The demand for sympathy gifts and flowers is high, and expected to grow exponentially in the coming years. What may surprise you is that demand for these items on the Internet is strong as well. With more than 200,000 searches for sympathy gifts and flowers each month on Google alone, there is a growing opportunity for your funeral firm to capitalize on the community’s demand to buy these items online—if you haven’t already.

eCommerce, the buying and selling of products over the Internet, has reached the far corners of every industry, and the funeral profession is no exception. Still need some incentive to add an online sympathy store to your website? Consider these five facts about how eCommerce can boost your business:

1) It’s simpler than you think

Building an eCommerce store on your site is easier than ever. The addition of a plug-in—something that adds a new function or ability to your website—allows for the seamless integration of product sales within the current structure of your funeral home website. This makes the addition of a sympathy store effortless, with no overhaul of your website’s architecture or design required. At the same time, plug-ins or hosted service options create a safe and secure shopping experience for your clients within the trusted pages of your own website.

2) Introduce a new stream of revenue

If you’re not already selling sympathy gifts and flowers, someone else is. With little or no costs to implement, you could be earning new revenue in a matter of days. How much? The introduction of sales on your funeral home website could bring you up to a 25 percent commission on each sale. Most importantly, this new revenue comes without pulling focus away from your core business of providing funeral services to the families you serve.

3) Drive more traffic to your website

The addition of a sympathy store on your website does more than just add new content; it adds relevant content, a key factor in determining how well your website is optimized to appear in search engine results. And, your families are likely to spend more time on your site, browsing sympathy gifts and staying to complete a purchase. The increased amount of time visitors spend viewing your web pages also improves how well your site ranks in a Google search. The better the ranking, the more visibility your funeral home website will have to potential client families browsing for funeral services—ultimately bringing in more traffic.

4) Improve your customer experience

Any assistance you offer the families who visit your funeral home website is an opportunity to build loyalty and referrals. An online sympathy store provides grievers the chance to shop at their own convenience, saving them time and potentially easing their stress. Selling sympathy gifts direct from your website is also a helpful service for out-of-town friends and family members. Those who are unable to attend a funeral are likely to visit your site to read about the services of a loved one. Providing them the opportunity to express their condolences with sympathy gifts is another way to extend your funeral firm’s reach to the families you serve.

5) Increase business without increasing work

An effective eCommerce solution delivers the benefit of additional business and revenue without the drawback of increased workload. While a sympathy store will be branded as part of your firm’s offerings, the right eCommerce solution will manage the entire selling process, from product inventory, to ordering, to billing and delivery. These solutions also provide their own knowledgeable support representatives to manage the customer’s purchase experience and answer any questions that may arise.

Kelly Murad

funeralOne

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