Why Dr. Chatwani Offers the ZEISS Experience to Her Patients

In January 2019, Dr. Chatwani opened her brand new location for Tri-City Optometry in Fremont, CA after working in her original location for over 13 years.  Her new practice reflects her modern vision of serving patients in Silicon Valley with an innovative, technology-driven practice and an exclusive partnership with ZEISS.

“I wanted to offer the latest technology, and chose a partner that also wanted the best for me as an independent practice, so I chose ZEISS.  ZEISS has over 170 years of expertise in precision optics. My patients are getting the best lenses and technology available and with ZEISS equipment, and I know they’ll get a full ‘ZEISS Experience’ from the start of their exam through to the selection of their lenses and eyeglasses.”

Built with the end-to-end patient experience in mind, the new office offers an inviting and distinctive space. Most notably, there is no reception desk. Instead, you find a welcoming “Community Table” where patients are greeted by a Tri-City Optometry team member, complete with iPad-based check-in.

“We wanted to design the office with best possible experience for a patient. Every patient is greeted eye-to-eye and with a smile when they enter the practice. By design, we don’t have a formal reception desk. As a result, phone calls are never answered in the optical and paperwork is completely out of sight. The staff is trained to keep 100% of their focus on every patient that walks through the door.”

The well thought out patient experience continues down to the staff uniforms of matching scrubs, music in the optical, scent branding, and name tags with a modern design which adds a level of trust and professionalism. The attention to design detail continues with consideration of the flow of the patient journey through the office.

The sensory experience continues with bright white frame boards and specialized retail lighting,  with a carefully chosen frame selection that offers an inviting shopping experience, allowing patients to want to stay and browse at ease. In addition to the inviting optical space there is a high-tech ZEISS equipped pre-test room, a room for vision therapy and an esthetician room for personalized patient services such as threading and brow waxing. Dr. Chatwani shares,

“We thought patients would appreciate the extra services related to the eyes and it again adds another convenience for them to get it done all in one place.”

Tri-City Optometry has grown organically over the years, which has relied heavily on word of mouth and recommendations from happy patients to family and friends.

“I’ve always had a passion for this industry and truly want to help every patient see better so they can live their best lives. I think people remain loyal when they know they are getting specialized care and that the doctors and staff really do care about the people they are serving.”

Tri-City Optometry also uses social media with a more organic approach to help them market the practice and their services.

“Being active on social media has allowed us increased communication to current patients while reaching new ones. This lends itself to building lasting relationships and an ongoing community around our practice.”

In addition to working in the office, Dr. Chatwani has served as an eye doctor to the Oakland Athletics and enjoys seeing the players at the office, attending Spring Training, as well having a further reach with the local community.

For more information about Tri-City Optometry, visit www.tricityeyes.com, and to learn more about ZEISS go to www.zeiss.com/lenses.

ZEISS continues to impress at CES 2019 – Day 4

The fourth day of CES typically winds down significantly and has been referred to as exhibitor day since many exhibitors have time to finally visit one of 4,400 booths at CES 2019.

The ZEISS booth however continued to impress today as over 500 attendees and other exhibitors stopped by to hear our story of UVB4Blue and to learn about the gap in UV protection.

The ZEISS C-UV400 continued to dominate and be the most sought after tech in the wearables section as visitors wanted to discover if they had enough UV protection in their glasses. The team did find time to take their own selfie on the UV tablet including the use of our pirate glasses, which has one industry  standard lens and one ZEISS UVProtect lens. These clear lenses look like sunglasses to a UV camera when they provide full UV protection.

As our team met with other exhibitors they were very complimentary about our booth design, attendee engagement, and our story. ZEISS was even treated to a tribute by one app developer who displayed the ZEISS shield while demonstrating the power of the app.

CES 2019 is now in the books and ZEISS definitely had a great impact with consumers.

ZEISS booth continues to outperform other exhibitors at CES 2019 – Day 3

The ZEISS booth continued to be the epicenter in the wearables section of CES 2019 again today.  Over 1200 attendees stopped by the booth, including over 800 attendees who waited in line as long as 30 minutes to experience the UV demo tools and ZEISS video. At one point the line was seven people deep for each of the iPad stations, clearly outperforming all other exhibitors in the wearables section for attendee interaction.

The strong level of interest by attendees attracted media from around the world as Andrew Hyncik, VP of Marketing and Steven Haifawi, Senior Director of Customer Service and VTS both conducted multiple interviews for print and electronic media. In addition, Andrew held a Facebook Live session with Dr. Iravani of Silicon Valley, who was in town to visit CES, and experienced the onslaught of attendees to the ZEISS booth first hand.

The celebrity buzz also continued as Shawn Stockman of Boyz II Men and former NBA player Jerome Williams both stopped by the booth to learn about the UV protection gap and use the ZEISS C-UV400 tablet.

ZEISS booth heats up CES 2019 – Day 2

The ZEISS booth became a focal point in the Wearables section of CES 2019 today as it was visited by more than 1000 attendees.  812 of these attendees waited in line for up to 25 minutes to interact with several innovative UV demonstration tools, including the new ZEISS C-UV400 tablet, as well as to watch a ZEISS video detailing the importance of prioritizing UV protection before blue light.

