By business type
An assistant for an opticians, and the questions it must pass on
An opticians is half clinic and half shop, and the assistant is useful on both halves in different ways. The retail half is straightforward. The clinical half has a specific trap: a question about vision changing is a symptom question even when it sounds like a question about a new prescription.
What people actually type
Not the questions on your FAQ page. These are the phrasings that arrive in a chat window, lowercase and unpunctuated, and the material has to answer them in those words rather than in yours.
- how much is an eye test
- am i entitled to a free eye test
- how long does a test take
- can i get my prescription copy
- do you do contact lenses
- how much are varifocals
- do you take my vision insurance
- can i use my own frames
- how long do glasses take to make
- do you test children
- do you do home visits
- can i pay in instalments
What to feed it
In rough order of how much work each one takes off the front desk. Every one of these is a document you almost certainly already have.
| Test prices and entitlement rules | What a test costs, who qualifies for a funded one where such a scheme exists, and what proof is needed. Entitlement rules are asked constantly and are genuinely confusing. |
|---|---|
| Lens and frame ranges with price bands | Single vision, bifocal, varifocal, coatings, thinner lenses. Customers ask in outcomes and you price in options, so the mapping between the two is what the assistant needs. |
| Contact lens services | Fitting appointments, trial arrangements, aftercare schedules, and any subscription you run. |
| Your prescription release policy | What a customer is entitled to receive after a test and how to request it. The rules differ by country and are a frequent source of friction, so state yours plainly. |
| Turnaround times and collection | How long a standard pair takes, how long a complex prescription takes, and whether you post. |
| Insurance, vouchers and payment options | Which schemes you accept, how a voucher is applied, and whether you offer instalments. |
What has to reach a person
Any change in vision
Sudden blurring, flashes, floaters, a shadow across the field, double vision, pain. Some of these are urgent and sight threatening, and none of them can be judged from a typed sentence.
The refusal here should name an urgent route, not just the shop number, because some of these should not wait for a routine appointment.
Whether a prescription needs changing
Headaches, tired eyes, trouble with screens. These read as retail questions and are clinical ones. The correct answer is to book a test.
Suitability of a specific lens for a specific eye
Whether varifocals will suit somebody, whether contact lenses are possible with their prescription, whether a coating will fix a specific complaint. Every one of those follows from an examination.
The wording when it cannot help
This is the message the assistant returns when nothing in the material covers the question. It is written by you rather than generated, which matters here more than anywhere: it is the sentence a stranger reads at the worst moment.
I cannot advise on anything to do with your eyes or your vision. If something has changed suddenly, please call us today rather than waiting for an appointment. I can help with test prices, entitlement, lens options, turnaround times and booking.
It names what it cannot do, gives the route that can, and offers to take a message. A refusal that only apologises leaves the person exactly where they started.
Rules and duties that shape the answer
Prescription release is a legal right in many places
Several jurisdictions require that a customer be given their prescription after a sight test, and some require it be offered without being asked. Getting this wrong in writing is a compliance problem as well as a customer service one, so index your actual policy rather than letting the assistant infer it.
A sight test is a health examination, not a sales step
The test checks eye health as well as refraction, and in some systems it is the route by which serious conditions are first spotted. Material that frames it purely as a step towards buying glasses trains the assistant to answer that way.
Funded entitlement rules change
Where a public scheme funds tests or vouchers, the eligibility criteria and the amounts are updated periodically. This is the material most likely to go stale, which is an argument for pointing the assistant at the page you actually maintain rather than uploading a copy you will forget.
Never, whatever the documents say
Out of bounds
- Whether a described vision change is urgent.
- Whether somebody needs a new prescription.
- Whether a specific lens type will suit a specific prescription.
- Whether contact lenses are possible for somebody.
- Anything about a named customer's prescription or record.
