Newsletter Ideas for Workplace Eye Wellness Month
Posted: March 11, 2020 - By Elizabeth VelezYour eyes are one of the most delicate parts of your body, yet eye health and eye safety often go by the wayside. The average office worker spends 1,700 hours per year in front of a computer screen, not including phones and other devices. All of this screen time leads to an increase in eye strain, dry eye, headaches and insomnia.
As your patient’s thought-leader in optometry, your practice can keep your active patients educated and engaged, while also recalling lost patients who haven’t visited in awhile, by sending email marketing newsletters. Using newsletters to spread the message of the harmful effects of prolonged screen time can work as a subtle nudge for your patients to make consistent annual appointments. It helps your practice build trust with your patients and makes it more likely they’ll refer your practice to friends and family.
The idea is to send your newsletter consistently, for example, once a quarter. It’s also important to keep them concise, and easy to understand. Do your best to avoid jargon that won’t resonate with your patients, and instead provide them with real life examples that they can relate to.
How to raise awareness
Here are some newsletter topics your optometry practice can send to patients that raise awareness about the harmful effects of prolonged screen time:
- 3 ways to keep a safe distance from screens
- Lean back. Our eyes work harder to see up close than far away.
- Keep the monitor or screen at arm’s length, about 25 inches away.
- Position the screen so your eye gaze is slightly downward.
- How to reduce monitor glare
- Try using anti-glare or blue light filter eyeglasses.
- Place a matte screen filter over the computer screen.
- Adjust room lighting to reduce eye strain.
- Adjust the brightness and contrast on the computer screen to balance room light and screen light.
- 2 tips to help manage your screen time
- Follow the 20-20-20 rule. Take a break every 20 minutes by looking at an object 20 feet away for 20 seconds to allow your eyes to relax.
- Stop using devices before bedtime. Blue light keeps us awake, so stop screen time to two hours before bedtime.
End with an actionable call-to-action
In some or all of your email newsletters, be sure to end with a call-to-action button like ‘Schedule an Appointment.’ If you choose not to push an appointment every time, you can end with a helpful clause including, ‘Remember to alert your optometrist of any vision changes in your eyesight.’ Stand out from other optometrists this March for Workplace Eye Wellness Month.
