HANDS ON - Editor's Letter
Communications 101

Why dedicate an issue to lenses? Because in an EB survey, 73 percent of you said more and more of your profits will be coming from lenses. If that's true, then why do most dispensers and, therefore, consumers still spend only 25 percent of the purchasing process on lenses and 75 percent on frames?

Because we allow it! As an industry, we've failed to translate the important role we say we give to lenses into reality. That's changing, however, and, in a survey of optical business owners, more than half of you told EB that you intend to spend more time discussing lenses.

But here's the problem. Most of you who said this are owners. Yet more than half of the employees we surveyed said they're happy with the way they present product and don't plan to change. Simply put, the message isn't getting through.

Why? Because many owners and managers aren't educating staff about consumer wants and needs or even their own dispensing philosophy. For example, employees say consumers don't have time to hear about lenses. Owners say they do.

EB editors have interviewed nearly 800 consumers about how they perceive and purchase optical goods. Sixty percent have told us they're confused by the way lens product is presented. In fact, more than two out of three consumers told us they'd prefer a limited-selection approach. And, they said they want more information about product in a form that's accessible and digestible.

What's the answer? Simplify, educate, and simplify some more.

Sincerely,

 P.S. Don't miss this month's Seiko-sponsored CE for opticians, "AR-Right."