WRITER Inbal Rodnay

Optometry practices are facing tougher competition these days, and patients expect more than cookie-cutter marketing messages. That's where artificial intelligence (AI) comes in to play. Instead of sending the same generic emails to everyone, practices can now use AI to figure out what individual patients actually care about and tailor their communications accordingly.

The technology helps optometrists understand their patients better – whether someone needs reminders about annual check-ups, information about new contact lens options, or details about specialty services like dry eye treatment. This personal touch makes patients feel valued rather than just another name on a mailing list.

It’s common for optometry practices to operate with limited internal marketing support – yet they’re expected to keep up with digital trends, patient communication, and content demands. AI offers a way to meet those demands efficiently: improving connection, streamlining repetitive tasks, and helping practices remain relevant in an increasingly digital-first world.

TRANSFORMING PATIENT CONNECTION

According to Louise Cummins, founder of the Australian Centre for AI in Marketing, AI is quietly revolutionising healthcare marketing across the board. “Even modest AI adoption empowers healthcare marketers to enhance human connection through insight and automation,” she said.

From what Ms Cummins is seeing, AI transforms traditional marketing approaches across all sectors, especially healthcare, both in service delivery and enabling proactive patient engagement. It helps practices anticipate needs, personalise outreach, and engage effectively without a dedicated marketing team. As a senior marketer at the Australian Centre for AI in Marketing, she has observed how even modest AI adoption empowers healthcare marketers to enhance human connection through insight and automation, allowing smaller teams to operate smarter, faster, and more compassionately.

“From predictive scheduling tools that cut admin time by 40%, to diagnostic overlays that boost treatment acceptance, and AI chat assistants handling after-hours enquiries – these aren’t experiments anymore, they’re strategic tools driving real impact,” Ms Cummins said.

For optometry practices, that means understanding patients more deeply and engaging them proactively. Some of the most effective use cases Ms Cummins has observed include:

• Predictive appointment reminders based on no-show risk,

• Patient recall campaigns driven by clinical need rather than time,

• AI-generated educational content, tailored to patients by age, lifestyle, or condition,

• Sentiment analysis of feedback and reviews to identify service gaps early, and

• Smart segmentation of audiences for targeted campaign delivery.

These use cases show that AI isn’t about replacing the human touch; it’s about amplifying it.

“AI is a co-pilot. It amplifies what you already have in place: a brand, a patient database, and a service ethos. If your foundations are shaky, AI will just scale the chaos,” Ms Cummins explained.

SMALL STEPS FOR EASY WINS

For optometry practices that feel overwhelmed by the idea of adopting AI, Ms Cummins has a simple message: start small.

“Start where it hurts,” she advised. “Look at the most repetitive or time-consuming communication tasks, like recalls or newsletters. Then pick one, and test how an AI-supported tool can help – even something as simple as drafting patient content or analysing feedback.”

Some easy wins for using AI-powered tools include:

• Jasper or ChatGPT to brainstorm blog content, FAQs, or social captions,

• Canva’s Magic Write for drafting patient education assets, and

• GrammarlyGO to polish patient communications.

“That’s the mindset behind my ‘AI curious’ philosophy – especially for non-technical teams. You don’t need to become a data scientist,” Ms Cummins said.

“You just need to start. Internal capability isn’t about mastering AI; it’s about knowing how to ask better questions and make smarter decisions with AI support.”

THE VIEW FROM INDUSTRY: STAYING RELEVANT

Steve Polesel, Sales Director Aus/NZ, Maui Jim, has observed a fundamental shift in how consumers interact with retail and how practices must respond.

“Patients aren’t just finding practices through Google anymore. Increasingly, they’re using AI tools such as ChatGPT and even Apple’s Siri to ask health-related questions, and those tools are shaping what information surfaces first,” he explained.

The emergence of ChatGPT’s search capabilities represents a fundamental shift in how users discover and interact with information, creating new challenges and opportunities for optometrists and marketers focussed on patient acquisition.

While Google has dominated search for over two decades through its algorithmic approach to ranking and displaying website links, ChatGPT offers AI-curated conversational responses that synthesise information from multiple sources into direct answers.

This divergence in methodologies means that businesses optimising solely for traditional Google SEO, in the growing ecosystem of AI-powered search, are potentially missing critical patient touchpoints.

“I’m seeing a growing gap between practices that adapt to AI behaviour – and those that are still only thinking in terms of Google keywords. You’ve got to show up where the questions are being asked,” Mr Polesel said.

