Subscription modelling
for practice growth

Payment schemes in our profession have been around for quite some time with many originating as a way for patients to fund their contact lenses through regular standing orders.

The last decade has seen the gradual emergence of membership schemes as way of enhancing simple product purchases by adding additional benefits such as the inclusion of clinical services, discounts on eyewear and other membership perks. 

On the surface, many of these schemes appear to be based on simplistic fee structures and product discounts that often don’t reflect the unique nature of a practice and its patient base.

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When developing our membership programme products, we wanted to ensure they are fully costed for each practice because we knew our potential clients have unique practices with differing socio-economic demographics. Some have moved into enhanced eyecare; offering longer appointment times and specialist optometry, all of which come with different overheads. By bundling clinical fees, discounts and comprehensive eyewear cover into a branded membership programme, we help our clients offer a unique product to their patients with a proven track record for growing loyalty and stimulating increased dispense values and ultimately, growing their turnover.

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With the echoes of the pandemic still fresh in many minds, our clients continue to tell us how valuable the regular and predictable income was to them at the time.

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Much of the work behind the scenes at Iris Visioncare is still spent developing the right blend of membership benefits for our clients and ensuring they are charging an appropriate monthly fee that covers the true cost of providing those benefits. Over the years we’ve developed a sophisticated modelling system that analyses our clients KPI data, patient demographics and clinical fee structures; enabling them to offer a unique membership programme that is both affordable for their patients and financially sustainable for the practice in the long term. 

In tandem with this modelling work, our in-house creative team design unique own-branded literature for each client; allowing them to offer what effectively feels like their own product albeit with the full support of our back-office team who deal with payment reconciliation, customer service and marketing support.

So what does the future hold for Iris Visioncare and membership programmes in our profession? 

It’s becoming clear that patients are now far more receptive to paying for private Optometric services through a regular monthly payment scheme, especially with NHS funding becoming ever more inadequate.  We are aiming to be at the leading edge of this change, even more environmentally friendly and to put far more control at the fingertips of our clients.

Our software team have been hard at work developing a new online membership portal that takes advantage of the latest open-source coding and mobile technology and with the emergence of AI, we are now looking at how this amazing new technology can help us to further understand exactly what our clients need to offer to maximise potential growth from their membership programmes.

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Would like to know more about how we can help you develop a unique, fully costed membership programme?