If your optical felt different in 2025, you weren’t imagining it. 

Across the country, practices saw capture rates slip, exam-onlys rise, and patients walk out the door with a fresh refraction, buying absolutely nothing. We know this isn’t temporary, so the Power Hour is not waiting it out, we’re getting proactive. 

This week, Eugeneand Kayla Ashlee, CEO of Spexy, collaborate againbecause she is obsessed (in all the best ways) with the real levers that move optical revenue. Unlike most conversations about capture rate, she helps her clients go far beyond pricing and “consumer sensitivity.” Leveraging the data points from real practices she works with, Kayla breaks down human influence, retail science, merchandising psychology, and the subtle behaviors inside your practice that are pushing patients away instead of drawing them in. 

Why Capture Rates Dropped (But Not for Spexy Practices) 

Eugene opens with the national data: exam-onlys increased throughout 2025, proving that fewer patients are buying in-office and average transaction values slipped. But Kayla reveals something surprising: her Spexy members didn’t see this drop at all. Why? Because they were actively influencing the patient journey from the moment someone walked in the door. 

Kayla explains how small shifts in tone, energy, and trained charisma immediately lifted capture rates in their client offices, some without even touching inventory at first. 

Winning Over Gen Z Without Changing Your Entire Frame Board 

Gen Z is one of the fastest-growing segments abandoning in-office eyewear purchases. And Kayla explains that they’re not thrifty: they’re actually more willing to spend than Millennials when something feels personal, unique, and aligned with their identity. 

Here’s the key: Gen Z wants customization. Not custom frames, but custom recommendations. 

What matters to your Gen Z patients is how the optician talks with them, mirrors them, and frames the selection as designed for them. Learn how Kayla dramatically increases the purchase likelihood from a small shift in the way she asks her questions. 

The A-Style Effect: Kayla’s Most Powerful Optical Growth Strategy 

One of the most compelling parts of the episode is Kayla’s A-style study. These are your top 3 best-selling frames per brand (proven winners). What happens when you: 

• One of the most compelling parts of the episode is how to increase price and increase sales at the same time.  

• Use the A-Style display strategy  

• Place the frames strategically in your optical  

• Train your staff to talk about them differently  

• Raise the price   

The result? 

Across 15 practices, 92% either sold the same number or more units after raising the price. 

Let that sink in: Higher prices. Same or higher sales. Same frames. Same work. 

This is why Eugene calls the episode a master class. Kayla’s insights aren’t theoretical, they are operational, immediate, and backed by real-world optical data. 

If you are tired of watching patients leave without buying, frustrated by falling capture rates, or unsure how to compete with online eyewear, this episode will change the way you think about your optical. 

Kayla Ashlee brings the perfect mix of behavioral psychology, retail strategy, and real-world optical execution to help practices turn passive opticals into intentional, profitable retail environments. 

By the end of the episode, one thing becomes clear: We don’t have a capture rate problem. We have an influence problem, and influence can be fixed. 

• Why Capture Rates Are Dropping: What’s really behind the rise in exam-onlys, and why waiting for the trend to “normalize” is costing practices revenue and momentum. 

• The Myth of Price Sensitivity: How patient behavior shows they will spend, just not when value isn’t communicated clearly or the optical feels chaotic or outdated. 

• Winning Over Gen Z: Why younger patients are leaving without buying, what they psychologically crave from a shopping experience, and how small communication shifts can dramatically increase conversions. 

• Retail Science in the Optical: How eyelines, comfort cues, visual merchandising, and environmental design influence buying behavior long before price ever enters the conversation. 

• The Power of A-Styles: How identifying and featuring your top-selling frames (then raising their prices can) increase sales, not decrease them, when backed by proper placement and staff training. 

• Human Influence Over Hardware: Why your biggest opportunity isn’t new inventory or discounts, but training your team in influence, emotional connection, and assumptive styling to guide patients toward decisions. 

• 00:00 – Introduction 
• 02:20 – Why This Episode Is a Retail Masterclass 
• 03:10 – The Metrics That Actually Drive Capture Rate 
• 05:00 – Human Influence Beats Discounts Every Time 
• 08:00 – Managing Behavior, Not Just Metrics 
• 09:40 – Are Patients Really Price Sensitive? (Hard Truth) 
• 11:15 – Selling to Gen Z Without Changing Your Frame Board 
• 16:30 – Selling Before the Patient Arrives 
• 19:30 – Why Yes/No Questions Ruin Sales 
• 27:15 – Influence vs. Manipulation: Where Practices Get It Wrong 
• 29:40 – The Retail Science That Changes Buying Behavior 
• 33:55 – Frame Boards, Chaos, and the Power of the Eye Line 
• 40:00 – The Grocery Store Trick You’ve Been Ignoring 
• 43:30 – The Jam Study: Why More Choice = Fewer Sales 
• 47:30 – How Many Frames, Brands, and Vendors Are Optimal 
• 50:55 – Why Sunglasses Are Underselling (And How to Fix It)
  
• 55:45 – Are Patients More Price Sensitive in 2025? 
• 57:50 – A-Styles Explained: Where Profitability Actually Lives 
• 01:02:45 – The $30 Price Increase That Boosted Sales 92% of the Time 
• 01:04:20 – Final Takeaway: Retail Science Creates Profit 

Connect with Kayla Ashlee

Kayla Ashlee is the founder and CEO of Spexy, an optical education company that empowers independent eye care practices through practical training, leadership development, and communication strategies. A certified optician and international speaker, she’s known for her relatable, no-fluff approach to transforming optical teams into confident, high-performing professionals who build real trust with patients. 

In 2019, she launched beSpexy.com, an on-demand learning platform focused on helping opticals improve sales through mindset shifts and better patient communication. Her innovative tool, FrameTurn®, offers frame inventory coaching based on real-time data to maximize profits. Named one of Vision Monday’s Most Influential Women in Eyecare in 2024, and an OWA Emerging Leader, Kayla continues to be a respected voice in the industry and a champion for optical teams everywhere. 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaylaashlee/  

• Website: https://www.bespexy.com/  

Connect with Eugene Shatsman (Managing Partner, NSG) 

Website – https://www.eugeneshatsman.com/

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/eugeneshatsman