Pricing is one of the most important aspects of your eye care practice’s growth. It’s easy to fall into the pitfall of over discounting and devaluing your products. There’s a psychology to setting the right prices that are both fair to your patients and fair to your practice.
When setting your pricing strategy, here are some ways you can leverage it to build a premium practice with premium products.
Psychology of Price
Pricing has its own science and psychology behind it. Higher price tags automatically scream premium and quality products. Think about going to buy a TV, which brands are the highest quality? And which are the most expensive? Odds are the answers between the two pretty much line up.
The same goes for extremely low price tags, only in the opposite direction. Low prices make products seem cheap, even if that’s far from the truth. Price is one of the first things a patient is going to notice about a pair of lenses. The lens technology is effectively invisible to them unless demonstrated with a tool like Spectangle PRO. If you over discount your products, you send the wrong first impression, and it’s hard to change that.
The Slippery Slope of Devaluing Product
Once you start discounting products, it’s hard to go back. You will find it challenging to raise prices, and even harder to justify it to customers that notice. You can still make the ground up though as you introduce new products and raising prices slowly. The best option though is to avoid going down this road in the first place.
Find a happy medium, but don’t over discount your products or else patients can start to feel that you are offering cheap products, even when that isn’t true.
A Note on Big Chain Pricing
Sorry, but the reality is that trying to compete with big chains will run you out of business. The big chains can make up their margins in volume and have the purchasing power to keep their prices low.
Focus on where you can compete, customer service, education, expertise, and premium products. Each of these lends themselves to your pricing strategy. It’s not just about the pair of glasses a patient walks out with; it’s the fact they know they found the best solution for them.
Handling Margins
Margins aren’t entirely in your control. Factors ranging from costs of goods to vision plan reimbursement all play a role in setting pricing and margins. When considering what products to offer and their pricing, consider the following hypothetical example:
A cheap pair of progressives you purchase for $40 and sell for $400 is going be the same margin for you as a premium lens you purchase at $90 and sell for $500.
The difference is your patient finds the best solution, and their satisfaction and word-of-mouth marketing can make all the difference for growing your practice.
Educating Around the Value of Glasses
All of this isn’t to say you shouldn’t have a range of products. Patients come from all walks of life and some cannot afford a top of the line progressive lens with all the extra features and treatments.
Always focus on getting patients the lenses they can afford that will provide them the best health benefits. Educate your patients on why they should spend more on extra features or specialized lenses. Focus on the health benefits of a premium pair of prescription sunwear, and how a computer pair of glasses will help with comfort, eye fatigue, and pesky digital eye strain symptoms.
Education will do far more than yet another buy one get one half off deal.
Want to learn more about demonstrating the value of lenses with patients? Download our fact sheet on how much value a premium pair of lenses offers on a daily basis.