Playbooks for this trade
One page per recurring question, written for a optician rather than in general. Each carries the phrasings, the material that answers them, a reply worth copying, and the line where it has to stop.
- Answering how much a pair of glasses is going to costA pair of glasses has two prices that combine, and the lens half is not settled until after the sight test.
- Sorting out which optician appointment somebody actually needsAn opticians runs several appointment types and customers ask for all of them the same way. Telling them apart.
- Explaining what an opticians accepts towards a test or glassesOptical cover arrives as vouchers and entitlement rather than claims. What the assistant confirms and what it cannot.
- Answering whether a frame is in stock at an opticiansWhich brands an opticians carries is stable. Whether one frame is in the practice today is not. Separating the two.
- Stopping the chat when somebody describes a change in their sightFlashes, floaters and a shadow across the sight need the practice today. Getting out of the way quickly and clearly.
- Which optician appointment is being moved, and does it need movingA sight test is a clinical slot and a collection is not a booking at all. Which optician appointments move, and on what notice.
- The door being open does not mean anybody can test your eyesThe shop trades all day and the test room runs a booked list. What to publish so nobody travels in on the wrong day.
- Three visits to the same shop, and one two hour car parkA test, a frame appointment and a collection are three separate trips. What to say about the car park and the loading bay.
- Sorting a complaint into the clinical half and the retail halfA complaint about a sight test reaches a registered clinician. A complaint about a pair of glasses is a dispensing matter.
- Setting expectations before a first sight testHow long it runs, why it is a health check too, what the extra screening costs, and why choosing frames is a second half hour.
- Reading frame measurements out without choosing a frame for anybodyThe three numbers printed inside the side, why a bridge fits or slides, and the frame a strong prescription rules out.
- Which broken glasses can be sorted while somebody waitsMost optician repairs are a two minute job at the counter. Some are not, and some frames are no longer made.
- Sending back a pair of glasses that was made for one personMade to order lenses sit outside the usual change of mind rules. What a practice offers instead, and the adaptation period.
- Answering where my glasses are with no view of the laboratoryA single vision lens and a complex varifocal come back on different timescales. What to say when nothing can be looked up.
- Splitting an optician bill into the parts somebody else pays forEmployer screen schemes pay for part of a pair, so the paperwork has to split the bill. What an optician can issue.
- Two kinds of money taken up front at an opticiansA deposit on made to order lenses is money already committed. A missed sight test is a separate charge with separate rules.
- Three access requests at an opticians, none of them a yes or noTesting somebody who cannot answer, a wheelchair at the test chair, and who is eligible for a visit at home.
- Somebody wants the price in writing, and they are going to shop aroundPeople ask for glasses in writing so they can price them elsewhere. Why itemising and handing over the prescription wins more.
Questions
- Can it quote for glasses?
- It can quote your published bands: the frame price ranges and the lens options with their prices. What it cannot do is total up a specific pair for a specific prescription, because thinner lens requirements depend on the prescription and that comes from the test.
- Should we index our frame catalogue?
- Only if it is accurate and maintained. Stock changes faster than most catalogue pages do, and an assistant confidently describing a frame you no longer carry costs you a visit. Ranges and price bands age far better than individual products.
- How do we handle the entitlement question?
- Index the criteria as you publish them and let the assistant walk through them, but have it end by saying the practice confirms entitlement at the appointment. The rules have edges, and the assistant should hand the edges to a person.
Keep reading
- For a dental clinicThe questions a dental practice actually gets, the ones that must reach a clinician, and the documents worth indexing first.
- For a medical practiceAdministrative questions a practice can safely automate, the symptom questions it must never touch, and how to word the refusal.
- For a veterinary clinicOwners ask about price, hours and emergencies at once. Here is what a vet practice can automate and where it must hand over fast.
- Every business typeWhat an assistant has to know before it can answer for a trade.
Try it on your own material
Upload a document or point it at your site, paste one line of HTML, then ask it something only your business could answer.