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How Warby Parker Used Social Media to Change the Eyewear Industry

Buying prescription glasses has always been expensive and inconvenient. Customers have to schedule appointments, visit stores, and pay a lot of money for frames. In 2010, Neil Blumenthal, Andrew Hunt, David Gilboa, and Jeffrey Raider created Warby Parker to make a more affordable option by selling glasses directly to consumers online.

Reducing the risk of online shopping

One of the first challenges they encountered was trying to convince customers to buy glasses without actually being able to try them on. Warby Parker addressed this by creating the Home Try-On Campaign. These customers order five frames for them to try on at home for free and return the ones that they didn’t like. This allowed customers to feel safer when ordering products online and lowered the risk of online shopping. 

Making Customers Brand Participants

The company encourages customers to share pictures of themselves wearing the different frames on social media platforms. They allowed friends and family members to give their opinions while the company received free user-generated content. Customers who shared photos purchased glasses at twice the rate of those who didn’t (Mahoney & Tang, 2017). This new strategy created a communication form that allows customers to become active participants instead of just passive viewers of the advertising.

Giving Value

Warby Parker uses social media to answer questions, engage with customers, give advice, and provide customer service. Having interactions like this help the company build trust between themselves and the customers and give a more personal experience. The company also strengthened its image with its Buy a Pair, Give a Pair campaign. This campaign supported access to eyeglasses for those in need, it also showed customers that the company has a social mission and cares about creating positive change. 

The Lesson

The company changed the eyewear industry by providing affordable prices, low-risk, trial programs, social media engagement, and social responsibility. Their success shows that social media can do more than just be an advertising platform. It can reduce customer uncertainty, help the company build relationships between itself and the customers, and turn customers into brand participants

References

Mahoney, L. M., & Tang, T. (2012). Strategic Social Media: From marketing to Social change. John Wiley & Sons. https://books.google.com/books/about/Strategic_Social_Media.html?id=MyZPDQAAQBAJ