Imagine a business where marketing strategies are created in seconds, patient experiences are enhanced, scheduling is streamlined, and employee productivity is maximized. This isn’t a distant vision of the future — this is the reality for today with the help of artificial-intelligence-empowered software (AI). One of these applications is ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI. Since its launch in November 2022, it is one of the fastest growing applications in history with just over 300 million active users each week (and growing) as of Dec 2024.1
Beyond its vast scope, ChatGPT has become a versatile tool for businesses of all sizes, acting like a knowledgeable digital assistant that can enhance your business operations. Here are four distinct categories within operations to streamline your processes, allowing you to focus on what matters most: patient care.
1. Your HR Assistant: Staffing shortages are a growing concern for many optical practices, but ChatGPT can help streamline HR tasks and save valuable time in the following areas:
- Custom Interview Questions: Upload a candidate’s résumé and ask ChatGPT to generate tailored interview questions for specific roles.
- Résumé Analysis: Upload multiple résumés and let ChatGPT analyze them to identify top candidates based on predefined criteria.
- Job Descriptions: Need to update or create a new job description? Share the key details, and ChatGPT will draft a professional version tailored to your needs in seconds.
- Training Manuals: Create comprehensive training manuals for new staff by providing the necessary information. Not sure what to include? ChatGPT can suggest key topics and structure them for you.
- Employee Motivation: Boost team morale by asking ChatGPT to suggest employee recognition programs, incentives, or SMART goals that make achievements measurable and rewarding.
2. Your Marketing Strategist: Developing a complete marketing strategy tailored to your business can be time-consuming, but ChatGPT can significantly reduce that workload. If you’re new to social media, the application can act as your digital assistant, guiding you on what to post, how to post, and providing engaging blog content to help build your online presence and increase your search engine optimization (SEO).
Digital Content Creation
- Social Media Content: Let ChatGPT know you’re an optical business wanting to post three times a week for the next month. It can generate a full content calendar with educational, fun, and factual topics. You can even take it a step further and say you specialize in a specific area such as “dry eye,” and it will create content focused around your specialty.
- Blog Content: ChatGPT is a powerful tool for blogging, whether you need ideas for specific topics or an outline to kickstart the writing process. Some practices even use ChatGPT to draft entire posts — just be sure to fact-check and ensure alignment with your brand. Personally, I use ChatGPT as an editing assistant, inputting my own writing and asking for feedback on clarity and suggestions for improvement. I may incorporate its recommendations or use them as inspiration to refine my writing for better clarity and understanding.
Advanced Marketing Support
- Paid Social Media Campaigns: If you’re already experienced in content creation and want help with paid social media, ChatGPT can help fine-tune your approach. Ask it to recommend ad copy and campaign ideas tailored to your local demographics and goals. You can also ask it to review demographics in your area so you can set specific KPIs as part of your ad campaign. All of this can be done in seconds!
- Loyalty and Referral Programs: Thinking of launching a loyalty or referral program but not sure where to start? ChatGPT can generate creative ideas based on your resources, target audience, and business objectives, giving you actionable strategies to implement right away. It can even provide ways for you to manually track or implement as well as offer suggestions of companies that would be able to help.
3. Your Inventory Analyst: Managing inventory for your practice can be challenging for staff and optical managers. ChatGPT can simplify this process by providing insights into which brands to invest in, which products generate the most revenue, and which categories perform best for your demographics. This is one of the most powerful yet underutilized ways ChatGPT can enhance business operations and save hours of analysis. By uploading an inventory report into ChatGPT, you can receive an analysis of your top-selling and low-performing products, identify seasonal trends, and gain insights into profit margins. ChatGPT can also break down sales by category — such as fashion, sports, or lifestyle — helping you understand what resonates most with your customers. Simply upload the report in Excel format and include a brief description of the metrics, such as sales volume, revenue, product categories, and quantity sold.
4. Your Digital Trainer: Education plays a crucial role in building trust with patients, improving team knowledge, and promoting your services. ChatGPT can act as your digital trainer for delivering targeted content for both your staff and patients. Here’s how:
- Simplifying Complex Topics: ChatGPT can break down technical information about eye conditions, treatments, and lens technologies into easy-to-understand language for patients and new staff. For example, it can explain the benefits of anti-reflective coatings or the importance of regular eye exams in a way that resonates with non-experts.
- Staff Training: Stay current on new eyewear trends or lens technologies by using ChatGPT to summarize new industry developments. You can use this for internal newsletters, emails, or as part of your regular staff training.
- Custom FAQs: Create an FAQ section on your website with an answer to common patient questions, such as “What’s the difference between progressive and single-vision lenses?” or “Why is blue light protection important?” Input the questions you would like to include and ask the application to provide an FAQ summary for you.
Overall, AI advancements in eye care are unlocking exciting opportunities to streamline operations and boost productivity like never before. ChatGPT specifically is one of the free applications that is helping optical businesses on the back end, enhancing their business operations and acting like a digital assistant in so many areas. If diving into AI feels overwhelming, start small — experiment with simple tasks, see what works for your practice, and gradually integrate tools that enhance your day-to-day operations. We’d love to hear from you! How are you using ChatGPT in your business?
References:
1 CNBC
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