Have you ever tried finding out the price of a funeral service… as a customer? It’s not exactly an easy task.

For some reason, many funeral home websites don’t make it easy for families to find the prices, which to me, sounds downright crazy. Even when you do come across the rare funeral home website pricing page (usually required by law), they are usually so overwhelming that you wind up needing to call the funeral home anyways.

If you see nothing wrong with this situation, here’s a reality check for you: being transparent in the pricing of goods and services is an important aspect of your online presence. In a world of Amazon and Yelp, there’s simply no way around it.

If client families want to make an informed decision about funeral service options, pricing must be transparent – and it often isn’t.

A step in the right direction

Thanks to the Funeral Rule, many funeral homes are taking steps towards transparency, but we’re still not quite there yet. Many funeral homes simply include a long list of items in a downloadable PDF – but for anyone who’s ever researched online before, that’s not very user friendly.

I get it. Sometimes you’re not sure about whether you should publish pricing. After all, a funeral can be an expensive item and  you probably want to build a relationship with your potential client families before talking price.  

But many of the excuses funeral directors use to avoid talking about prices just aren’t valid. The truth is that families already know the average price of a funeral, so there’s no point in trying to hide that. Letting customers know costs upfront can help them to feel safe and build trust.

So how do you make funeral service pricing authentic, transparent and easy to understand? Here are some tips from some of the best pricing pages around the web:

1. Use images to elicit emotion

Most people make emotional buying decisions, and they also respond well to visuals.  Put those two facts together and you have the perfect reason why Mailchimp’s pricing page is so effective. Not only do the images elicit emotion (C’mon, who doesn’t think “awww” when they see a lamb?), but it also makes it easy for people to self-select the service they need. Mailchimp also includes just the right amount of information to give a hint of what each level of service involves.

Key takeaway: Use images on your pricing page to evoke emotion and connect more with families. While you’re at it, take a hint from MailChimp on finding the right balance of information on your pricing page. That way, you can avoid making your families feel in the dark or overwhelmed when they’re on your website.

2. Anchor your prices

Price anchoring is where you make one pricing option (preferable your best one) look more appealing by surrounding it with other less appealing ones. On Crazy Egg’s price page there are four options, with the preferred option highlighted in blue to draw the eye. You can see what’s included in each box, and there is information lower down the page on what’s included in each plan. Notice that the price is at the top of the box just under the name of the plan, so potential customers can see the pricing easily without having to search for it.

Key takeaway: If you haven’t already created pricing bundle, test the idea out (trust us, it works). Then, use anchoring to highlight your best package so families will want to choose it.

3. Color code prices

Dropbox also uses color and images on their pricing page. While the lowest priced package appears on the left, where people would normally read it first, the image is in plain blue and white (the Dropbox colors). In contrast, the images for the Pro and Business options include additional colors, capturing the eye’s attention quite easily. You can use a similar technique on your own pricing page.

Key takeaway: The subtle use of highlight colors can make some of your funeral service packages seem more appealing than others.

4. Make it easy to compare price bundles

The pricing page on the Animoto site features three columns. While it also uses color coding, the important feature here is that it highlights key features of each plan side by side, making it easy for customers to compare. The site also keeps the table simple, with a link at the bottom of each plan so that those who want to can choose to learn more.

Key takeaway: If you know the most important features client families are looking for, showcase them so that website visitors can compare them on your pricing page. Remember to include a link to the full GPL too, just in case.

5. Use decoy pricing

Grasshopper uses another technique in their pricing page called decoy pricing. By putting the most expensive option to the left where people start reading,  it makes every other option look more affordable and increases the perceived value of the second most expensive option. It’s a version of the decoy pricing technique, which is usually very effective.

Key takeaway: Lead with your most expensive package on your pricing page; all the others will appear more affordable.

The bottom line? You can give client families what they want and still make your funeral service packages look like a total steal.  Let’s take a look at how some funeral homes have put these techniques into action on their pricing pages.

3 Awesome Examples of Funeral Home Pricing Pages

1. O’Connor Mortuary

O’Connor Mortuary has an in-depth pricing page where it lists both cremation and burial service pricing plans. Each plan includes links that allow people to learn more about the plans that interest them most. Each plan shows what it includes, with a side by side comparison of options. They also provide a full list of prices near the bottom of the page. Note that O’Connor lists its most expensive option first, as shown in tip 5.

2. French Funerals

French Funerals provides three packages in their pricing section, all in an accessible table, similar to O’Connor Mortuary. Just like O’Connor, the options are presented side-by-side so it is easy to see what you get at different price points. Prices are presented at the end of each section. While this is nowhere near as detailed as the O’Connor option, families get an at-a-glance overview of what’s available. There is also the option to download the full GPL.

3. Coleman Funeral Home

Coleman Funeral Home uses images effectively to differentiate among its packages and to draw the eye. Coleman starts with the most expensive package, making it more likely that families will choose one of the others. The lowest priced package is placed at the end of the page – where many people don’t bother to scroll.

Final words on pricing

As you can see, making your pricing transparent isn’t hard to do. And, while you might think you’ll lose potential families in the process, quite the opposite is true. Think about it – consumers are used to easily locating pricing pages for most goods or services they purchase. Why would you make your funeral home’s pricing page any different? Maybe, just maybe, one step towards transparent pricing will help you build trust with families easier. You never know until you try.

Create your own transparent pricing page today

Need help with the pricing page for your funeral home’s website? Get in touch with one of our Website Specialists to learn the fundamentals and create one today by clicking here or giving us a call at 800-798-2575, ext. 5.

What does your GPL look like? What other pricing techniques do you incorporate on your website? Tell us about them in the comments below!

Joe Joachim

funeralOne

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