6 Ways Your Sympathy Store SHOULD Be Working For Your Funeral Biz
August 16th, 2018
Have you ever dreamed of wearing one less hat at your funeral home?
And wouldn’t it feel like a gift from the gods to not stress so much about your bottom line?
If these worries are on your mind, it’s always important to first and foremost take care of yourself and manage your stress levels (this resource will help).
But after self-care, comes refining your funeral business, and working smarter (not harder). That way, you can maintain your sanity and truly support the families you serve.
Many funeral professionals are using funeral eCommerce to add another level of service to their funeral home that doesn’t add another layer of stress or work, too. But if we’re being honest, the solutions out there vary WIDELY in quality, and service.
How do you know if your Sympathy Store is working for or against you? We’ve come up with 6 ways your store SHOULD be working for you, and why:
#1: Saves you time (lots of it)
If you’re going to add another layer of service to your offerings, you better make sure it doesn’t add another layer of stress for you. Many Sympathy Store platforms offer solutions that YOU must manage as the funeral professional. This makes your job harder, as you’ll be taking more calls, answering more questions, dealing with customer service issues, and so on.
Thankfully, some Sympathy Store platforms are completely done-for-you, meaning, they handle everything from customer complaints to technical set-up and everything in between. With the right solution, you’ll receive less calls about where to order flowers, saving time on the phone. And if you do receive a call, it’s an easy reference to your website so families can order there.
#2: Offers you another level of customer service
During their time of need, families and friends of the loved one are going to want to feel completely taken care of, every step of the way. Thankfully, the best Sympathy Store solutions out there offer an additional layer of customer support for your families. Sympathy Stores provide friends & the community of your families a convenient service that helps them show they truly care during the time of loss.
If your Sympathy Store isn’t managed well, any issues that come up can be time consuming and costly. But with the right Sympathy Store, when issues arise – you can refer the customer to the Sympathy Store’s support team who will then do everything possible to make that customer happy…and do that on THEIR OWN DIME, not yours.
#3: Increase your revenue (and profit)
Did you know that some of the most successful Sympathy Stores are earning nearly $100 per call as an additional revenue stream? If your Sympathy Store isn’t earning anywhere near that number, it’s time to look at your solution.
Many factors contribute to the success of your store, but one to look out for is the way your Sympathy Store is optimized. The easier it is for your families to find your Sympathy Store, and make a purchase, the more likely they are to buy.
Tip: If you’re not sure how your store is performing, ask your Sympathy Store solution provider to offer you a report on the statistics and explain to you why you might not be attracting customers to it, or why they might be abandoning their orders along the way.
#4: Connects you to your favorite local businesses
The best Sympathy Store solutions will give your funeral home the ability to choose which florists in the local community you want to support and recommend to families. This makes it easy for you to create a network with your local businesses, rather than joining the “box flowers” movement some Sympathy Stores have followed.
Nowadays, shopping local is becoming an increasingly valuable experience, and being able to offer your families products that are local is going to give families another reason to trust your funeral home.
Yorktown Funeral Home, focuses on their local florists in their Sympathy Store, which highlights their level of service and commitment to community.
#5: Add an extra level of support for your families
Our research has shown that 93% of people purchase gifts or flowers for the bereaved online, so there’s no question your community is looking for this level of support. And thankfully, with the right Sympathy Store, they can make these purchases right from your funeral home website, rather than visiting some third-party website that may or may not be credible in their eyes.
The following testimonial paints the pain point families have when it comes to purchasing flowers and gifts online:
“When my uncle passed away I was extremely concerned about his wife and family. So I took the time to go to a local gift store to search for the right gift. I then needed to have it wrapped. All of this took about an hour. I wish I could have purchased the gift directly on the funeral home website.”
This testimonial clearly demonstrates the importance of choosing a solution that truly makes it easy for your community, instead of sending them around the web on a goose chase for high quality flowers and gifts.
#6: Make you a hero for your out-of-town families
Did you know that more than 80% of online sympathy gift purchases are from out-of-town families? For many of these out-of-town families, ordering flowers and gifts is like taking a shot in the dark. Finding the right florist and making sure the flowers get where they need to be in time can be a worry and a hassle.
With a trusted Sympathy Store solution, it should be easier than ever for out-of-town friends and family to send flowers or gifts. With features like product reviews, 24/7 customer support and a flower & gift guide, out-of-towners won’t have to search far to find the right gift for families.
Hegarty- Scalia Funeral Home’s Sympathy Store offers resources that make ordering flowers online a breeze for out-of-town families.
In the end…
It’s all about making your families’ lives easier, and broadening their network of support during their time of loss. And the right Sympathy Store can truly do that for you. Make sure you take a look at how your Sympathy Store is running, performing, and how it’s supporting your families. Otherwise, it could be costing you, and plenty of potential customers, by staying with the wrong solution.
Want a Sympathy Store that truly works for you?
funeralOne’s solution, The Sympathy Store, is a completely done-for-you funeral eCommerce platform. To learn about how you can get The Sympathy Store on your funeral home’s website, click here to talk to one of our website specialists.
I was on call duty one evening when called to a resident for a house call of a gentleman who had died suddenly in an apartment building, so we took the two man gurney up the elevator to the place.
When we got there, there were two elderly ladies sitting on a sofa pointing us where the body lay, in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room.. They said he was family but hardly knew him They didn’t like him, he kept bumming money from them and were tired of his visits and good riddance that he died and “get him outa here fast” in a hurry. (Chuckle)
The police had been called and the coroner and the body free to remove from the floor into the gurney to the funeral home.
Back at the funeral home Bob my assistant and I removed him from the stretcher to the embalming table.
I noticed the clothes was disheveled because of the police search on the body but paid no attention to that, however, when on the embalming table I proceeded to undress the body so it could be cleaned and hosed down and washed first with soap before the actual embalming procedure could take place.
As I undressed him I noticed something under the his stomach. He was a huge man with a big beer belly so when the police searched him they didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.
As I lifted his stomach I saw a money belt and a zipper when opened the green color of money $20 bills, a money belt with $800 inside of it, probably some of the money given to him by the 2 old ladies. I noticed the bills were all neatly ironed and pressed flat.
There was a service for him a few days later with the 2 old Ladies at the grave side. I was there officiating.
Wow Paul, what a story! Thanks for sharing.
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