For optometry practices, this shift matters. Digital Marketing and AI Specialist Carly McClen explained: “ChatGPT pulls and summarises real content from a broadened pool that isn’t strictly aligned with Google rankings. Being cited in its answers depends on providing clear, structured, useful content in places the model retrieves, not just being in Google’s top results.”

Ms McClen explained the key differences between how Google and AI tools like ChatGPT operate.

“Google rewards keyword structure, backlinks, and content freshness. Its algorithms prioritise well-optimised websites, ranking them based on technical SEO, authority, and relevance.

“ChatGPT rewards brand visibility in trusted datasets, relevance, and clarity of information,” she said.

“Rather than crawling the web in real time, ChatGPT generates answers using a mix of pretrained data, third-party search providers, and media partnerships. It synthesises information from a wide array of sources, including thirdparty blogs, forums, and public Q&As.

“Patients often phrase their queries differently in AI tools, using full, nuanced questions instead of fragmented keywords. ChatGPT’s conversational interface is designed for natural language and context-rich queries, maintaining context across multiple follow-ups.”

Ms McClen said that content now needs to show up in multiple places. “To appear in AI responses, your expertise must be present not only on your website but also across highauthority blogs, forums, and other platforms likely to be included in AI training datasets or indexed by real-time search providers.”

This shift means that for optometry practices, “simply having a well-optimised website is no longer enough”, Ms McClen clarified.

“To show up in AI-driven answers, your digital presence has to extend beyond your own domain. That’s how you build trust and visibility across a broader discovery landscape.”

STRATEGIC CONTENT OPTIMISATION TIPS

Ms McClen observed the need to ensure your online content is high quality, structured, and likely to display on AI-driven search tools. “AI has become the new search layer – but it plays by different rules. If your content isn’t structured to be understood and cited by AI, it won’t be surfaced,” she said.

Ms McClen said to build the kind of content AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity are already pulling from:

1. Optimise for both AI and Google searches. Structure your website clearly so Google can still rank it – but don’t stop there. ChatGPT doesn’t rank pages; it rewrites answers. If you want to be part of those responses, your content must be factual, well-organised, and easy for AI to summarise. While teams often focus on Google rankings, AI search is now quietly deciding what gets seen – and what gets skipped.

2. Use AI-friendly content formats. Certain formats are more likely to be cited by large language models. One of the most effective is the listicle – a list-style article like ‘Five signs you need an eye test’. Listicles align with how people phrase natural language queries, and their structure gives AI tools clear, digestible chunks to cite.

Other effective formats include:

• Explainers (e.g. ‘How to manage dry eyes in winter’),

• FAQs (e.g. “Is it safe to wear contact lenses every day?”), and

• Comparison pages (e.g. ‘Multifocal vs single vision: What’s right for you?”).

These are the kinds of formats AI tools are already trained on and continue to favour.

3. Write for natural language queries. AI tools are designed for how people actually speak. Patients aren’t typing ‘optometrist Adelaide bulk billing’, they’re asking:

• ‘Which optometrists are open late on Thursday near me?’

• ‘Do I need an eye test every year?’

“Your content should reflect this natural style. Use full-sentence headings, conversational phrasing, and direct answers. AI search visibility tracking tools help you identify the exact phrasing people are using so you can mirror it back in your content. An example is Peec AI, which allows users to see what prompts (queries) their audience is asking in AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity. It can show where and how your brand appears in AI responses – if at all,” Ms McClen said.

“Peec AI can also identify which sources and brands are getting cited by large language models (LLMs). It can highlight patterns in content formats, like listicles, explainers, and FAQs, helping you spot citation trends.

“It can show which content LLMs are referencing – so you can replicate the format and improve on it. Tools like these enable marketers and content teams to create content that is more likely to be cited in AI-generated answers”.

4. Build external authority. AI doesn’t just cite your website; it looks across the web for trusted sources. To increase your chances of being referenced, aim to be featured in ‘Best of ’ lists that LLM’s pull from (e.g. ‘Top 10 optometrists in Auckland’).

You still need to earn backlinks; aim to earn them from domains ChatGPT trusts. Placements in industry blogs or news features will also boost both AI credibility and Google authority.

5. Track and refine your visibility. Track how often your brand is cited in ChatGPT responses, what prompts it’s associated with, and which competitors are showing up instead. Reveal your AI visibility gaps and discover what content types are being surfaced – so you can consolidate on what works and stay ahead of the next wave, Ms McClen concluded.

