My Lasik Surgery and What You Can Learn as a Marketer.

Yesterday I went to see Dr. Neil Wills at Lasik Plus to have Lasik eye surgery.  Not only was it awesome, but I am now able to see 20/20 and love it.  The whole process was pretty amazing and there is a lot we can learn from his office about our own websites and businesses.  Before we go into a Marketing post and what we can learn about phrases and keywords as well as upsells and cross sells, here’s the video for those of you who want to see.  Nothing to gross in it but you can see my eyes getting zapped by the laser lol.

So when I first got to the office they welcomed me and the customer service was absolutely amazing.  Not only was I impressed with how well I was treated, but they also knew that by making their customers feel good, their customers may be more inclined to leave positive reviews, i.e. this blog post and the ones I am going to leave on Hotpot and other sites to help them out.  The kindness gained my trust and opened me up for buying the upsells and cross sells.  But we’ll get into that soon.  I want to do this post in three sections, 1.  Phrasing and Keywords and how they effect people 2.  Upsells and cross-sells and how they are relevant to your sites and 3.  Learning how to bring people back to your site or office.

1.  Phrasing and Keywords.

I almost backed out of the surgery a couple of times because of one particular word.  Every time they would say your vision correction treatment or lasik treatment I would be calm and excited to have it done.  The minute they would mention surgery I would tense up and get nervous and not want to do it.  One word that means the same thing, procedure or surgery caused a huge reaction in me and if the word surgery was said one more time I would have backed out.  When I mentioned that it bugged me the third time they stopped saying it and I felt confident and reassured that I was going to be in good hands.  If you think about your site, do the words help gain the trust of your visitors or do they chase them away?  Do they engage them and make them feel a part of your site or do you reference everything else in the third or first person?

I recommend using terms like secure shopping, safe, private, secured, guaranteed, satisfaction guarantee, etc… where they are legit to use and in the checkout sales funnel.  All of these terms help to reassure people that their information is safe, they can get some sort of return or their money back if they are not happy, etc…  This reassurance helps to make people take that extra step and make the purchase.  You should also ask yourself if your copy speak to the end user and makes them feel like they are a part of your site.

What I mean by this is it all about you or are you saying me, I or they all the time.  By engaging your audience and making it about them with some references to yourself, you can help them to feel like you are speaking with them directly.  By making them feel at home they may trust you more and enjoy reading what you have to say more.  Then by adding in the conversion terms you can start to get the comfort level and trust of your visitors raised and in return start raising your conversion rates.  Think about if your copy is engaging or just pitching products.  Does your copy only talk about “yourself” or “they” who don’t actually really exist.

2.  Upsells and Cross-sells.

Everywhere you go in Dr. Neil Wills Lasik Plus office you’ll see signs for a cross sell product called Blink tears.  The technicians bring up dry feeling eyes regularly and how the “blink” brand tears will help to alleviate this feeling.  I wasn’t feeling dry eyes whatsoever, but every time they mentioned them over and over my mind started to make me think my eyes were drying and I wanted those drops.  They also had signs that said the Blink tears were only $10 for Lasik plus customers so it made it sound like a special deal and that it was for a privileged group that I was now a part of.  If you look at your site and know that there is a product that compliments your main product sale perfectly, use this same methodology to upsell or cross sell your products and increase your AOV.  (The upsell was unlimited free touch ups if I ever needed lasik again).

Cross Selling complimentary products works great and mentioning the add ons or upsells to the main product regularly in your copy, or showing the benefits of the two together is a great way to increase your shopping cart value.  It makes the person want the extra benefits you shared with them when they have both products and services together.  Lasik Plus did a great job with mentioning the Blink tears everywhere and I ended up buying some.  I didn’t go for the giant pack, but I did buy a decent amount. The important thing to remember when cross selling and up selling is to constantly show the added benefits and how much more they will love the product by using the two together.  In this case it was to help make my eyes feel better with the surgery.

3.  Learning how to bring people back.

A while ago I did this post and mentioned that Salon Blu didn’t try to schedule new appointments as people were paying and leaving.  Not only do I now go to Bang Salon, but Bang only tries to rebook you one out of maybe 5 visits which is probably costing them loyal customers who go elsewhere without the reminder.  If you have a happy customer who had a good experience, book them right then and there, don’t wait for them to remember you.  That is basic business 101 and something many companies forget.  (If your copy is good and your users love it, that is the perfect time to sign them up for your newsletters which is our version of rebooking).  Dr. Neil Wills Lasik Plus office has this down to an amazing system.

After the customer is getting ready to leave their appointment, the Doctor’s sit them down to go over what happened and get you excited for surgery.  They don’t pressure you into staying or coming back, but with all the selling on how simple and how great of a candidate you are, not to mention how easy the procedure is, you are ready to book asap.  They then take you to the front desk, sit you down and read off the next few time slots available for surgery including the same day, and then book your checkups right after.  Not only do they get you to set up your appointment, but they get you excited to go in for it. You can do this same thing by getting your visitors signed up on your newsletter or by using proper remarketing to keep your visitors coming back.

The whole experience was amazing.  Dr. Neil Wills from Lasik Plus is incredible.  He didn’t lie about anything.  He didn’t sugar coat the pain or bad symptoms like Dentists do with using words like tender.  Instead he said it will feel like I cut your eye and threw sand in it.  I loved the honesty and when he walked me through everything he was doing while he was doing it, I felt calm, secure and safe the entire time.  The best part is it didn’t hurt a bit and by 8 or 9pm my eyes felt perfect.  What I learned from Dr. Neil Wills Lasik Plus is that you should be honest with your website visitors like he was honest about the pain and negative effects.  Give them the best customer service possible.  Watch the terms and phrases you are using to make sure your visitors are comfortable and engaged.  Cross sell and up sell the heck out of complimentary products by showing their value and don’t forget to keep your visitors coming back.  I highly recommend Dr. Neil Wills for Lasik surgery and would not trust anyone else with my eyes.  I am now seeing 20/20 and they feel great!