instrumental strategies

Entice Your Patients

Online digital signage tool can increase your practice revenue.

MICHAEL S. ROTHSCHILD, O.D.

To garner patient interest and excitement in the eyecare services and products we offer, we must provide engaging and relevant communication. This is where EyeStarTV, from 3conX Corp. comes in.

Overview

EyeStarTV is a silent, high-definition online digital signage solution for the reception room. It markets the eyecare services and products your practice offers via professional videos that boast engaging graphics and accompanying patient-friendly text.

Simply fill out a 10-minute online questionnaire regarding the uniqueness of your practice, including the products and services your practice offers, and EyeStarTV custom builds an ongoing play list of pertinent videos. EyeStarTV has more than 150 videos to choose from, and you can adjust your play list at any time by simply logging into the company's password-protected Web site. If you're looking for practice-branded videos, EyeStarTV provides this service to subscribers at no additional fee. (EyeStarTV is $119 a month for a three-year contract.) Examples of videos in my EyeStarTV library: the importance of regular ocular health evaluations, the benefits of digital retinal imaging and a video about why it's worth investing in customized progressive lenses.

EyeStarTV markets the eyecare services and products your practice offers via professional videos that boast engaging graphics and accompanying patient-friendly text.

To ensure your content remains fresh, the company e-mails you a monthly newsletter, which details its newest available videos and accompanying links.

In addition to the videos, the online marketing tool includes a news ticker, extended weather forecast, current UV index and stock quotes — all of which 3conX Corp. has included to keep patients engaged in between your customized marketing and educational videos. With regard to the news, you can actually select the news categories (sports, health, world news, etc.) you want broadcast.

Once you're satisfied with your customized content, just hook up the computer you've designated for the EyeStarTV Internet feed into your LCD screen, and you're all set.

Totally Tube-ular

To date, I have used EyeStarTV to present pertinent patient information that neither my staff nor I are able to due to our limited time during a patient visit. The result: While patients wait, they become well informed about the eyecare services and products we provide, enabling us to successfully dispense these services and products.

In fact, since employing the online digital signage tool in my practice earlier this year, my staff and I have been tracking the acceptance rate of our optical add-ons (anti-reflective coatings, etc.) and our digital retinal imaging device. I'm happy to report that we've enjoyed significant increases in both areas.

But, increases in revenue attributable to the EyeStarTV haven't been exclusive to optical add-ons and our digital retinal imaging device. For instance, a female spectacle-wearer inquired about bifocal contact lenses at her last appointment, citing the EyeStarTV educational video on the lenses as the reason for doing so. I successfully fit her in the lenses, and she's thrilled with her new form of vision correction.

While practice revenue growth has definitely been the number one benefit of this technology, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention these added benefits:

► Its high-tech appearance and use has reinforced to patients I'm a progressive practitioner who can provide unparalleled care.

► It reduces patient-perceived wait time.

► It decreases reception room pamphlets, posters and stale point-of-purchase materials, making the practice look less cluttered and, therefore, more streamlined and organized.

In order to successfully communicate to patients how the eye-care services and products we provide can benefit them, we must first capture their interest. Because the EyeStarTV provides engaging graphics, accompanying patient-friendly text and is located in the reception area — taking advantage of patient wait time — it's an ideal tool for accomplishing this goal. And as outlined above, accomplishing this goal can lead to a boost in practice revenue and patient satisfaction.

For more information on this marketing tool, visit www.eyestartv.com. OM