Why Having A Trustworthy Funeral Home Brand Is More Important Than Ever
May 15th, 2018When a loved one passes away, the first thing families do is an online search to find a funeral home to hold services.
You know the drill. That means your online funeral home brand is incredibly important.There are 1.3 million funeral searches every month on Google, so the first impression is everything to a customer when they’re online searching.
At ICCFA 2018, Tyler Yamasaki, shared insight on what makes online families feel confident about doing business with funeral homes.
After his grandmother passed away in 2015, he launched Parting Pro, a funeral home case management software that helps manage price shoppers and sell cremations online through Parting.com.
Here are his four tips for building trust with client families online before they walk in your doors:
1) Give them a peek into who you are
According to Yamasaki, the average user will spend 15 seconds on a website before moving on to the next one. That means you have to capture their attention with high-quality images on your funeral home’s marketing homebase: your funeral home website.
We were surprised when Tyler, through his research, found that great pictures are more important than price. People want to peek into who you are and what they can expect if they choose you, rather than hearing about your discounts (which arguably immediately decreases your perceived value).
For example, below, Schoedinger Funeral Home uses a stunning photo of their city and text that positions them as the leader in their market. The photo takes up the whole screen, enticing the eye to move around the screen, and play a video that educates visitors about what makes them unique.
2) Show how you’re backed by value
Client families want to know what they’ll be getting for the price they pay. It doesn’t always have to be the cheapest or most expensive, what matters is the value. Basically, is it worth it?
For instance, if you go online searching for a funeral home and all they have on their website is obituaries and outdated photos, you certainly can’t see the value they uniquely offer.
You can create perceived value for client families with photos of your beautiful funeral home, your most inspiring personalized services, and videos of how you’ve helped families celebrate their loved one.
3) Focus on serving well, not serving everyone
As a funeral home, it’s impossible to try to serve everyone. So instead, focus on serving those you do attract well. What are your specialties? What makes your funeral home unique? What’s different about your funeral home from your competitors? How can you cater to a families’ needs in a unique way?
These are just some of questions that client families ask before choosing the right funeral home. Make sure these questions are answered on your funeral home website, too, since their your funeral home’s online home base.
4) Tap into the goldmine of social proof
Google (including Google Maps), Facebook and Yelp are key components and are resources potential client families will look at first when deciding to choose what funeral home to go with. Tyler mentioned that the reviews on these channels are actually more important than word of mouth! Talk about the times changing.
Utilize these channels if you already haven’t by creating a business account, adding images of your funeral home, and add other touches that are unique to make your profile attractive.
He also added that gaining credibility on these channels will also boost your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts, making it easier to attract new client families online.
It’s never too late to start!
Trust us when we say that being credible online is SO important. Even if you’ve never put effort into your marketing or funeral home website, start now. Figure out what channels are most valuable and relevant for you, pick one, and go for it! It’s never, ever too late to start. And the journey, we promise, is worth it.
Want to start your journey with a new funeral home website that creates trust with families? Talk to one of our Funeral Success Specialists today!
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All funeral homes (establishments) should have a Collective Agreement with it’s employees.
There are many reasons for this…
Hi Paul, thanks for sharing your opinion! It’s appreciated and received well. Have a good day!