Seeing Clearly: How Warby Parker Mastered Marketing

 The Problem: Expensive Pressure at the Optometrist

At the ripe age of 35, I scheduled my first optometry appointment since high school, much to the horror of my optometrist.  While I went in expecting just to need some basic reading glasses, my doctor broke the news that I would need to wear glasses my every waking moment.  I wandered into the office’s showroom with my eyes still dilated, tasked with selecting my new permanent facial adornment.

Like most first-time optometry patients, I felt completely out of my depth.  I had no real idea of how the process worked.  My doctor was concerned that I start wearing glasses as soon as possible, and I felt pressured to select whatever they had in the showroom.  I wound up purchasing frames that cost several hundred dollars, even without the additional coating.  (That turned out to be a rookie mistake - I was constantly blinded by lens glares!)

The author in her first pair of frames.

The Solution: Online Shopping for Frames

Warby Parker was one of the first companies to discover this gap in the market.  In 2010, classmates at the University of Pennsylvania “were dissatisfied with the options available for individuals in need of prescription eyeglasses. Costs of lenses and frames were high; eye doctors require advance appointments; and travel to showrooms to try on frames can be far, especially for rural consumers” (Mahoney 17).  

They sought to fix this problem by introducing a new strategy: allowing customers to purchase prescription glasses online.  Because the glasses were manufactured in-house, the company was able to lower the purchasing cost.  Customers could chose from a variety of frames in the company’s online store, type in their prescription, and the glasses would be manufactured and shipped directly to them, bypassing their doctor’s office entirely.

Now, purchasing glasses at the optician’s had become a consumer habit - the tendency of humans to buy the same brand of products, eat similar types of food, and go to the same stores when shopping.   Habits are hard to break, and consumers often experience cognitive dissonance when faced with changing a habit.  

Cognitive dissonance refers to the discomfort humans feel when faced with new information that is contradictory to their current beliefs, and it can be difficult to overcome, even when the change in routine may be objectively beneficial.  Mahboney and Tang write that “Dissonance reduction is achieved in one of four ways: (i) to change the behavior or cognition; (ii) justify the behavior by changing the conflicting cognition; (iii) justify the behavior or cognition by adding new cognitions; or (iv) deny any information that conflicts with existing beliefs” (16).

How Warby Parker Overcame Cognitive Dissonance 

One obvious concern customers had with online purchases was that they would be unable to try on the frames without purchasing them.  Warby Parker solved with with a “Home Try-On Campaign" where customers could order five pairs of glasses online and have them shipped to their home free of charge.  They could pick the pair they liked best and send the rest back.

Warby Parker also managed to solve another problem with their Home Try-On Campaign.  Once consumers make a purchase, they tend not to think about the product anymore, unless it no longer meets their needs.  To encourage repeat business, companies must build relationships with their customers during the crucial period when the product is meeting their needs.  

To encourage transactional communication - allowing for all participants to act as senders/receivers in a simultaneous and fluid exchange - Warby Parker consistently communicates with and responds to customer comments on their social media platforms (Mahoney 10).  The Home Try-On Campaign encourages customers to share pictures of themselves in their new frames on their personal social media.  This has been so successful that “customers who post photos of themselves in frames are buying at twice the rate of those who don't" (Mahoney 18).

 Changing the Game

Warby Parker is now one of dozens of companies who sell affordable prescription glasses online.  I now purchase my glasses from one of these online retailers.  The frames were far more affordable than those offered by my doctor, and I was able to add several coatings that have greatly improved my glasses-wearing experience.  Currently, I wear rainbow-colored frames.  Because I can now afford to purchase multiple frames at a time, I can choose some “fun frames” and still have a formal, professional pair of glasses for special events.  

Thank you Warby Parker! 

The author wearing her current rainbow-colored frames. 

What problems can you solve with your online business?  How will you overcome cognitive dissonance?  Share your ideas below!

Works Cited

Mahoney, L. Megan, and Tang Tang. Strategic Social Media: From Marketing to Social Change. Wiley Blackwell, 2017.