An optometry practice website built around booking the eye test
For an independent optician, the eye test is the front door: it brings people in, and frames, lenses and contact lens fittings follow from it. An optometry practice website should therefore make booking a test the most obvious action on every page, then help people choose you over the chain on the high street.
Make the eye test the main action
Put a Book an eye test button in the header and repeat it after each service. Anticode's booking calendar shows the coming days, asks for the service, day, time, name, phone and email, and stops two people taking the same slot. Set it up with separate services for a standard eye examination, a contact lens check and an extended exam with retinal imaging, so each booking arrives labelled. Every slot is one of six fixed times a day (Mondays skipped), so allow for longer exams yourself, and confirm each booking by phone or email: Anticode doesn't email the patient.
There's one practical catch. The calendar holds one booking per service per day and time, and it doesn't sync with your practice management software. A single-optometrist practice can run on it if someone copies bookings across each morning; a practice with several testing rooms and a central diary is better off linking the button to its existing online booking and using the site for everything around it.
What to say about each service
| Service | Questions to answer on the page |
|---|---|
| Eye examinations | How long it takes, what tests are included, who may get it free or subsidised where you are, how often to come. |
| Contact lenses | Fitting appointments, trial lenses, aftercare checks and whether you offer a monthly supply plan. |
| Children's eye care | From what age, how you test children who can't read letters, and what support is available for glasses. |
| Retinal imaging or OCT | What it shows, whether it costs extra, and why you might recommend it. |
| Dry eye and specialist clinics | Who it's for and how to book a longer appointment. |
| Home visits | Who qualifies, the area you cover and how to request one. |
Frame brands and the shop floor
Independent opticians often win on choice. Visitors search for a specific frame maker and want to know whether you stock it before they travel. Keep a brands collection in Anticode's CMS with the brand, a short description, the price band and a photo of the display in your shop. Each brand gets a page, which also gives searchers something specific to land on. Don't attempt a frame catalogue with every model and colour: stock changes weekly, and an online try-on or checkout isn't something these sites do.
Add a line about lens options (single vision, varifocals, coatings) and how long glasses usually take, since that's the next question after choosing a frame.
Children, home visits and access
Parents want reassurance that a test suits a toddler or a child who can't yet read. A short page with photos of the room and what happens step by step does more than a paragraph of claims. For home visits, state the area plainly as a list of towns or postcodes and who qualifies, and use the contact form (name, email and a message) for requests, asking people to mention who the visit is for. For the practice itself, describe step-free access, seating, parking and lighting; people with sight loss read these pages with screen readers and magnification, and Anticode's design gate checks alt text, focus states and a phone viewport before publishing.
Recall reminders: what a website can and can't do
Practices rely on recall: reminding patients when their next test is due. Proper recall comes from your practice software, which knows each patient's last test date. A website can add a lighter version: a newsletter sign-up (it asks only for an email) labelled "Remind me about eye tests and offers", connected to Mailchimp, which uses double opt-in, or Kit. That builds a list for seasonal reminders, but it doesn't know when each person last came in, so keep the promise modest.
Building it with Anticode
A prompt such as "an independent optician in Bath with eye tests, contact lenses, children's eye care and home visits, booking first" is enough to start. The Swiss (Inter Tight) design system gives a clean, legible page; Luxury (Jost) suits a practice that leads with designer eyewear. Send bookings to reception's Slack channel or a Google Sheet through a form connector. See also pharmacies and podiatrists for neighbouring practices.
Limits for an optometry practice
- No sync with practice management software and no patient records or prescriptions online.
- No per-patient recall. A newsletter list is a broadcast, not a reminder tied to a test date.
- No online frame shop. No cart, stock or virtual try-on; payment links at most, for something like a lens plan.
- Fixed booking fields. No space for symptoms or a previous prescription on the booking form, and no file uploads.
Questions people ask
Can patients book an eye test directly on the site?
Yes, through Anticode's booking calendar, one booking per service per slot. It doesn't feed your practice software, so someone copies bookings across.
Should an optician website list frame brands?
Yes. People search by brand. List the brands you stock with a photo of the display, rather than every individual frame.
Can the site send eye test reminders?
Not per patient. You can collect emails for general reminders through Mailchimp or Kit; due-date recall stays in your practice software.