ABB Analyze, powered by Glimpse

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April 19, 2021

Every practice’s data tells a story. Not just of where they’ve been, but where they’re going. That data can serve as the North Star, guiding the strategic direction of the practice. The planning that follows most often begins with evaluating previous performance, setting a goal, determining the activities in which to execute to achieve that goal, implementing those activities and adjusting along the way based on the results – rinse, repeat.

All the intricacies that make up the plan can be complex and of course, ever-changing. But those complications shouldn’t apply to the collecting, storing and organization of that data. That’s where ABB Analyze, powered by Glimpse comes in.

At ABB Analyze, our sole purpose is to help practices succeed by making business analytics simple. Created by private business owners looking to maximize their performance, ABB Analyze understands first-hand, the challenges of successfully managing a business.

The system is designed to be intuitive, customizable and readily available. We show you opportunities, areas of improvement and how you compare to your colleagues. Most importantly, we save practices time so you can focus on what should be your number one priority, your patients.

To get the most out of your practice, you need to get the most out of your data. ABB Analyze will provide a clearer pathway toward increasing revenues and practice success.

To learn more watch this 2 minute video

Now Available! ABB Analyze Lite – FREE Access to 9 Key Practice Metrics – Get Started Here!

Jeremy Bono – Sr. Technology Product Marketing Manager, ABB Optical Group

Turn More Callers into New Optometry Patients with Call Analytics

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Call analytics has become an important component of marketing a practice. It allows you to understand consumer needs and wants in order to attract and retain clients.

Train your staff to receive calls efficiently in order to convert more callers into new optometry patients. Here is how your business can benefit from call analytics:

Collect Data

Call analytics can help you gather valuable information about your target audience. Phone logs are usually collected when patients make a phone call to your practice.

You can figure out the clients’ phone numbers, date and time of the call, call duration, the number of times particular clients have called, and even an audio recording of the entire call. Analyze the reasons why people call in order to better understand consumer demand.

Clients usually call to schedule an appointment or make changes to their appointment. On the other hand, people who are potential customers may call to survey the products and services you offer. Collect and organize data from calls to help with your marketing campaign.

Know Your Target Audience

Staff members who answer the calls should be trained to connect with patients and potential customers in a happy and upbeat manner. Use words unique to your practice to showcase the professional values of your business.

Ask the caller’s name in the beginning and keep using it throughout the conversation to keep them engaged. Work on the rapport by listening to the caller attentively and avoiding outside distractions.

Monitor the call and notice the words used by the customers. This can help you improve keyword search on your website. As a result, your marketing budget will be allocated in a way that maximizes profits. You can also use the phone numbers to send text messages advertizing your optometry practice.

Reduce the number of calls that are routed to voicemail. Make it easy for people to connect to a human staff member rather than an automated response system. If it is necessary to activate voicemail sometimes, make sure a representative gets back to them shortly. Engaging customers effectively will help you draw up an effective marketing plan.

Tracking and recording phone calls can help you determine the efficacy of your customer service. It will enable you to identify and rectify shortcomings in order to enhance customer satisfaction and conversion rates. Monitoring the sales team’s conversations with patients and prospective clients will also help you evaluate their interaction and work on areas that require improvement.

Optimize Your Marketing Campaign

According to studies, the conversion rate of calls is 10 to 15 times higher than web leads. Consider purchasing a call analytics software to get a clear idea of where your marketing campaign stands. They offer different levels of tracking, such as keyword level, campaign level, and multi-channel attribution tracking.

Detailed insight can help you determine which individual marketing are most beneficial for your optometry practice. Keyword tracking will allow you note which keywords are most used during conversations. This data has the potential to drastically improve your digital marketing campaigns, such as pay-per-click ads.

Information gathered through campaign level tracking helps identify which online and offline marketing campaigns are successful in drawing in the most customers. Multi-channel attribution tracking allows you to measure the entire journey of a client from the beginning to the end. It will enable you to figure out which online marketing channels result in offline phone call conversions.

Customer experience is of the utmost importance for an optometry practice. You need to be attentive to customer requirements and expectations in order to make your practice a success. A careful evaluation of call analytics helps turn more callers into new optometry patients.

4 Ways to differentiate yourself in Optometry

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Optometry school may have equipped you with all the technical knowledge and expertise you need, but did you know that this alone does not a great optometrist make?

Read on as we take a look at some of the things they should be teaching you in optometry school, but don’t.

Listening to patients

This may seem like an obvious one, but you’d be surprised to know that some medical professionals don’t truly listen to what patients are trying to tell them.

Each patient is different. Rushing through appointments isn’t going to do anyone any good. As an optometrist, you owe it to patients to give them your time and respect.

After all, hearing out a patient is integral to determining what is troubling them, and coming through with the correct diagnosis.

A good place to start the conversation would be finding out what the patient in question does for a living. This can help you gather basic insights into the kind of lifestyle they lead, and reach a more informed place before treating them.

Managing inventory

The importance of this simply can not be stressed enough, especially considering current pandemic times.

