with reward and payment options available to patients.

Distributor-Based Systems. Distributors have long offered direct ship-to-patient options, but none of those options has effectively developed significant market share or allowed patients to order without involving the practice. Distributor-based systems such as ABB Optical Group’s ABBY platform may represent a significant advance in optometrists’ capability to take and deliver orders. ABBY is designed to function as a part of the ECP team, like an electronic staff member. Ms. Jurrens informed me that two-thirds to three-quarters of patients prefer to order lenses from their provider and that “the ABBY system sinks or swims when patients order from their doctor through ABBY,” allowing patients to order the way they wish with free shipping from their trusted partner. The system is free to use for ECPs through helloabby.com and integration with EHR is continuing to evolve. Ms. Jurrens concluded that ABBY is “positioned as a staff member who can learn.” The ABBY system can be adapted in the future to feedback from both doctors and patients to improve over time.

ADAPTATION IS KEY

How we purchase as a society has changed, so it stands to reason that how we provide contact lenses to our patients must also change. Methods of communicating with our patients evolved similarly, and practices adapted over time to meet a new set of needs. We have moved from postcards and phone calls to emails and text messages to provide electronic recall and appointment confirmations. The technology has improved to help us serve our patients better in the contact lens ordering spaces as well, and it is time to use these options to meet our patients wherever they are.