LasikPlus Uses Yext to Provide Patients With Clear Answers Online

For anyone who relies on corrective lenses, LASIK eye surgery can mean freedom — from the annoyance of glasses sliding down your nose every time you go for a jog, or from the discomfort of having dried-out contacts while you try to read a bedtime story to your kids. But if you're starting to consider LASIK surgery, you likely have a few questions.

"When you're in consideration mode, you're in education mode, which means you have a lot of questions," said LaGenia Watkins, Marketing Assistant at LasikPlus. "You want to do a lot of research."

Patients typically come to the LasikPlus website through Google, so the brand first enlisted Yext to help improve its discoverability across search experiences. Using the Yext platform, LasikPlus can answer patient's questions whenever and wherever they search for information about the procedure — reaching them in critical decision-making moments.

Eventually, the team at LasikPlus realized that if they want patients to do their research right there on the brand's website — rather than bouncing back to Google every time they think of a new question — they would need to improve the brand's site search experience.

Yext Search makes it easy for patients just starting their research to find detailed answers to their questions about the procedure, its cost, whether it's covered by insurance, and much more. "With Yext, you're able to get the answer you need right away — which really helps the patient," says Watkins. "Once you get answers to your questions, the next step is to take action and schedule a consultation. We've already seen conversions from visitors using the Search experience, which is exciting for us."

The LasikPlus team is now able to see what specific questions patients are asking in the site search bar, and they're also able to quickly write up answers to common questions that are not already provided on the site. Watkins said she's been surprised at the volume of questions visitors on LasikPlus' website are asking.

"Searching content on the site was made easier with Yext Search, and we saw our searches increase," she explains. "In just our first week, the number of people using the search bar was astounding. I love being able to serve the user with an answer right away."

Watkins says she and her team have also been surprised by some of the questions they hadn't accounted for — like whether you can undergo LASIK eye surgery while pregnant.

Patients can also find answers through high-quality videos on the site, which show up in site search results when you ask a question. Some feature real world testimonials, which allow people to hear from patients who have had the procedure.

Watkins knows that having a strong search strategy in place is key to staying competitive in the market.

"In the years to come, really listening to what our patients want is going to help us stay competitive," she says. "Yext Search has provided us additional insight into specific questions our patients are asking."

Since launching with Yext Search (August 2020 – September 2020), LasikPlus has answered more than 8,500 queries. The brand's click-through rate for site search results is now greater than 25% — indicating that more than a quarter of all site searches performed on the LasikPlus website led patients to useful information.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the LasikPlus team used Yext Listings to seamlessly manage the brand's data across the full Yext Publisher Network — approximately 175 digital services globally, including Google, Amazon Alexa, Apple, Bing, Facebook, Yahoo, and Yelp — to show which locations were temporarily closed. Now that locations are opening back up in accordance with local public health guidelines, LasikPlus is also able to display locations that offer pre-operation appointments through video conferencing.