You can be almost certain that the equipment you need, or the medicine you require is either in short supply, or is not going to be delivered on time.

It would thus be prudent to be proactive and take out the time to figure out all that you might be needing to ensure the smooth running of your practice.

Dealing with numbers

No matter what your profession, it would serve you well to follow these words of wisdom to a tee.

It’s important to understand that at the end of the day, you’re running a business. While it’s understandable that as an optometrist, you may want to focus on treating patients while hiring someone else to deal with the monetary side of things, you must set aside a bit of time poring over orders, receipts, and invoices.

No one’s asking you to do a deep-dive, but it will only benefit you and your practice if you’re aware of some basics: service rates by the hour, supply pricing, and how to avail the benefits of loyalty programs offered by various companies.

Managing staff

People management is not as simple as it’s deemed to be. It is, in fact, one of the more challenging aspects to running a practice.

Any practice that is running like a well-oiled machine is sure to have an efficient, meticulous team working behind the scenes.

Maintain employee motivation by empowering them, trusting them, and granting them due recognition for their efforts.

A good way to go about this is by first trying to gauge how good they are at making decisions. To do this, you don’t necessarily have to entrust them with a task; you can start by having routine discussions at the clinic to see where everyone stands.

The tactics mentioned above will help add value to your practice, and even guarantee long-term success.

The Potential of Artificial Intelligence in Optometry

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Artificial intelligence is a branch of computer science that uses various techniques that aim to mirror human intelligence. One AI technique is machine learning, which relies on vast data sets to learn and predict results without human intervention.

Artificial intelligence has slowly made its way to optometry as well. It is unlikely that it will ever replace an optometrist but instead has the potential to ease their jobs. This doesn’t mean that robots will be running around in our healthcare facilities, but rather AI focuses on a large amount of patient data to give insight into diagnosis and treatment methods.

Let’s look at how it has the potential to change an optometrist’s practice.

Streamline management

Many software is coming to the market that provides autonomous management of tasks related to patients. Repetitive tasks like scheduling, billing, and follow-ups can be done on the fly and updated as new information is received. This improves organizational productivity for many optometry practices, making them more efficient, and leaves more focus on patient care.

Early detection

One of AI’s advantages is that it can process vast amounts of data more quickly as a computer is doing most of the legwork. This especially comes in handy when processing optical coherence tomography (OCT) images, retinal images and dry eye. It can look for patterns within these images that optometrists might miss because of the subjective nature by which these images are analyzed.

Diabetic retinopathy

Machine learning can monitor these images over time and see if any changes are occurring that lead to eye diseases that manifest progressively. FDA-approved AI systems are already appearing on the market that analyze fundus photography to detect elements of diabetic retinopathy such as hemorrhages, aneurysms, and other lesions. It can detect these changes early on, leading optometrists to formulate a health plan with the patient. Additionally, this system requires minimal training and can outperform humans.

Glaucoma

The technology is currently in its early stages to detect other ocular diseases such as glaucoma by fundus photographs, optical coherence tomography (OCT), and visual fields. It is beneficial for open-angle glaucoma cases where symptoms don’t typically exhibit themselves. Since glaucoma can’t be cured, early detection may help manage the disease to prevent it from getting worse to the point of blindness.

Dry Eye

New technology has emerged in the Dry eye arena. Advanced Opthalmic Systems.

When it comes to talking to patients about their dry eye disease, a picture is worth a thousand words. Conversations become easier when you can show a patient an image of their ocular surface. Suddenly it all clicks. (Pun intended) AOS is one company that takes it a step further with innovative technology. The platform automatically grades an image for Bulbar Redness, Injection and Lid Redness. In Staining mode the software counts punctate of a fluorescein image. It can also convert a fluorescein image into 2D and 3D which brings a real wow factor.

The images show patients proof of their condition and the analysis provides context. It’s much like the difference between stating a fact and telling a story. We can now give meaning to symptoms felt and seen in the eye. And it’s especially useful for assessing progress during follow up appointments. Lower redness numbers or lower punctate counts tell me and the patient we are on the right track. AOS analysis improves patient education which helps boost compliance. Better compliance leads to better outcomes and that leads to happy, loyal patients.

Reduce false positives

False positives occur when a test result shows that a disease is present when it is not in reality. Here AI can help as well. By looking at vast amounts of medical data regarding symptoms that a patient presents, it can predict the likelihood of a disease or condition is present.

This helps the patient from any unnecessary discomfort in terms of added consultations to their optometrist or an ophthalmologist, saves their time, and saves money on any unnecessary medication they may require.

Artificial intelligence is showing its potential in many medical fields other than optometry, like oncology, dermatology, pharmacology, and genetics. Though still in its infancy, improvements in this technology will help doctors verify their diagnoses and interpret data faster independently. This does not mean that a doctor’s work will become redundant, as AI algorithms are not yet 100% accurate. There will cases when a doctor’s insight will be invaluable in diagnosing diseases. It can be considered a tool to their advantage.