DTC, an Opportunity or an Existential Threat

DTC Could Be A Boon, Not A Threat

My open letter to GN appears to have raised a few hackles, was it the nasty, mean, accurate things I said? Anyway, I wanted to explore further why I feel that GN is doing the right thing wrong and why I feel that DTC undertaken correctly could lead to a larger market for traditional hearing care.

The DTC and OTC segment is designed to appeal to the large cohort of people with hearing loss who we haven't wooed up to now with our wholesome charm and skills. To design a device that neatly fits within this rather interesting new segment and then try to woo those lovely people with the same bag of tricks and delivery channel that they have been stolidly ignoring, is perhaps the very definition of lunacy.

If DTC devices are to appeal to that unreached cohort, well then manufacturers have to think differently, offering things differently. However, in doing so, there is a great opportunity to guide this new cohort toward traditional hearing care. Offering them a new product and then forcing to come to a professional to actually purchase it, is not that way.

Offering DTC devices in an open multi-channel manner while educating users that the devices can perform even better with the assistance of a professional is a far better way to go. The purchase of a DTC device will not be the end of the journey for many who buy. Given the right customer journey and education, it will be just the start.

I have spoken about Lexie Hearing before and their model makes sense in a DTC world. Lexie offers an ongoing outstanding customer experience, one that is in fact automated and and probably quite cheap. They have designed their app to offer in-depth support, they deliver prompts and information that make sense as time passes in the customer journey. They offer education to make the experience better on a step by step basis. They deliver this all through the app that the buyer has to use, they even gamify it to ensure the user keeps coming back to the app.

Yes, they have to employ real support staff to answer the video calls, however, I bet that their app communication strategy reduces that to a minimum. Lexie has no reason to send their users to traditional hearing care providers, probably because professionals probably wouldn't support them. That's part of the issue, traditional providers see this segment as a threat, not a possible opportunity. As long as they do, and manufacturers try new tricks in the same old way, OTC and DTC will be an existential threat to hearing care.

Because it will allow other players, players with no interest in traditional hearing care to enter the market and quite possibly succeed. Bose had the right idea but the wrong product, what happens if a big player enters the market with the right product? If DTC hearing aids were offered in the right way, at the right price, with a well thought out customer experience, it would be a boon to traditional hearing care. Allowing them to finally attract that almost mythical cohort of people who just don't want to know.