Where are the Good Old Days of LASIK?
Written by Polly Neely
Business Development Officer
Where did LASIK go wrong?
Did the economic crisis of 2008 cause the decline of elective procedures? Has discounted LASIK become the only advertising your audience will respond to? While the economic crisis of 2008 certainly played a very large part in the nosedive LASIK took, the economy has rebounded but LASIK has not, why? The number of myopic candidates has not decreased, in fact, the millennials have become the new LASIK patients and they are said to be the largest generation in US history. So the audience is larger and the excimer lasers have continued to become more and more sophisticated and accurate with new technology. Ophthalmologists are still wanting to perform LASIK. So what then is the real reason for the never-ending downward swing of LASIK procedures?
Some say it’s the mindset and spending habits of Millennials and Generation X LASIK candidates, while still others say the baby boomers had more expendable income. It’s common knowledge that roughly 1 in 5 adults ages 30-44 (22%) have student loan debt, as do 4% of those 45 and older. *www.pewresearch.org › fact-tank › 2019/08/13 › facts-about-student-lo. This being said they have no desire to incur additional expense or monthly payments. Yet another theory is that LASIK discounters kept marketing on price, while others stopped or decreased their educational and advertorial marketing to the marketplace, leaving a void and a new generation happened who is not educated on how and why the surgeon’s experience and the advancement of new technology are worth paying for. Still, there is another theory that Refractive Lens Exchange (RLE), is cannibalizing the LASIK markets. After all, it is the ultimate generational solution giving the patient their visual accommodations for all their work and lifestyle needs. As a plus, you’ll never experience cataracts at a later time in your life, thus one surgery does it all. It can be said that all of these play a part in the LASIK decline over the years but let’s not focus on the why LASIK volume is NOT returning but instead let’s do something about reviving it.
What Is the answer ”To Make LASIK Great Again”?
Defining your audience is first. Millennials are said to be the largest generation of 92 million compared to Baby Boomers of 77 million. This generation is or will be approaching their peak years of purchasing power and LASIK candidacy.
5 years ago Generation Y was said to be the saviors of the LASIK market, we are now approaching 2020 and still wondering why the LASIK volume has not increased to equal or exceed “the good ole days of LASIK”. What happened?
Millennials have more choices in procedures, prices and providers than there were in 2008. They have the expendable income so why are they not having LASIK? It could be, they want to know the how’s and why’s of everything they partake in. Thus, the newfound popularity of brewery houses and craft beers. If they can see the process of how it is done and receive what they feel is a personal value, then they are in. They are known to do a lot of prior research on their digital device of choice before committing to a purchase of any kind, especially a procedure. They are multi-taskers but demand your full attention, flexibility, and mobility to meet their needs. Millennials value your experience and enjoy getting to know and know about you, as well as your surgical skills and where you obtained them.
It is understood that generations Gen Y, Gen X and Millennials do not respond to salesmanship, they prefer a personal connection. They want to be educated and have individual attention given to them. They are eager to share their lifestyle with you in order to make sure their personal needs are being met for their individual activities, work, and play. When they make choices, they make them based on their lifestyle, as well as, their paycheck.
So, educate them, be open to questions, recommendations, feedback, and constructive criticism. Assure them that their visual needs and lifestyles are worthy of our undivided time and attention. The price will become less of a deciding factor if the person, product, and purchase are of importance to them. There are numerous ways to gain confidence of this generation who is now eligible for LASIK, however, to do so it requires personal touch.
To gain confidence and market successfully, know your audience. If you are going to recapture the glory days of LASIK/PRK you will need to market where your audience is. This generation works harder than any before to achieve and maintain work/life balance and this is valued greater than wealth. In no way is this denying the truths told that they enjoy life’s perks and occasionally can be impulse buyers, but unlike the baby boomer generation before them, they grew up with technology and digital means of communicating, purchasing, and advertising. If you want to acquire their trust and become their provider of choice, you will have to prove your worth to them up close and personal. That could be an in person meeting or a digital meeting but a PERSONAL meeting for sure.
