Optometry
LensShopper.com is an online consumer guide to contact lenses and general eye care information, launched in 2007 to help people find and compare the best contact lens deals available from the most popular retailers on the market. The site offers a wide range of contact lens types and brands, as well as extra features and tools to help visitors treat their vision problems.
Earlier this year, they launched a comprehensive online eye care directory, responding to “an increasing user demand for a trusted resource to locate local opticians and optometrists.”
Michaela Johansson, a representative at LensShopper.com, goes on by stating – “Nowadays, when you want information you Google it. The problem is that much of the information found online isn’t reliable enough. With this eye care directory we are simply responding to an existing demand on information. What makes us better than everyone else, is the quality and high level of reliability of the information we give out.”
The directory covers the entire United States, listing over 23 000 local eye care clinics by state and city. By choosing the state and city, or by entering a postal code, users will be offered a list of doctors and clinics, each with a dedicated page featuring contact information, a detailed description of the practice, and a directional map from Google Maps.
http://www.lensshopper.com/
“We are far from done, with the ambition to include all licensed and practicing eye care professionals in every state and significant urban areas.” comments Johansson.
And what’s the main motivation behind this desire? A prescription from a certified eye care professional is required to be able to buy contact lenses. A requirement this online contact lens guide seems more than happy to help their visitors meet.
Johansson explains - “Only offering the best and cheapest contact lenses online is not enough. They can look but they can’t buy – at least not without a prescription from their eye doctor. The purpose with our new eye care directory is thus to make it easier for our visitors to schedule an appointment with an eye doctor in their neighborhood so that they can get the prescription they need.”
This might initially sound like LensShopper.com is promoting their competition – the local eye care professional that sells contact lenses “in real life”. However, as Johansson puts – “We can never compete with doctors or opticians. If you need answers to your serious eye care questions, eye doctors will always be first choice. They build a relationship with a patient; they build trust on a face-to-face basis. We cannot take that away, so why not accommodate customers’ needs?”
