Is Getting a Funeral Home Website a Good Idea for your Firm?

funeral-home-website

 

10 years ago, a truly monumental thing happened at Posey Funeral Directors.

After 120 years in business, we decided to get a website.

Our funeral home website brought up some very large concerns for our firm like: who’s actually going to use this site? Is it going to be worth the money we’ll have to spend on it? How long will it take to get a quality site?

Despite those concerns, I can say with confidence that our website has become an integral part of our business.

I’m going to talk about some of the digital fears I had 10 years ago, as I’m sure they’re one’s you’re experiencing as well. It seems that more often than not, many funeral service professionals believe a website just isn’t for their business, and their families won’t use it.

I’m here to tell you that I’m almost certain those beliefs are false… it took me a few years to learn that myself.

Let’s walk through a few of the common “digital fears” many of you probably face, and I’ll tell you how getting a website showed me that quite the opposite is true:

Fear #1: My families and community won’t use my funeral home website.

When Walker Posey got a website, it was mainly informational, serving as a place for the community to go and sign a guestbook.

Surprisingly, after a short time, our community embraced it in a dramatic way. I even had an elderly women stop taking the paper because she liked our site better. She would go there every day to look for obituaries.

We had a huge number of users and a lot of activity. As I mentioned before, within just a few years, our funeral home website became an integral part of our business.

Fear #2: My families don’t like change.

Once we had an informational site for several years, getting a new, more interactive site was proposed. During this time, my concerns were very real.

I wondered how that elderly woman was going to find the obituaries if we change our website. How is she going to learn a different system with a new way to share her memories and condolences?

We were prepared for a great deal of blowback from the families that had been using our previous site. We feared it was going to be a complication.

But we launched our new website, and to my surprise, we didn’t receive a lot of negative feedback. In fact, we experienced the opposite: tons of positive feedback and comments.

It turned out we were worried about a small segment of the population. In reality, most of the people in my community were already using the Internet and social media.

Truth is, most of the people in your community are probably comfortable using new interactive platforms and have actually come to expect it. They expect improved services, more interaction, and a higher level of service from your funeral home.

Fear #3: Interactive websites are too difficult for families to use

Despite the positive feedback, we did have some people with concerns. Soon after we launched the new site, I was at home at seven o’clock at night and an email came through.

“I can’t post a comment on the Tribute Wall,” the visitor complained.

I immediately called the user, and she was blown away that I actually called her at seven o’clock on a Friday.

I had a conversation with her, walked her through the process, and for some reason she still could not post her comment. So I suggested she email me the comment and I would post it for her that night.

I posted the comment on her loved one’s Tribute Wall, and she was very pleased.

After my quick guidance, she had no problem with our new system. In fact, she logs in now with her Facebook ID, posts her memories and condolences and has become a regular user of our site.

Fear #4: My families and community won’t see the value in my website.

As you explain the features and benefits and share your story about why you changed to the new site, they understand and see the value.

Those who do will quickly become fans. The biggest thing you can do once you make the switch is to get with your community and talk about it, be proud of it.

Get out and talk about how your website is an extension of your services, how it’s interactive, and more importantly, how your funeral home website is helping families connect with their communities to honor the life of their loved one.

When people come into visitation, ask them if they have seen the new site. If they haven’t, take them into the office and show them the unique features your new site provides.

If you embrace the possibilities of your funeral home website, the results will come.

 

Is your firm is looking for a funeral home website platform that will save you time, reduce lost opportunities, put you in control of your firm’s online presence, and attract families? funeralOne’s website platform – f1Connect – is the website platform you’re looking for. Click here to learn more.

Leave a Reply

Note: You can use basic XHTML in your comments.

  1. Nick Ville

    Fear 5 – I don’t want my web site to look like everyone elses, even down to having the same content.

    Fear 6 – Families might expect us to even tell about costs on our web site, when we really want them to come into our funeral home where we prefer to do our up selling.

    http://www.us-funerals.com

  2. Krystal

    Thanks for the additions, Nick. I think transparency, above all else, is important with any website (not just funeral websites either). As you probably know, some states require that funeral homes put their pricing on their site. If prices are fair and deliver plenty of value to families, there’s no reason why prices shouldn’t be displayed. The trick is finding a website platform that allows you to communicate your value to families without saying “pick me! I’m valuable!” As for content – the beauty of the better website editors is they make writing content for your funeral home easy and done in one click… I’d definitely stay away from website who don’t have easy-to-use website editors. It’s like buying an entertainment center and not having complete directions on how to put it together, right?

  3. 5 Reasons Your Competitor's Funeral Home Website is Better Than Yours | Funeral Blog. The official blog for the funeral & cemetery professions.

    […] Is Getting a Funeral Home Website a Good Idea for your Firm? – How to Generate $1,000′s From Your Funeral Website (Without Doing a Thing) – Is Your Funeral […]

  4. AidenJack

    Its realy a great idea to share information through websites. Funeral Homes also helps by providing online information of their services. Its a great help for the people who needs their fast and easy services in their grief moments.

  5. Jacob

    I’m 100% pro website marketing. Even though it might seem as an offensive option in regard to the ones left behind, it really isn’t. You just have to make it look professional