GREENVILLE, N.C.—The development of its new Web site, which 50-unit Doctors Vision Center launched late last month, was a year-and-a-half process of examination, discussion and research, according to executives. And the process is recognized by management as one that will continue, even as the site starts to build new awareness and patient connections via interactivity and social media.
Sherrie Rogerson, vice president of retail sales/franchise services, and Suzanne Berardi Gould, Doctors Vision Center’s creative director, described the process, working with local Raleigh-based True Parallel, a digital media consultancy. “Over a year ago, we started recognizing how much electronic and digital media was changing and we took a deeper look at all areas, from our web page to both our doctor and retail messages and how we wanted to update our involvement on the web,” Rogerson told CLICK. “Our goal was to make our sight more family friendly—targeting the decisionmakers about eyecare—and we wanted more interaction on the site, among our own internal teams and with our patients.”
Added Berardi Gould, “We went through everything, our creative boards, colors, the structure, soup to nuts, to develop something that could truly reflect everything we were about, making sure our doctor message was upfront but recognizing that the dispensary was important. We didn’t change our fundamental message but we created a more modern approach.”
Added True Parallel’s Mark Rosenberg, “The discussions were strategic, asking what we want users to be able to do when they come to the site. It’s really not just about advertising or a ‘web site’ anymore, but the idea of a ‘digital transformation.’ We took to heart the idea of ‘family,’ ‘mom’, ‘medical care’ and then the retail component, so we broke down the architecture and navigation of the site and, importantly, set a really good foundation for where the site can go in the future.“
Doctors Vision Center’s new web presence spans content-rich areas about its doctors, its eyecare and contact lens centers (the group is readying online CL ordering soon), as well as news updates and general, authoritative eye care information. Most of the site’s sections enable interactivity/exchange with users, with ‘comment’ capabilities and other social media “sharing” functions for Facebook, Twitter and other hubs. An office locator drives traffic to the individual local doctor sites. Appointment scheduling, questions/answers and display areas span other parts of the site.
Said Berardi Gould, “Our former site wasn’t built in a CMS format, it took forever to get updates made and we had little flexibility in what was there. But our new approach features a CMS format that is easy to use and, in addition to our main ‘home’ site, we set up 50 ‘micro’ or local sites for each of our offices so that they can customize their messages and news updates to patients, but take advantage of all the features of the main site behind those. There’s still about 25 percent more to come—as we explore e-commerce and social media—the basics are now in place.”
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