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AN E-NEWS BRIEFING ABOUT WEB TECHNOLOGY AND INTERNET-BASED BUSINESS TRENDS July 29, 2010

CLICK Connects—And Save the Date for The First-Ever CLICK Conference This Fall!

Attention to digital media is growing exponentially. And new ideas about how to develop a strong online presence is driving CLICK in new directions. Vision Monday’s CLICK e-newsletter is now issued twice a month.

Also, please Save the Date for our first-ever CLICK Conference, a special session designed to help ECPs and optical retailers learn more about social media and the Web. The CLICK Conference will be held the morning of Oct. 7 in Las Vegas just prior to the start of International Vision Expo West. Leading Web experts and ECPs will share what’s shaping today’s Web success stories, what works and what doesn’t. Space will be limited at the Conference, so mark your calendars now!

Catch up on CLICK! Learn from dozens of stories, tips and interesting ideas in the easy-to-access archives of CLICK at www.visionmonday.com. Tried something new on your website or have you launched a special social media campaign? Tell us about it and we'll consider it for an upcoming feature in CLICK.
—The Editors

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in focus
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As Its Vision Care Business Grows, Smile Reminder Introduces New ‘Glasses Ready’ Feature

LEHI, Utah—CLICK first wrote about Smile Reminder a year ago and we talked about the digital media company, which offers a full suite of e-services for health care professionals, starting to target the vision care market. (See the CLICK archives for June 2009.)

Smile Reminder provides practices with messaging solutions designed to improve office efficiency, enhance the patient experience and increase overall patient loyalty. The company’s patent-pending solutions use the latest in messaging technology that works for today's mobile society.

Now, the comprehensive patient communication service—based on the growth of its business in the vision care market, according to executives—has introduced a new “Glasses Ready” feature to notify patients that their eyewear is ready for pick-up, via customized email or text. The Glasses Ready feature produces an automated message from the practice when a patient’s eyewear is ready and patients can then pick-up their glasses at their convenience.

“The vision care segment is our fastest-growing business, said Mark Olson, Smile Reminder’s vice president of marketing and business development, who also told CLICK that the new Glasses Ready feature is a quick response to a need identified by some of the company’s eyecare professional customers. In addition to its work with dentists, plastic surgeons and dermatologists, Smile Reminder’s business with optometry and ophthalmology is growing, Olson said, adding, “In fact, the Texas State Optometric Association is endorsing us now, and we are building traction with other groups.”

The standard features offered through Smile Reminder’s communication platform allow offices to simplify their daily routine and strengthen doctor-patient relationships through services such as: automated appointment reminders and confirmations, last minute appointment openings announcements, e-newsletters, e-surveys, custom promotions, patient recall/recare, patient referrals, and a new suite of tools that take advantage of Web 2.0 opportunities.

Smile Reminder has added social media tools to help doctors establish Facebook and Twitter accounts, and facilitates all the messages on their behalf to their patient base. “This helps doctors build their networks more quickly through one intergrated effort. Social media is reducing our need to go out and search for information,” Olson noted. ”So much is pushed from our networks—people who are trusted friends and individuals. Every day through our networks we hear about great movies, good restaurants, good health care experiences, too—if doctors don’t put themselves into that mix, they are not part of the information flow in those social networks.”

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solutions

New Trends in Interactive and Mobile Marketing, Per Shop.org

NEW YORK—The first State of Retailing Online (SORO) 2010 survey results were issued a few weeks ago by Shop.org, the digital media resource and information community of the National Retail Federation.

The full results of the survey are available to those who become members of Shop.org but the top-line survey, which covers interactive marketing, social media and mobile, provide some really interesting facts about how the digital realm is transforming the retail realm.

- Retailers surveyed reported an average of 29 percent growth in Web sales for 2009 vs. 2008.

- Search still takes the lion’s share of interactive marketing budgets, with paid search dominating as the largest single allocation of marketing spend. Furthermore, nine out of 10 retailers surveyed noted search engine marketing was among the most effective customer acquisition sources last year.

- Retailers are investing this year in browse and navigation functionality, as well as product page content.

- Four out of five retailers surveyed that this is a great time to pursue social marketing strategies so they can experiment and learn from them—even if the return is as yet unclear.

