Photo courtesy of Drs. Jessica Licausi and Miki Lyn Zilnicki, who is seen in this photo with a young patient. Back-to-school season is essential to the success of the doctors’ vision therapy-focused practice.
Maximizing back-to-school season
By Miki Lyn Zilnicki, OD, FCOVD,
and Jessica Licausi, OD, FAAO, FCOVD
July 16, 2025
In our Northeast practice, back-to-school season runs from early August through mid-September and brings a surge in pediatric annual eye exams.
This is the most important time of the year for our vision therapy-focused practice. As a result, we have learned a lot about optimizing back-to-school season that we can share with other practice owners.
Here is how we optimize this busy time of the year to provide the best possible care to patients and maximize opportunities for practice growth and increased profitability.
An Essential Time of the Year for Families
This mid-to-late summer timing is natural for families: kids are out of school and parents want to make sure their visual skills and prescriptions are up to date before classes begin. Because we first opened the doors to our practice in August nearly a decade ago, many of our earliest patients are still on summer recalls, fueling the seasonal rush.
College students are part of our story too. Many who started with us as children now see us for their annual exams over summer break.
In our vision therapy setting, “back to school” means everyone from kindergartners to undergrads.
Planning Our Team for the Busiest Weeks
We anticipate a significant influx of patients during this window, so we make sure our doctors and team are fully scheduled and take their time off earlier in the summer.
For offices with opticals, the back-to-school season is perfect for refreshing frame inventory and offering new styles or promotions. Many families view new glasses as part of the overall back-to-school shopping routine, sometimes picking up second pairs for home and school, plus sunglasses or sport-safe glasses.
Because we don’t have an optical or inventory costs, our preparation focuses on getting our flow and communication right. Our marketing expenses are minimal—social media and email campaigns make it possible to reach and remind our patient base with very little extra outlay.
Profitability and Time: Making the Most of Busy Season
Since we opened almost a decade ago, we have seen back-to-school drive a 15 to 22 percent increase in revenue in our Q4 earnings compared to all other quarters. That’s our main profitability metric, and the fact that our expenses don’t rise with exam volume keeps margins healthy.
For us, it’s less about extra costs and more about timing and communication. Each year, we review patient flow and retention, and if we see areas where marketing or outreach needs improvement, we adjust immediately—even mid-season if needed.
Image courtesy of Drs. Jessica Licausi and Miki Lyn Zilnicki. The content of a promotional e-mail Drs. Licausi and Zilnicki send to patients to remind them to come in for an exam.
Empowering Our Staff
Our support staff plays an important role in making sure things run smoothly. They help write and send out email blasts, manage our social posting and keep a close eye on the schedule so no opportunity for an appointment is missed. Closing our office briefly during early July creates a window when staff can take vacations, so everyone is rested and focused once families start calling in droves.
Marketing with Purpose
Because we don’t run frame promotions, we focus our messaging on the importance of regular eye exams for every child—even those who pass vision screenings at school. We use e-blasts and social posts to remind parents that vision is about much more than acuity and refractive error; we evaluate binocular vision, accommodation, oculomotor and perceptual skills, all critical to classroom success.
We like to tie eye exams to the standard back-to-school checklist: along with school supplies, new shoes and dentist appointments, it’s important to book an annual exam. Our newsletters often include stories about children whose academic issues were resolved after uncovering a visual dysfunction and completing vision therapy.
Riding the Two Waves
We’ve learned that back-to-school isn’t just an August-September phenomenon. We consistently see a second wave in October, shortly after the first report cards go out.
Teachers and parents begin looking more closely at academic and behavioral red flags, and vision testing becomes a priority for students who are struggling.
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That makes October one of our busiest and most profitable months, with new therapy evaluations and re-evaluations for returning patients. We use the natural September lull to conduct staff reviews, complete continuing education and fine-tune both our therapy inventory and schedule. We also connect with patients finishing up their programs to clear space for the October rush.
Tracking and Improving Our Metrics
Each year, we track new patient numbers and retention rates alongside overall profitability. If trends slip or marketing isn’t generating enough new visits, we shift our approach right away.
Trying New Approaches
This year, in addition to our usual social and email campaigns, we’re reaching out directly to local camps and daycare centers with reminders and educational info on visual dysfunctions. We believe this community collaboration will help attract even more families and keep our momentum growing.
Final Thoughts: Capitalizing on a Big Annual Opportunity
We see back-to-school as an annual opportunity to both serve our community and strengthen our practice. Whether you focus on pediatrics, vision therapy or comprehensive exams, this is when families are especially ready for our guidance.
Eye exams belong on every family’s checklist, not only for students but for parents and workers with more flexible summer schedules.
Miki Lyn Zilnicki, OD, FCOVD, and Jessica
Licausi, OD, FAAO, FCOVD, are co-owners of Twin Forks Optometry and Vision Therapy in Riverhead, N.Y.
To contact Dr. Zilnicki: DrZilnicki@twinforksoptometry.com.
To contact Dr. Licausi: DrLicausi@twinforksoptometry.com
