Playbook, optician
Stopping the chat when somebody describes a change in their sight
An opticians is half shop, so most of the conversation is retail. The one message that matters arrives in the middle of that, usually phrased as though it were about buying glasses, and it must not be answered as one.
Why this is not the general answer
The handling pattern for asking for a person holds across every trade. What follows is the part that does not.
- An opticians is half retail, so the message that matters arrives inside an ordinary shopping conversation and is often phrased as a question about a prescription.
- The urgency here is different from the rest of the practice, because some of what people describe should be looked at the same day rather than at the next routine appointment.
- The refusal has to point at something faster than the online booking page, since the booking page is exactly where an anxious customer will otherwise go.
- The trigger is a sensation the visitor mentions in passing rather than a request for help, so the assistant reacts to what is described rather than to what is asked.
How it arrives
- i keep seeing flashes
- there is a shadow in the corner of my eye
- my vision went blurry this morning
- i have suddenly got loads of floaters
- i am seeing double is that my prescription
- my eye is really painful
What has to be indexed for this to work
| The practice number and the hours it is answered | Quoted exactly, because the whole point of this handover is to move somebody onto the telephone rather than onto a form. |
|---|---|
| What your practice does when somebody reports a change in vision | In the words reception uses, so the assistant can tell the customer what will happen when they ring rather than just telling them to ring. |
| The urgent eye care route you would direct somebody to | Whatever service applies where you are, written on a page the assistant can cite, including what to do when the practice is closed. |
| Your fallback wording for anything to do with eyes or vision | Written once, deliberately, so the refusal never has to be composed on the spot. |
The reply
Anything to do with your eyes or your sight has to go to the practice rather than to me. Please ring us today on the number at the top of this page instead of booking an appointment online [1], and say to them exactly what you have just said to me. If we are closed, the details for urgent eye care are on the same page [2].
It refuses without softening, then does the one useful thing available to it, which is to steer the customer off the booking form and onto the telephone today. Asking them to repeat what they typed makes sure the detail reaches a person rather than being lost between the two.
Where it stops
The trigger. The customer mentions flashes, floaters, a shadow or curtain, sudden blurring, double vision or pain in the eye, even as an aside inside a question about glasses.
Please ring the practice today on the number above rather than booking online, and tell them exactly what you have described to me. I cannot advise on it.
It stops answering before it guesses, says who will pick it up, and asks for the one thing that makes a reply possible. Nothing about it reads as a dead end.
Never say this here
Out of bounds
- Never say whether a change in vision is urgent or can wait.
- Never say that floaters or flashes are normal or common.
- Never suggest that a described symptom means a new prescription is needed.
- Never tell somebody to book a routine sight test in response to a change in their vision.
Questions
- Why steer away from the booking page?
- Because it is the wrong speed. An online booking puts somebody in a routine queue, and the point of the handover is to get them speaking to the practice today.
- What if the message is mostly about frames?
- The symptom takes over the whole reply. Answer nothing about the frames, give the number, and let the retail question wait until the customer is in the practice.
- How do we make sure this fires?
- Write the fallback wording yourself and set a more cautious level, so a message it cannot confidently match ends in your refusal rather than in the nearest retail page.
Keep reading
- Everything for a opticianEye test prices, NHS entitlement, frame ranges and prescription rules are all answerable. Vision symptoms are not.
- Handling asking for a person in generalThe design question at the centre of a support assistant. Offer early, offer once, collect what a reply needs, promise a time you can keep.
- 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.
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.