How to sell lens coatings

I know from my conversations with opticians that talking about and selling coatings to your patient/consumer is sometimes limited by time and the discussion often happens at the very end of the customer journey in your store. As a result of these conversations, I've put together this article so you can have more information about coatings and how to successfully sell them to every lens purchasing customer.

The Best Eyeglasses for Your Customers

I am quite sure one of the main reasons you enjoy and excel at your job is because you want to give each customer the best vision care solution. To do this, it’s important to consider all key eyeglass components together, which creates the ultimate vision care solution for your customer. What do I mean by this? The sales process for frames, lenses and coatings must be seen holistically to best answer your customer’s vision care needs. When you consider and personalize each element your customers benefit the most.

How Coatings Improve Quality of Vision

Do your customers know coatings can help improve their vision? How many customers did you tell today that with a coating they can reduce the light reflected by their lenses from 10% to 1%? Do you explain how reduced light reflection improves their vision? Do your customers walk out of your store knowing that by adding a coating to their new eyewear they could experience exceptionally clear vision, comparable to a naked eye and that their eyes could take in 99% of light? 

You should discuss the advantages of coatings and how they improve the quality of vision with every customer. If you have not been discussing this with customers, I recommend you put together a plan with your staff to ensure there is a process. If you need a place to start, you can follow the tips in our guide. Most of your customers will expect a better screen performance when they buy a new TV, laptop, tablet or mobile phone. But many spectacle wearers are not enjoying the most natural light they could nor protecting the lenses of their stylish new glasses if they do not have lens coatings.

How Customers Benefit From Coatings

To give all your customers the best vision care, explain the differences in the quality of coatings and talk about the daily benefits they shall experience. Your customers can benefit daily from coatings in the following ways: 

• More relaxed vision
• Less glare from light reflecting off lenses
• Improved vision comfort when driving at night
• Increased comfort when reading
• Reduced strain when working on digital devices
• High resistance to lens scratches
• Reduced cleaning of lenses

How to Sell Coatings

One way you can sell a coating is to ask your customers what annoys them about their current eyeglasses. You explain recent research that shows:

• 70% of people are irritated by reflections on their lenses*
• 60% of people are annoyed by constant lens cleaning*
• 70% of people swear when their lenses get scratched*

To give your customers the very best vision care, think about how to sell coatings as part of a complete vision care package. If you are interested to know more, download our guide ‘When and how to sell coatings’, which includes:

• The best moments to discuss coatings with your customers 
• How you can talk to customers about lens coatings
• Matching your customers' lifestyle to coatings
• And much more

*Independent research study amongst ECP & consumers from seven countries. Data on file Hoya Vision Care 2019.