Dylan Cunningham is the Head of Growth at Otto, an e-commerce and patient engagement platform that helps independent eyecare clinics thrive in the digital age by streamlining contact lens sales and automating patient communication. Under Dylan's leadership, Otto has enabled practices to compete with industry giants by implementing seamless online ordering and refill systems, resulting in measurable increases in patient loyalty and practice revenue. With a background in marketing and a passion for human behavior and psychology, Dylan brings unique insights on how technology can enhance both the patient experience and clinic growth.

In this episode…

Some practices make patient loyalty look effortless, while others struggle to keep people coming back. What separates the two often isn’t skill or service, but the invisible moments between visits where convenience can make or break trust. In a world where patients expect everything to be simple and fast, how can clinics remove the friction that pushes people toward online giants instead?

The answer, according to Dylan Cunningham, lies in making the patient journey feel as natural as the way we shop for everything else. As a growth strategist with deep experience in both marketing and optical pursuits, he believes people genuinely want to support their local eye care provider — they just won’t fight through barriers to do it. Dylan explains how reducing steps, eliminating outdated processes, and meeting patients where they already are can dramatically shift buying behavior. He points to small but meaningful moments, like replacing paper rebates with instant digital links or making reorders possible in two taps, as examples of convenience that strengthens loyalty. When practices think like consumers instead of operators, he says, they unlock a level of trust and retention that online competitors can’t match.

In this episode of the Cleinman Connect Podcast, Kim Carson is joined by Dylan Cunningham, Head of Growth at Otto, to discuss how online presence and automations improve patient loyalty and sales. They explore the friction points that quietly drive patients away, the automations that save time while building trust, and why convenience is now the biggest driver in patient buying behavior. Dylan also gives advice on how practices can stay relevant in an increasingly digital world.