A question the owner cannot answer quickly
You run two or three branches. One seems busier on the dispensing side than the others, but you are not sure whether that is because it sees more patients or because more of its patients choose glasses there. A new optometrist has joined one branch, and you want to know how the handover from test room to dispensing desk is working. The practice system has reports for sight tests and reports for sales, but not one that joins them.
So the owner exports both, matches patients in a spreadsheet and tries to allow for patients who come back a week later to choose frames.
Why the figure is hard to produce
- Tests and dispenses are separate records, sometimes created on different days.
- Patients with no prescription change should usually be excluded, but that has to be defined.
- Contact lens wearers, NHS voucher patients and private patients may need separate views.
- Patients may dispense at a different branch from where they were tested.
- Definitions change between people, so the numbers are never quite comparable.
What the missing figure costs
Without a reliable figure, it is hard to tell whether a branch or a handover process needs attention, whether training has made a difference, or whether a price change has affected choices. Discussions in team meetings rely on impressions. And the owner spends time assembling figures instead of acting on them.
| Question | What you need |
|---|---|
| Is branch A converting like branch B? | The same definition applied to both |
| Did the new handover process help? | A before and after view |
| Why do patients not buy? | Reasons recorded consistently |
| Which patients should be excluded? | Rules you choose, applied every time |
How we build the conversion view
- We agree the definitions with you: which tests count, the window for a dispense to count, and how voucher, private and contact lens patients are treated.
- Tests and dispenses are read from your practice management system each night through its API or exports.
- Each test is linked to any dispense for the same patient within the window, at any branch.
- Where no dispense follows, staff can record a reason from a short list, such as no change, bought elsewhere, thinking about it or price.
- A weekly view shows conversion and average dispense value by branch and optometrist, with trends.
- Each figure clicks through to the underlying tests, so any number can be checked.
We do not set targets or suggest sales techniques. The view gives you consistent numbers to discuss with your team however you see fit.
What you can do with it
Branches are compared on the same basis. A change in the handover between test room and dispensing desk can be judged on evidence. Reasons for no sale point to specific issues, such as price concerns or a missing product range. And the owner gets Monday morning figures without a spreadsheet.
Many owners find the reasons list more useful than the conversion figure itself, because it tells you what to change.
The same data can answer other questions once it exists: which lens options are chosen most at each branch, how many patients buy a second pair, or how dispense value differs between NHS voucher patients and private patients. We add views like these only when you ask for them, so the dashboard stays focused on what you actually use.
Sound like you?
- You cannot quickly see test to dispense conversion by branch.
- Figures are produced by joining exports in a spreadsheet.
- Different people calculate conversion differently.
- Reasons for no sale are not recorded.
- You want to see whether a change in process has made a difference.