The Secret to Refractive Growth
- The Patient Whisperers
- Oct 1, 2023
- 2 min read
As published in the October 2023 issue of Ophthalmology Business Minute. To subscribe, visit their website.
Lean in... We’re sharing the secret to how we made our own refractive practice wildly successful. If you know us, you know we did NOT play in the traditional ophthalmology sandbox - and we grew like crazy because of it!
Our entire roles (CMO and Director of Brand Development) were measured on one thing: refractive growth. Whatever new program or marketing initiative we dreamt up was ultimately measured by cash pay eyes on the schedule.
During our combined 12 years of living, eating, and breathing refractive growth, we cracked the code. We earned the handle of ‘the patient whisperers’ by achieving an average 60% year-over-year cash pay growth in the 4 years we worked together.
How did we do it? Like many things in life, it was incredibly simple at its core. We knew that people drive success, and we understood that emotions drive people.
We stopped and put ourselves in the shoes of our team and our patients every single day, in every decision we made. How would this make me feel? How would this feel if I were the patient? If I worked at the front desk? If I saw this ad on social media?
People make decisions based on emotions and back them up with logic.
We forget this in healthcare because, for most of us, we are really logical and are driven by science, data, outcomes, and facts. Hear us out:
95% of spending decisions occur in the emotional area of the brain. (1)
Without question, the choice to pay thousands out of pocket for laser vision correction, lens exchange, or a premium IOL is an emotional one.
Emotional vs rational marketing performs twice as well (31% vs 16%) for a higher return on investment. (2)
Who doesn’t want to double their marketing return? From ads and landing pages to our websites and social media, conversion starts online. If we don’t appeal to emotions here, there is no patient.
86% of patients are willing to pay +14% higher for what they feel is a great experience. (3)
We’re no longer losing conversions to the ‘cheaper’ practice (and we can charge premium pricing!) if we are successful at making people feel like it’s worth it.
We geek out on data and dove into scientific studies on emotions and decisions ranging from philosophy to neuroscience over the past 35 years. They all reach one overarching conclusion: “Emotions powerfully, predictably, and pervasively influence decision-making.”
Human emotions will either be the driving force behind growth and success - or the roadblock to achieving our goals. Prioritizing the feelings of our team and our patients was the catalyst behind everything that really, actually, worked well.
REFERENCES
Harvard Business School. The subconscious mind of the consumer and how to reach it. https://www.library.hbs.edu/working-knowledge/the-subconscious-mind-of-the-consumer-and-how-to-reach-it/. Accessed 2023.
Neuroscience Marketing. Emotional ads work best. https://www.neurosciencemarketing.com/blog/articles/emotional-ads-work-best.htm. Accessed 2023.
VisionPoint Systems. 86% of the buyers are willing to pay more for better customer experience. https://visionpoint.systems/statistic/86-of-the-buyers-are-willing-to-pay-more-for-better-customer-experience/. Accessed 2023.
Co-Founders, The Patient Whisperers & upSKILLery
