Targeting Patients with Precision
A look at the most detailed refractive marketing data ever collected.
By Glenn Hagele, Sacramento, Calif.

While it might be tempting to apply former President Clinton's campaign slogan, "It's the economy, stupid," to the challenges refractive surgery practices are currently facing, "It's the marketing" would be more accurate.

The key to a busy refractive practice is knowing who is most likely to be motivated to seek and receive refractive surgery and how to best inform them of its potential benefits. It's not how much you spend on advertising, but how you spend it. And, as you know, wasting your advertising dollars is not an option these days.

My organization, the Council for Refractive Surgery Quality Assurance (CRSQA), with co-sponsorship from Alcon Summit Autonomous, recently employed techniques used by the Fortune 500 to compile a detailed analysis of the demographics and psychological makeup of refractive surgery candidates.

This is the type of information you should be seeking in order to refine your services and direct your marketing. Practices who understand the importance of targeted marketing will be the most successful.

On the following pages, I'll explain our research and give you a glimpse of the results.

Claritas Inc. is a San Diego-based company founded in 1971 to create a powerful target marketing system that harnesses the collective power of market demographics, consumer segmentation, and behavioral survey data to increase marketing effectiveness. It's the premier provider of marketing information resources and solutions for companies engaged in consumer marketing. Claritas has been able to clearly define consumer preferences by partnering with strategy and media-planning firms, such as Arbitron, JD Power & Associates, Nielsen, Gallup, and consumer credit reporting agencies like Experian and TRW.

The company uses a market segmentation methodology called MicroVision to assign every household in the United States and Western Europe to one of 50 market segments. Vast studies have determined the unique attributes of each segment. Segments that are similar are grouped into nine clusters, with catchy names like "Mainstream Singles" and "Accumulated Wealth." (We'll come back to clusters a bit later.)

Using market segmentation, exactly where to market, how to market, and what to market becomes clearly defined.

The CRSQA analysis of refractive surgery patients

For its study, CRSQA extracted information from more than 60,000 individuals who had recently undergone refractive surgery or sought information about it. In addition to the information retrieved from individuals who visited CRSQA's Web site, segmentation data was obtained from the outcomes reports submitted to CRSQA by surgeons seeking certification.

LASIK, PRK, LTK, CLR, and any other surgery for the sole purpose of refractive change, were included in the data sets. All types of practices were included, too, including large chains, independent surgeons, and heavy discounters.

The data were limited to patients who had received information within the 6 months ending October 2000 (14,000). The eligible data sets were reduced again to include only those patients who indicated that they had already had refractive surgery (6,000), then even further reduced to include only those with the highest level of segmentation information (4,633). Only 1,000 data sets are typically required for an accurate analysis; so, this study benefited from more than four times the minimum requirement.

The MicroVision segment for each of these households was determined, creating a clear and precise picture of who is getting refractive surgery today. The analysis is a road map showing where today's refractive surgery candidates live, the radio stations they listen to, which television shows they watch, what part of the newspaper they read, which magazines they buy, even what they eat for dinner.

The study found that the three MicroVision segments currently encompassing the most refractive surgery patients are:

Mid-Life Success. 11.18% of all individuals purchasing refractive surgery fall within this segment. Demographics: Very high-income, married adults, age 45 to 59, with children. Lifestyle and retail patterns: They eat at casual dining Mexican restaurants, own a sports watch and downhill skis and boots, and shop at Nordstrom's department store. Communications and technology: They have an extra phone line for a second number, and use an online service on the home PC to read online publications and access e-mail.

Financial: They save or invest $20,000 annually; 20% have more than $200,000 in investable assets; and they use a credit card more than 10 times a month. Media: They read National Geographic, Money, Golf Digest, and Time magazines, and listen to classical format radio.

Home Sweet Home. 8.70% of all individuals purchasing refractive surgery fall within this segment. Demographics: Above-average-income, married couples, age 50-69, with one or no children at home. Lifestyle and retail patterns: They eat at donut shops and Friendly's, have their carpets professionally cleaned, and shop at Home Depot. Communications and technology: They have two functioning VCRs in the household, own a video camera, and have cellular telephone service.

