Why optometrists love the AOA Business Card

Excerpted from page 42 of the December 2023 edition of AOA Focus.

What would the ideal business card for your practice have to offer?

That’s exactly what AOAExcel® and endorsed business partner Mercantile asked doctors of optometry when designing the AOA Business Card.

Samuel F. Poirier, CEO of Mercantile, shares with AOA Focus why so many AOA members have found the card invaluable.

How can AOA members benefit from the AOA Business Card?

The AOA Business Card is the only business credit card tailored to eye care practices—from leading eye care vendor deals, 2% cash back, and a credit of AOA dues, its benefits were made specifically for doctors of optometry. Any AOA member with a practice or business, even those with additional businesses unaffiliated with optometry, can take advantage of everything the AOA Business Card offers.

What size and type of practice/business is the AOA Business Card designed for?

The AOA Business Card works for all practice sizes: from multilocation practices to one-doctor practices. Larger practices have been able to maximize their spending with the unlimited 2% back—we’ve seen some large practices average around $150,000 per month in spending on their card, generating $36,000 annually in rewards back. Smaller practices, too, benefit from big rewards without an annual fee or personal liability. And no matter the practice size, the ability to easily obtain additional cards for staff members makes financial management and delegation simple.

How can the AOA Business Card help build a healthy, financially sustainable business?

The overall goal of the AOA Business Card is to increase the profitability of optometry practices and make financial management easy. The AOA Business Card comes equipped with dozens of vendor deals with leading eye care and small-business vendors. Mercantile negotiates for you so you can focus on running your practice. Not only can practices save substantial amounts of money through vendor offers and rewards, but also the easy-to-use online platform and seamless Quick-Books® integration make tracking purchases and creating a sustainable budget simple.

What features should practice/business owners look for in a business credit card? What should they be wary of?

Practice owners should look for a high, unlimited cash back; an easy-to-use card platform; an appealing sign-up offer; and ideally, some strong vendor offers attached to the card. They should, however, be careful with cards with complicated reward schemes that earn different percentages back on different transaction categories, as this hides the true overall rewards rate. These cards will typically average out to a lower rewards rate than a fixed rewards card.

What separates the AOA Business Card from other business credit cards?

Its eye care focus. The AOA Business Card was built from the ground up by consulting with doctors of optometry on which benefits they’d want in a perfect eye care practice card. This is why the AOA Business Card offers a strong 2% cash back, paid AOA Dues, and eye care vendor offers. What’s more, AOA Business Card holders can recommend vendors for Mercantile to potentially establish an offer with. The tailored nature and flexibility of the AOA Business Card is why it has a competitive edge over general-purpose business credit cards.

How has the AOA Business Card been a game changer for doctors of optometry? What feedback have you received from practice owners?

The AOA Business Card is absolutely a game changer for doctors of optometry. Practice owners have generally loved the AOA Business Card and the way it streamlines their business credit card usage. Mercantile has been proud to work with several multi-doc practices nationwide that have fully adopted the AOA Business Card, and a significant percentage of all eye care practices across the nation now use it as their main card for their practice. More and more doctors are signing up for the card, and we’re excited to continue honing this invaluable tool and sharing it with the optometric community at large.

^{Conditions apply. Subject to approval. Mercantile Financial Technologies, Inc. is a financial technology company, not a bank. The AOA Credit Cards are issued by Hatch Bank pursuant to a license from Mastercard. Mastercard is a registered trademark, and the circles design is a trademark of Mastercard International Incorporated. Review the cardholder agreement at https://about.card.aoa.org/terms.}

^{2% rewards on all purchases, no cap on rewards. You will not earn rewards on returned, disputed, or fraudulent transactions. We will reverse rewards associated with the return, credit, or adjustment.}

^{The AOA dues of $972 are paid when you spend $15,000 or more in the first 4 months after account creation. Your Card account must not be canceled or in default at the time of fulfillment of any offers. After the 4 months, Rewards points will be credited to your account if you have met the threshold amount. If we in our sole discretion determine that you have engaged in abuse, misuse, or gaming in connection with the welcome offer in any way or that you intend to do so, we may not credit Rewards points, we may freeze Rewards points credited, or we may take away Rewards points from your account. We may also cancel this Card account and other Card accounts you may have with us.}

^{To participate in the Vendor Offers program you must have an eligible AOA Business credit card. Data connection required; wireless carrier fees may apply. See complete Terms and Conditions for more details.}

^{Reference to any products, services, hypertext link to third parties or other information by trade name, trademark, supplier or otherwise does not constitute or imply its endorsement, sponsorship or recommendation by Hatch Bank.}