Your patients are the reason that your practice is able to stay open for business. Without them, you'd be nothing. The fundamentals behind keeping patients happy in your eyecare practice starts with things like exceptional customer service and building trust. Both of these topics were articles we wrote about three years ago along with practice habits that could be costing you customers. All three of these topics are just as important today as they were three years ago.

Optical Resources: The Importance of Patient Satisfaction

6 Ways Your Optical Dispensing Habits are Costing You Customers

Patients will always be the focal point of your eyecare practice, and your practice habits have an effect on their experience in your practice. If your practice is losing customers instead of gaining them, you could be in big trouble. In this article, we learn more about how these six mistakes could be costing you customers:

• Your online presence isn't up to par
• You aren't open at convenient times
• You aren't engaging in meaningful marketing strategies
• Your prices are too high
• Your staff isn't passionate
• Your orders aren't arriving soon enough

 Keeping Customers Happy in Your Eyecare Practice

Not only do your practice habits effect the customer experience, but so does your staff's customer service. In this article from 2013, we sat down with our Director of Customer Relations to talk about everything related to the customer in your eyecare practice. Check it out to get the answers to the following questions:

• We all know the saying, "the customer is always right," but is there ever a time when the customer is actually wrong? How do you handle this?
• How can an eyecare practice make their customer service processes more efficient?
• What qualities do you think managers should look for when hiring customer service reps?
• How has the customer service industry evolved over the years?
• Do you think customer service teams can utilize social media to engage and interact with customers?

7 Hints for Building Trust with Patients in Your Practice

In healthcare, building trust with your patients is very important. Your patients have plenty of options when it comes to finding healthcare from another provider, and if your patients don't feel that they can trust you, they won't hesitate to get their care from someone else. On top of that, you want your patients to trust you enough that they would recommend you to their friends and family. Word of mouth referrals are one of the best ways to obtain new customers. Some of our top tips discussed for building trust include:

• Don't have a shady website
• Provide explanations of instruments and measurements
• Reward your most loyal patients
• Be honest about product options
• Provide access to a patient portal
• Keep your practice modern with technology
• Deliver the information your patients are looking for

For more tips on keeping patients happy in your eyecare practice, subscribe to the blog!