Financial: They have a second mortgage on their primary residence, have an auto lease, and have a mutual fund with a load fee. Media: They watch ABC NFL Monday Night Football, Suddenly Susan (prime time), and listen to radio stations that follow a golden oldies format.

Country Home Families. 6.65% of all individuals purchasing refractive surgery fall within this segment. Demographics: Just-above-average income, married families, with children, with three or more people in the household. Lifestyle and retail patterns: They own a motor home or camper, go fishing and hunting, and drive a compact pick-up truck. Communications and technology: They use a cellular phone for business, rent videotapes from the grocery store, and their home PC is used for children's entertainment.

Financial: They bank primarily at a branch near work, go to a teller at any branch to pay bills and transfer funds, and have an auto loan from a bank. Media: They read Country Living and fishing/hunting magazines, watch the TV show Home Improvement, and listen to country format radio.

Overall, The CRSQA refractive surgery market analysis reveals that the vast majority of refractive surgery recipients are within a small group of clearly defined segments. The three segments presented above constitute 26.53% of all refractive surgery patients.

The top ten segments constitute 62.98% of all refractive surgery patients today. In other words, two-thirds of all refractive surgery candidates are within 10 of the 50 MicroVision segments -- 10 out of the 50 segments that constitute the entire American marketplace. This shows a very high concentration in a small portion of the marketplace. It also tells us that refractive surgery is still in the very early stages of product maturity.

This data also indicate that the people most likely to opt for refractive surgery aren't as price sensitive as may have been expected, and that they can be reached directly and easily.

Avoid wasting your marketing dollars

Using these segments as your target, you can direct your advertising toward those individuals who are most likely to respond -- and avoid a significant amount of wasted spending. With this type of marketing data, you can:

Use mailing lists. You can purchase, through most list brokers, the address of every household defined in a specific segment. That would allow you to mail information to every household defined as, say, Country Home Families within 50 miles of your practice.

Use media more wisely. Most media, including radio, newspaper, and television have completed a MicroVision analysis of their audiences. They can tell you which segments listen to or read their media. They can tell you at what time or to what page people in these segments are paying attention.

Speak the consumer's language. It's possible to use the language that will most appeal to your target audience. You can emphasize issues important to specific segments and present information in a format friendly to them.

For example, an advertisement directed toward the Mainstream Singles cluster could include more information about the lifestyle changes that refractive surgery can provide. An advertisement directed toward the Accumulated Wealth cluster might include more information about your medical background. An advertisement for the Mainstream Singles cluster might include price. But an ad aimed at the Accumulated Wealth cluster would never include price.

Evaluate your market's potential. In each market, there are only so many people who will seek refractive surgery. When that critical mass has been reached, all refractive surgeons in the marketplace must divide the new customers who become interested candidates. Using the detailed marketing data I've described here, you can determine the exact number of high-probability households in your market. Knowing how many potential patients exist can help you to determine advertising budgets, staffing, and whether to expand your facility.

Predict refractive surgery's future. As explained earlier, the majority of refractive surgery candidates are within the first MicroVision segments. By knowing the path refractive surgery will take through the segments, you can predict which groups will want refractive surgery in the future. (See, "Why the Deep Discounters Failed," on page 44.) This makes it possible to market general information to tomorrow's refractive surgery candidates.

Plan office and seminar locations. If you're working with MicroVision, it's possible to generate maps and lists based on market segmentation that show geographically where the highest concentrations of particular segments reside. (For an example, see "Dallas-Ft. Worth Areas with the Highest Concentration of Likely Refractive Surgery Patients," on this page.) Such a list would show where a practice could expand or where informational seminars should be presented. If you co-manage, the list would indicate where you should establish a co-management partner.

Solid marketing is the way to go

Any practice can complete a MicroVision analysis of its current patients by contacting the closest Claritas office. And that's a good idea.

But if you take anything away from this article, let it be that detailed marketing data -- customer analysis -- is the foundation of all flourishing companies, your refractive surgery practice included.

Glenn Hagele is the founder of the Council for Refractive Surgery Quality Assurance (www.usaeyes.org), a nonprofit organization that educates consumers/patients about refractive surgery and refers them to its certified surgeons. Neither he nor CRSQA have any financial interest in Claritas or any of its associated companies.