The Dirty Little Secret Most Optometry Business Books Won’t Tell You
Let’s be real—most optometry business books are dry enough to sand the paint off your exam room walls. They promise “grow your practice” but deliver…what? The same old advice about recalls and “better marketing.”
What if I told you the real cheat code isn’t another email blast, but a membership program that gives your patients what they actually want—predictable value, exclusivity, and a reason to stick around for life?
Today, we’ll rip the covers off the real story of how optometry practices are quietly using patient membership plans (yes, like BoomCloud™) to double or even quadruple their revenue per patient. This isn’t theory. This is how next-gen practices are eating everyone else’s lunch—monthly recurring revenue (MRR), annual recurring revenue (ARR), and an army of loyal, happy patients.
Story: From Barely Surviving to Thriving—Meet Dr. Angela, the Membership Queen
Dr. Angela ran a successful, but stagnant, optometry practice in Denver. She read all the top optometry business books—from “Profit First for Optometrists” to “The E-Myth Optometrist”—and sure, her bookkeeping improved. But her patients were still price shopping, skipping recalls, and taking their Rx to the lowest bidder online. Sound familiar?
Enter BoomCloud™.
Angela flipped the script by launching her own patient membership program:
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$29/month for annual eye exams, discounts on lenses, frames, and a free blue-light screening
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VIP events & first dibs on the latest frames
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Emergency “fast track” care (think: TSA PreCheck but for your eyeballs)
What happened next? Buckle up.
The Data: Membership Patients Spend 2-4X More Than Average Patients!
Here’s what Angela saw after one year:
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MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue): Shot up from $0 to $5,700/month
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ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue): $68,400—locked in before January 1st even hit
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Loyalty: Membership patients booked 2x as many appointments, brought in their families, and raved about the practice on social media.
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Spending: Average member spend: $789/year. Non-member spend: $258/year.
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No Insurance? No Problem: Patients loved skipping the “insurance maze” and getting real value.
Here’s the kicker: Members spent 3.06x more per year than non-members. (BoomCloud™ internal survey, 2023)
Why Memberships Are the Next-Level Growth Hack
Let’s get real. Why do membership programs work so well in optometry (and honestly, in any healthcare business)?
It’s All About Predictable Revenue & Lifetime Value
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Recurring Revenue: MRR/ARR means you start every month knowing exactly what’s coming in. No more crossing your fingers for back-to-school surges or praying for a good insurance payout.
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Increased Revenue Per Patient: BoomCloud™ users consistently report 2-4x the annual spend from members vs. pay-per-visit patients.
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Loyalty & Reduced Attrition: Members don’t price shop—they stay, refer, and review.
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Treatment Acceptance: Members are 57% more likely to say “yes” to recommended care, per BoomCloud™’s data.
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Insurance Independence: No more letting Aetna or VSP dictate your future.
Here’s a stat for your next staff meeting: Did you know that if you increase your average revenue per patient by just $20, that’s an extra $20,000 for every 1,000 patients? Imagine if you doubled it.
Why Most Practices FAIL to Scale: They Don’t Optimize Revenue Per Patient
Let’s have a moment of brutal honesty. The “grow your practice” grind is exhausting because most practices only focus on getting new patients.
But the best optometry business books (the ones with dog-eared, coffee-stained pages) all agree: the biggest ROI comes from increasing what your current patients spend. Membership plans do exactly that, automatically.
Bullet List of BoomCloud™-Powered Membership Wins:
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Predictable, automated billing (Stripe, Square, whatever you love)
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Customizable plans: glasses, contacts, dry eye, ortho-K, whatever your jam is
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VIP exclusivity (“skip the line” perks, anyone?)
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Family plans (double the loyalty, half the hassle)
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Text & email automation to reduce no-shows
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Built-in compliance: track who’s overdue, who’s up for renewal, and who owes you money (spoiler: not your members)
Case Study: How Visionary Eye Care Scaled to 600+ Members with BoomCloud™
Visionary Eye Care, a multi-doc practice in Utah, was stuck in the “insurance hamster wheel.” Margins were shrinking, and staff morale was…let’s say, not Instagram-worthy.
Their Moves:
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Launched a BoomCloud™ membership at $35/month, $89/family add-on
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Bundled services patients actually wanted (no more “free frame, but only from the rack no one wants”)
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Used BoomCloud’s built-in marketing tools (social templates, referral engine)
The Result:
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617 active members in 15 months
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MRR: $21,595 (yep, every month, before they turn the lights on)
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Member attrition: less than 7% per year (industry average is 15-18%)
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Patient satisfaction NPS: 93 (vs. 66 before memberships)
ARR math check: That’s $259,140 in recurring revenue just from memberships. That’s before optical sales, dry eye, or myopia management!
Pro Tip:
Visionary also noticed a secret bonus: members “unlocked” more premium frame sales and upsells. The average member spent 2.7x more on upgrades, and staff said “goodbye” to the insurance paperwork apocalypse.
Ready to Ditch the Old Playbook? Here’s Your Action Plan
If you want to be the GOAT in your town (or at least make the competition sweat), the new era of optometry business books is all about building a loyal membership base, maximizing your revenue per patient, and finally taking control of your financial future.
Here’s how to get started—BoomCloud™ style:
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Download the Million-Dollar Membership Plan Ebook
Click here and start blueprinting your membership empire. -
Take the Six-Figure Patient Membership Plan Course
Jump in now and get step-by-step video walkthroughs. -
Schedule a Free Demo with BoomCloud™
Book a call and see exactly how your practice can launch a membership in under 30 days. -
Create Your BoomCloud™ Account for FREE
Sign up here and get the tech that powers the top-performing practices.
Final Thoughts (and a Mic Drop)
If you want your practice to survive, keep doing what everyone else does. But if you want to thrive, break the rules. Launch a membership. Double your revenue per patient. Give your patients a reason to rave, not roam.
As Dan Kennedy says, “If you’re not deliberately, systematically, methodically—or rapidly and dramatically—increasing the number of transactions per customer, you’re leaving millions on the table.”
Don’t be that practice.
⚡️ More Resources & Next Steps
Want more firepower?
Check out BoomCloud™ and see why the smartest practices are trading insurance headaches for recurring revenue happiness.
TL;DR:
The real optometry business “book” for 2024 isn’t on Amazon—it’s your membership program. Let’s get you off the revenue rollercoaster and into the MRR fast lane.