- To date, social marketing initiatives implemented include social network pages, microblogs, and customer ratings and reviews, among others. Anticipated investments going forward center on further leveraging customer/user generated content.

- Mobile is another significant focus for online retailers. While many are still developing their mobile strategy, retailers surveyed have big plans for functionality for this emerging channel.

The Shop.org survey also breaks out results by company type (multi-channel retailers vs “pureplay” or internet-only), size in annual Web revenue and other metrics by category for apparel, accessories & footwear; beauty & personal care; general merchandisers; home; and sporting goods & accessories. Shop.org Members can also register for the playback of a May 5 Webinar, which included some high level initial findings from this survey, along with a discussion of those with Brian Walker of Forrester Research and Rob Schmults of SmartDestinations.

Even though most are major-size online and retail players, the data provides insights that can be helpful to any online initiative, including vision care.

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cool tools

Hootsuite.com

Having trouble managing all your practice Twitter and Facebook updates? Hootsuite is a multi-functional tool that enables you to keep track of what's being posted in the social media universe and also to manage your own posts with multiple members of your team, including scheduling tools and metrics that can help you manage what's working. The HootSuite signup enables you and your team to have a “dashboard” and monitor mentions so you can “listen” to the conversation. You can work with the entry or premium platforms but even the entry platform offers a range of helpful, time-management options for your involvement in social media, including mobile options for posting updates.

CoTweet.com

 

Another service for managing multiple users and multiple tweets and Facebook posts under one business name or account is CoTweet. Its website also offers a blog and helpful tips about using social media—not only about managing your posts among your team but about monitoring “the conversation” among other participants online. It also offers mobile posting options and connects to a host of social media formats. It’s also a time management and marketing tool as well, for keeping up with customer connections, mentions and comments.

sites to see

A&A Optical has just re-launched its website, with a fresh look, layout, colors and state-of-the-art features, including new collections, special offers, training, news, product releases and more to create a true “one-stop-shop” to meet all eyecare professionals’ needs.

Customers can now shop from A&A’s hottest selling frames in the Best Sellers collection and review customer product testimonials in Raving Reviews inside Best Sellers. A Wish List function has been added so customers can add their favorites for quick reference or hold for future online shopping trips. A&A ABO-approved CE courses are now offered and can be accessed through the A&A Optical homepage. New releases are now featured on A&A’s homepage in the Latest Looks collection, which is updated each month.

In addition, Ron’s Top Picks collection now includes a photo wall which features Ron Jaworski sporting his favorite XXL glasses at athletic events and Jaws Youth Fund fundraising event. The site’s extranet also lets A&A’s sales consultants the ability to place orders on behalf of their customers, and look up account history records. Consultants can also view the latest marketing materials, company and product information and a calendar of events.

Robert Leiner, A&A Optical president/CEO said, “We are seeing more of our business partners and customers embrace the internet and A&A Optical wants to be there to meet their needs. We now are excited to offer ABO-approved CE courses to our customers and we look forward to helping them build their business. The internet is ever-changing and in order to keep current, we need to change with it.”

 

Children’s eyewear specialist Zoobug has redesigned its website, a resource with information about Zoobug’s extensive sunglass and optical ranges, and special features for consumers and opticians. For the first time, consumers will be able to select and purchase Zoobug sunglasses, which protect kids’ eyes from UV, direct from the company online. The website also gives details of Zoobug’s optical ranges. A search facility and map are provided to make it easy for the public to search for local dispensers of Zoobug frames.

A number of new, fun pages, some embracing social media, have also been added. Friend is a page where visitors can subscribe to the Zoobug Newsletter and view the Zoobug Gallery, a space dedicated to kids who love their Zoobug frames. Parents can download images of their kids wearing models and they will be featured. Events showcases the latest news about exhibitions and meetings while Zoobug Image Gallery provides Zoobug images now available to opticians for instant download. This area has been designed for customers who want instant imagery for marketing and promotions.

“Zoobug’s website now provides a wide range of information for opticians and the general public, in an eye-catching, easy-to-use format,” explained Dr. Julie Diem Le, Director of Zoobug. “We have launched our online shopping option for our sunglass ranges following exceptional demand. It is becoming increasingly clear that parents are buying more and more of their kid’s clothing online.”