This article was written in partnership with Essilor, a proud supporter of new graduate optometrists and CovalentCareers. 😎
As eyecare professionals (ECPs) look to offer patients the best in lens technology and an unmatched visual experience, Transitions® Signature® GEN 8™ lenses have upped the ante when it comes to light-intelligent lens options.
What Is Different About Transitions® Signature® GEN 8™ Lenses
Transitions® Signature® GEN 8™ lenses feature new technology that delivers all of the great protection that Transitions® lenses are known for, but now with a few key differences.
- Return to clear faster than ever before. Transitions® Signature® GEN 8™ lenses fade back to clear up to 3 minutes faster than Transitions® Signature® lenses.2
- Get darker outdoors and activate to a category 3 darkness 30% faster than Transitions Signature lenses.3
- Fully clear indoors, even darker outdoors
1 Based on achieving the highest weighted composite score among main everyday photochromic lenses across measurements of key photochromic performance attributes weighted by their relative importance to consumers.
2 CR607 products fade back to clear 2 minutes faster. Claim is based on tests across materials on grey lenses, being the most popular color, fading back to 70% transmission @ 23°C.
3 CR607 products activate to a category 3 darkness 15% faster. Claim is based on tests across materials on grey lenses, being the most popular color, achieving 18% transmission @ 23°C.
What Colors do Transitions® Signature® GEN 8™ Come In
Right now, patients can choose to get their lenses in either gray or brown with expanded color availability, including Graphite Green and Style Colors, coming in 2020.
Getting More Patients Into Transitions® Signature® GEN 8™ Lenses with the Essilor Next GEN Offer
One potential barrier to entry for patients might be uncertainty surrounding whether or not they might like Transitions lenses if they have never worn them before. With the Essilor Next GEN Offer, patients that purchase Transitions® Signature® GEN 8™ with any Crizal® No-Glare lenses on select Essilor® designs, can receive a Bonus Pair of clear, qualifying lenses for free.**
With competition greater than ever before, the Essilor Next GEN Offer can give patients the perfect opportunity to experience this superior lens technology, while giving the independent ECP the opportunity to not only recommend a product that will benefit the ocular health of their patients, but also help increase practice revenue.
*Equal to or of lesser value than the Qualifying First Pair.
**Valid from July 10 (or enrollment date, whichever is later) through December 31, 2019. Frame purchase required for both pairs. Qualifying Pair can be any Transitions with Crizal and must include Varilux X Series or any Essilor Single Vision lens only. Bonus Pair must be of equal or lesser value. Restrictions apply. See EssilorUSA.com for offer details.
How Can The Essilor Next GEN Offer Help ECPs and Increase Practice Revenue?
- Essilor has invested heavily in promoting the offer through national advertising and search engine optimization to help drive patients to participating practices and give ECPs an opportunity to get more of their patients in this technology.
- In addition to progressive lens wearers, the offer can be a useful tool to help attract those single vision patients who notoriously are more likely to try their luck online or at a retailer, helping you keep sales in house and improve capture rate.
- ECPs can also benefit from second frame revenue and upgrade options.
- Better visual experiences for patients lead to greater satisfaction and word of mouth referrals.
ECPs Have Been Enjoying Success With Transitions Lenses
Many ECPs and independent practice owners have enjoyed great success in offering and recommending Transitions lenses in their practices and to their patients. Doctors like Jennifer Chinn, OD who works with Transitions Optical® as an advocate for Transitions lenses and is part of Essilor Experts™ finds great opportunity in recommending this lens technology, particularly with her young patient demographic. Dr. Chinn believes there are three key components ECPs should understand in order to grow their practice using Transitions lenses.
Read how these ODs have incorporated Transitions lenses into their practice.
1) Understanding The Benefits of Transitions lenses
The benefits of Transitions lenses can be broken into two components, one being your patients, and the other being your practice. First and foremost, Transitions lenses function to provide ocular health benefits for our patients. Transitions lenses block 100% of harmful UVA and UVB rays, offer protection against Harmful Blue Light*, and can provide patients with a more comfortable viewing experience in light changing environments.
Not only is this lens technology a valuable tool for your patients, but it can provide a great source of growth for your practice. By recommending Transitions lenses, you can offer patients something unique to increase the value of the glasses you provide at an in-office eye exam, and encourage patients to keep their business in your practice. Offering superior products and lens technology can help generate increased practice revenue and growth through optical sales and capture rate.
*“Harmful Blue Light” is calculated between 380 nm and 460 nm, across materials and colors.
2) Knowing How To Talk About Transitions lenses
In the exam room, I try to gear my conversations towards gaining insight about my patients’ daily lives and how they use their eyes. I’m then able to determine the best way to educate them on how their eyes are being affected throughout the day. I prescribe Transitions lenses as a treatment for the eyes that they never knew they needed. I describe how Transitions act as an extra layer of protection to reduce exposure to harmful UV radiation outdoors and harmful blue light. In addition, Transitions lenses can provide the most comfortable vision without glare or excess reflections causing them to squint.
I usually introduce Transitions lenses by re-affirming some of the complaints or visual needs the patient may have discussed earlier like light sensitivity, glare, or spending ample time outdoors or on electronic devices, and then by offering Transitions lenses a solution. Instead of describing Transitions lenses as lenses that “turn dark when you walk outdoors, and clear when you walk indoors,” I show and provide an example for patients using my own lenses, which subsequently allows me to discuss the added benefits of eyewear customization using various color options available and matching them with different kinds of frame styles.
There is no magical “script” per say, when it comes to how I introduce and educate my patients about Transitions lenses because I tailor every conversation differently depending on the patient and their needs. But the key points I always address are that Transitions lenses provide convenience, comfort, and protection all in one pair of lenses that you can customize to any frame and style.
Learn more about the science behind Transitions lenses.
3) Identifying Target Patients
With the newest generation of Transitions Signature GEN 8 Lenses ECPs have a great opportunity to inform all age groups of the value these lenses provide.
Transitions Signature GEN 8 Lenses allow us to counter the age-old complaint of Transitions lenses not fading back quickly enough, or leaving a residual tint indoors. With Transitions Signature GEN 8 lenses, we can show our patients faster activation, fade back, and lenses that are fully clear indoors.
Transitions Signature GEN 8 Lenses also give us the opportunity to educate parents and young children. Parents may not be aware of how harmful UV radiation can be to children, or they may be asking us about blue light exposure, especially now that children are spending an increasing amount of time on digital devices. These are perfect opportunities to get a discussion going and offer these lenses as a solution to protect their children’s eyes during their critical growth and development period.
Transitions Signature GEN 8 Lenses and the ability to customize them with different color, style, and frame options can provide opportunities to offer these lenses to our millennial and Gen Z patients who are always searching for ways to be unique and to purchase products that not only benefit their well-being, but also speak loudly of their personality.
In the end, the most effective aide in helping patients feel confident purchasing Transitions lenses, is that my staff and I wear the lenses and are well educated on the product. As a young optometrist, leading by example by wearing these lenses myself gives younger patients an opportunity to relate to me. For middle-aged patients, when I show them my lenses, it positively reinforces the benefits of Transitions lenses. Our patients trust our advice, and seeing that we actively are using the lenses we recommend to them speaks loudly to the confidence we have in the quality of the product.
