Be Seeing You, but Better

Warby Parker is a primarily mail-order eyeglasses retailer that is known for its fashion, customer service, and reasonable prices. It began when one of the founders lost his glasses and became frustrated that he could easily order so many things online, but eyeglasses were still challenging and time consuming. (Mahoney & Tang, 2016)

Fortunately, Warby Parker has a devoted, almost evangelistic following. With fashionable frames, try at home service, and prices barely more than Wal-Mart would charge, it’s understandable. (Balugo, 2025; Ung, n.d.) The Buy a Pair, Give a Pair program, where a pair of eyeglasses are donated to someone in need for every pair sold, no doubt also contributes to Warby Parker’s following. But it’s the company’s interaction with customers through social media that truly explains the attraction.

Customers are strongly encouraged to comment and show pictures of themselves wearing the product and to share on their social networks. This distribution of user-generated content doesn’t stop with the company blogs, it carries on into larger networks such as YouTube and Facebook. (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010) Social media marketing is a challenge, and when done wrong can damage or even destroy a company, but when done right, as Warby Parker is doing, it can provide benefits far in excess of the cost. Using social media to simply tell the company’s tale is not effective, but building a community by actively interacting with customers can boost a brand in ways no amount of corporate marketing can hope to do. (Whiting, & Deshpande, 2014)

I really like the company’s value and appreciate the home try-on offer. This is a considerable risk for them, because they have to make the glasses on the customer’s prescription which makes them very difficult to send to anyone else if the customer rejects them. But because they work so hard on customer service, the model has worked well. Warby Parker has successfully disrupted the eyeglasses business.

While the company has raised its revenue, it has still lost money in the last few years but appears to be resolving the issue. (Vision Monday, 2025)

Having said all that, I don’t see myself doing business with them. I have about 100 email addresses. As you can imagine, I get far more than the usual amount of spam. I’d say Warby Parker offers represent almost 5% of that spam. I don’t believe that Warby Parker is intentionally spamming me, however, because they are a leader in online sales, they know how to track sources, and they could easily track where leads were coming from. So no business from me.

Balugo, K. (2025, April 2). I Tested This Buzzy Online Eyewear Retailer That Makes Designer-Looking Glasses for Less. Stylecaster.com. https://stylecaster.com/fashion/shopping-guides/1234812243/warby-parker-glasses-review/

Kaplan, A., and Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media. Business Horizons 2010 53(1):59-68.

Mahoney, L., & Tang, T. (2016). Strategic social media: From marketing to social change. Marblehead, MA: Wiley.

Ung, T. (n.d.). Warby Parker Glasses Review. https://www.journeyofanarchitect.com/blog/warby-parker-glasses-review

Vision Monday. (2025, February 28). Warby Parker Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Results. https://www.visionmonday.com/business/article/warby-parker-announces-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-2024-results/

Whiting, A., & Deshpande, A. (2014). Social Media Marketing: A Myth or a Necessity. The Journal of Applied Business and Economics, 16(5), 74-81. https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/social-media-marketing-myth-necessity/docview/1647789148/se-2