It’s official. The American eye surgery consumer is alive and well online. June 2020 Google search trends are now above the pre-COVID 19 norms for cataract, glaucoma, and LASIK-related searches (Chart 1). This healthy search activity is relatively uniform across the United States, however, early-opening markets in the Southeast and Southwest still show stronger search volumes.
- Cataract surgery related online search trends are showing a strong continuation of the rebound that began in late April (Chart 2). Search volumes are trending as much as 40% above pre-COVID 19 levels in early June reports.
- More importantly, Cataract surgery specific queries around topics that demonstrate ‘learning’ intent and ‘action’ intent are trending up as much as 170 percent over prior month (Chart 3).
- The strong online consumer presence, activity, and purchase intent demonstrated in the past month should be an encouragement to eye surgeons and surgical companies. It should also help surgeons resist the temptation to ‘discount’ their way back to pre-COVID 19 surgical volumes. The consumer is already activated and is searching for solutions – not discounts.
Chart 1: Eye Surgery Related Topical Search Trends
Month-Over-Month (April 2019 to June 2020)
Chart 2: Cataract Surgery Topical Search Trends
Month-Over-Month (March 2019 to June 2020)
Chart 3: June 2020 Cataract Surgery Specific Search Queries