COMPETING IN AN AI-POWERED AD LANDSCAPE

Competition for ad space is tougher than ever, and according to Mr Polesel, if you’re not using AI to optimise your spend and targeting, you’re falling behind.

Mr Polesel pointed to AI’s growing role in hyper-personalisation and media optimisation through:

• Tailored promotions for key customer groups,

• AI-assisted creative testing, and

• Retargeting based on behavioural insights.

“You can’t stand still,” Mr Polesel advised. “Your competitors are raising the bar every day, and if you’re not testing, learning, and using AI to move forward, you’ll be left behind.”

CASE STUDY: LIFESTYLE OPTICAL

Lifestyle Optical, based in Sydney’s CBD, has embraced AI tools to sharpen its marketing strategy and grow in a highly competitive environment. By analysing each brand’s specific audience within its local area, Lifestyle Optical created tailored messaging that speaks directly to those customers’ motivations and behaviours.

The practice uses insights platforms and customer behaviour data to inform content creation and ad targeting, then doubles down on what performs. High-performing content is backed with additional spend, while retargeting and segmentation are refined through built-in AI on platforms like Meta and Google.

“You might think you know who the individual brand customer is at a global level, that doesn’t mean their habits or values are the same in Sydney CBD,” said Mr Polesel.

“For Lifestyle Optical, analysing what each brand’s audience is saying and where they live online, brings salience to both the customer and the marketing. You’re not just broadcasting. You’re creating content that lands.”

This approach means moving beyond traditional assumptions – and beyond a reliance on Google search alone. Instead, Lifestyle Optical optimises for visibility across AI-driven tools and content ecosystems, from search to social. The result? Increased conversions, more efficient ad spend, and deeper engagement with the right customers.

I-SCRIBE AND THE CLINICAL USE OF AI

i-scribe is an AI-powered medical scribe designed to alleviate the administrative burden faced by healthcare professionals. Initially developed to help ophthalmologists with clinical documentation, it is now gaining traction across a range of specialties, including optometry.

Since launching commercially in early 2024, i-scribe has grown from five founding members to more than 20 full-time staff. Its trajectory reflects a broader trend: the rapid uptake of AI tools in healthcare. While platforms like Facebook took 4.5 years to reach 100 million users, and mobile phones 16, ChatGPT did it in just two months. The speed of adoption is accelerating, and the healthcare sector is no exception.

What makes i-scribe especially effective is that it was built by clinicians, for clinicians. Four of the five founders are practising senior doctors and two are also coders who wrote the first version. This combination has enabled i-scribe to align with the real-world language, logic, and nuances of clinical care – making it highly accurate and context-aware when translating consults into structured documentation.

Beyond saving time, this automation opens up powerful marketing potential. With admin reduced and notes standardised, practices can free up time to focus on growth, strategy, and marketing.

RESPONSIBLE USE OF AI IN HEALTHCARE MARKETING

Healthcare is a high-trust environment, and ethical use of AI is essential. Ms Cummins outlined three key pillars:

• Consent: Make it easy and clear for patients to understand how their data is used.

• Transparency: Be upfront that AI is being used to improve communication, not to replace human care.

• Purpose: Use data and automation only when it enhances the patient experience.

FINAL WORD: START WITH CURIOSITY

AI in optometry doesn’t require a significant upfront investment. In fact, many platforms already have AI capabilities built in – the challenge is often that practice teams simply don’t realise the tools are already at their fingertips.

It starts with a willingness to explore, a readiness to test, and a mindset rooted in patient care.

“You’re not expected to master this overnight, just to take the first step,” Ms Cummins said.

As she emphasised, AI isn’t about replacing what works, it’s about enhancing it. With intention, ethics, and a spirit of curiosity, optometrists can ensure they stay visible, valuable, and human – even in an increasingly automated world.

“I see how some allied health practitioners have used AI to personalise recall letters based on age and condition history of older patients vs younger patients. It significantly increased appointment rebookings and improved patient satisfaction.

“What stood out wasn’t the tech, it was the empathy. That’s what AI, when used responsibly, enables better care through better connection,” Ms Cummins concluded.

Inbal Rodnay is a recognised leader in innovation with a focus on the practical application of AI in professional services. A corporate speaker and educator since 2017, she has presented to over 30,000 people, breaking down technical topics into practical examples that are highly relatable to a professional audience.

Join Ms Rodnay for weekly updates and tips on AI: inbal.com.au/join.