Why Warby’s Winning

Someone made the mistake of mentioning a cool new mobile app at the Thanksgiving table, and now your Grandpa Harold won’t stop yapping about the world changing too fast.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

“What’s wrong with the way we do it now?”

“The good ole days…”

He adjusts his scratched decade-old glasses and lowers his complaints to a grumble. You lock eyes with your sister. You’re both suppressing giggles and rolling your eyes. The old man’s stuck in his ways.

Humans are creatures of habit. We love routines, patterns. We generally feel most comfortable when we know what to expect out of the next hour, day, week, etc.

“In an ever-changing world, our routines and habits give us a sense of control and security.” –Creatures of Habit: Understand and Benefit From Your Habits (mentalvibe.com)

But what happens when this control and security is taken, and our habit no longer serves us because our circumstances have changed? We get uncomfortable. This is cognitive dissonance, the icky feeling we get when we receive new information that clashes with what we already think/believe/do. Like when you realize your favorite movie objectively sucks. Or finding out your seemingly perfect bf is obsessed with ICP.

This dissonance was something Warby Parker knew it would have to deal with when it was founded in 2010. It sought to spare people the hassle of the in-person eyeglass purchasing process by offering an alternative: Home Try-On, where potential customers order five pairs of glasses (for free) to be shipped to their home. They try them on, send back any they don’t like the look or fit of, and they only pay for the ones they want to keep.

Sounds cool, right? As my husband would say, “It briefs well.” But eyeglass customers were already used to buying them at stores or optometrists. Many would complain it was inconvenient, or at the very least, they wouldn’t look forward to it. But this was an inconvenience they were accustomed to. As annoying as it was, at least they knew how it worked, what to do, and that it usually produced a desirable outcome.

Today, Warby Parker has sold more than 15 million pairs of glasses to date, donated 15 million to match, and in 2016, they made their process even more convenient by launching a virtual try-on app. So how did they convince all these people to trade in their existing habit for the new method they offered?

We’re not (just) talking about influencers. All Warby Parker customers are asked to not only share their positive experience with people they know, they’re also invited to post pictures of themselves in their new WP swag on socials, with Warby tagged of course. And people are happy to do it! Warby Parker provides them with products and services that fill a need and make them happy. The happier the customer, the more willing they are to shout it from the rooftops. These positive testimonies convince others to take the leap into the unknown, especially if they hear about it from someone they trust.

So now the question is…

Does Grandpa Harold trust you enough to give it a shot?

Want to learn more about the psychology of habit? Visit The Neuroscience of Habits | Psychology Today

Or Warby Parker’s financial journey? A timeline of Warby Parker’s decade-long path to a $6B+ direct listing – PitchBook

Maybe even try them out yourself? Warby Parker | We’ve Got Your Eyes Covered