The underlying message of UVB4Blue resonated with attendees as they took away the need to ensure they have fully protected themselves from UV light all the way to 400 nm before addressing any blue light concerns they may have. The sheer volume of attendees at the ZEISS booth also attracted additional media outlets today including additional bloggers, social media influencers, two international news outlets, industry media from Vision Monday & 20/20 Magazine, and the CES organizers themselves who used the ZEISS booth as the backdrop for capturing show imagery to memorialize day two.

Actor Wesley Snipes, a ZEISS enthusiast, also stopped by the ZEISS booth to see what was new from ZEISS “the maker of the greatest lenses in the world”. Mr. Snipes was happy to hear about ZEISS UVProtect and excited to use the ZEISS C-UV400 tablet.

The science and fashion behind National Sunglasses Day

June 27 is National Sunglasses Day, and it’s a great opportunity to remind patients how  important it is to protect your eyes as vigilantly as you protect your skin. And with the variety of ZEISS lenses that offer UV protection, you can really express your personal style.

Eyewear stylist and influencer Alana Whitaker, known as @californiaglassesgirl on Instagram, recently put ZEISS mirror lenses in two of her WOOW frames, and we think they look great.

But there’s more to sunglasses than how great they look. What’s the science behind UV protection? And how can you be sure that your sunglasses are protecting you? Here’s an overview.

UV rays from the sun can cause short-term and long-term damage to both the eye and its surrounding tissue (known to doctors as the external ocular adnexa). Short-term damage comes from UV-B rays primarily, and includes corneal burns (photokeratitis), conjunctivitis, and sunburned eyelids. UV-A rays (320-400 nanometers) can be attributed to long-term problems such as cataracts, photoaging, and even skin cancer. These rays penetrate the deepest into the skin and eyes. To protect your eyes as well as you can, it is important to select eyewear with UV protection which covers the entire UV spectrum up to 400 nm.

Fortunately, ZEISS has the broadest offering of UV400 protection for the eyes on the market. For patients who want full UV protection and reduced glare, ZEISS has a wide range of prescription sunglass tints, gradients, polarized lenses, and mirror options. There is even a quick quiz to help guide your patients into the best outdoor lens option to suit their lifestyle, the Sunlens Type Test.

ZEISS also has a wide range of self-tinting lenses for patients who want the convenience of having one pair of glasses which have clear lenses indoors and a sunglass tint outdoors. ZEISS PhotoFusion lenses adapt very quickly to changing light conditions, come in 5 color options, and offer full UV protection up to 400nm.

But that’s not all. Since April 2018, ZEISS has had the most astounding offer yet for patients wanting full UV protection.  All ZEISS clear lenses now come with sunglass level UV protection in all materials. That means full UV protection is now available to all eyeglass wearers – as long as their lenses are from ZEISS.

ZEISS truly has you covered – and protected from UV.

Find out more:

Keep It Sunny: Raising UV Awareness with a Chatbot

2018 has been the breakout year for chatbots. Just two short years ago, most of the world hadn’t heard of them. Now there are well over 100,000 just on Facebook Messenger alone. They’re catching on quick, and already more than 20% of consumers prefer chatbots as the easiest way to contact a business, beating phone calls, emails, and websites.

“By 2020, 80% of business will have some sort of chatbot automation in place.”—Business Insider, 2016

That’s less than two years away!

Creating a unique, user-driven, interactive customer service experience is something most companies strive for, right? Well, that’s really difficult to do 24/7, unless you employ chatbots. And ZEISS is known for being a trend-setting technology and precision company, so it was time to place our trust in technology yet again and give chatbots a try.

Sunny the UV Chatbot avatar

Sunny the UV Chatbot was launched within Facebook Messenger in April 2018 to support the launch of the popular ZEISS UVProtect lens technology, and bring awareness of the need to protect eyes from harmful ultraviolet (UV) light. Sunny is the first chatbot to be released in the eyeglass lens market. Its purpose is to provide information about UVProtect lenses while educating consumers about UV and its potential to harm our eyes. People can chat with Sunny the UV Chatbot anytime of the day, whenever it’s convenient for them.

It was important to make sure Sunny met the needs of our customers, so it was designed to be both informative and funny with a witty personality. The first question Sunny will ask you is if you’d like your UV Index for the day. Reminding people to consider their daily UV environment and how to best protect themselves is an essential first step to increasing awareness.

Sunny also offers a UV risk assessment so that people understand their risk, not just to their skin, but to their eyes as well.

Think you already know a lot about UV? Well, take Sunny’s fun quiz and find out if you’re right!

Sold on the need for ZEISS UVProtect lenses? Just ask Sunny to find a ZEISS eye care practice near you and you’ll be on your way to having the best protection around.

Want to see for yourself? Open Facebook Messenger and search for Sunny the UV Chatbot by name, or click this link: bit.ly/SunnyUV.

Engaging consumers where they prefer to be served is a crucial step in reaching the ZEISS goal of building awareness about the risk of UV damage to our eyes. Sunny the UV Chatbot is a step in the right direction in effectively engaging with our customers and their patients.