Value Vs. Price: What’s More Important to Your Families?
December 5th, 2014A few years ago, this controversial video made its rounds on the Internet:
In the video, innocent diners at one of California’s finest restaurants were tricked into purchasing $7 bottles of water that they believed came from the finest glaciers, valleys and rainforests in the world, containing antioxidants and other vitamins that were “good for you”. As the “Water Steward” had them taste each bottle and distinguish the flavor profile, little did they know that every bottle contained the same water which came from a garden hose out back.
So why did these diners feel obligated to pay $7 for a bottle of garden hose water?That’s easy, because of the perceived value they saw in the water. The truth is, people are willing spend more if it means more value. In fact, in a recent study, only 50% of people were willing to buy off-brand just because it costs less.
So how do you get your potential families to focus on the value of your services rather than the price on your website? Thankfully, you can do that in five easy steps:
Step 1: Really (and I mean really) get to know your families
Sure, you might think you know everything there is to know about your families, especially if you’ve been in the business for a long time. But when’s the last time you were actually in your families’ shoes? Since you have prior knowledge and relationships in the funeral profession, chances are you’ve never been in their shoes. Or if you have, it’s been a while.
So how can you get to understand your families better? By creating buyer personas, or fictional representations of your funeral home’s ideal customers. These buyer personas are profiles created from factual information about your potential families’ demographics and behavior, along with educated speculation about their motivations, concerns, and goals. To create these buyer personas, use this questionnaire we created or the simple template below to get started.
Want to take it further? Try using one of these 7 tools to better understand your families. Take all of your valuable data and turn it into a handbook for employees at your funeral home to reference for a quick reminder on how to better serve families.
Step 2: Figure out how you add value
Once you dig a little deeper to understand your families’ goals, pain points and needs, you’ll be able to easily identify how your funeral home’s products and services add value to their lives. Do this by picking out 3-5 main pain points, problems or issues your families’ have during their time of need. (You should have figured this out in your buyer persona). Then, align this information with answers on how you specifically help them solve those problems.
Step 3: Create a value proposition
Here is an example of the card reader, Square’s, value proposition on their website.
Now that you’ve charted out exactly how your products and services add value to your families lives, take the 3-5 solutions you came up with and turn them into a value proposition. A value proposition is “a believable collection of the most persuasive reasons people should notice you and take the action you’re asking for” (via KISSMetrics). To do this, start by combining all of the solutions mentioned above into a 10-20 second elevator pitch (which will be equally as useful down the line).
Then, take your elevator pitch and turn it into one powerful value proposition (ideally one sentence long) that answers the question: “Why should families choose our funeral home and not anyone else?” Remember to choose one really good reason why you stand out from your competition, and make it resonate.
Need some inspiration? Here are a few of our favorite value propositions out there:
Pinterest: “A few (million) of your favorite things.”
Square: “Start accepting credit cards today.”
Skype: “Skype keeps the world talking. Call, message and share whatever you want for free.”
Hubspot: “Create marketing people love.”
Step 4: Back up your value with proof
Will people believe you if you tell them your funeral home offers the most meaningful funeral service in town? Probably not. That’s where statistics, testimonials, social proof and other forms of data come in. For example, if you are your community’s longest running family-owned funeral home, tell people how long you’ve been around on your website. If you are the community’s #1 destination for personalized funerals, use family testimonials to prove it. Without proof, your value proposition is useless.
Squarespace uses the awards their company has won to prove their value to their customers.
Step 5: Incorporate your value proposition into your website
The most important part about your value proposition is how you use it. This might be hard for you to believe, but the biggest mistake I see many companies make is not using their value proposition enough. Since it’s such an important part of your sales process, you’d think companies would find a way to plaster it everywhere they can, but most don’t. Don’t make that same mistake. Incorporate your value proposition into your website as much as possible. In fact, whatever your headline is, replace it with your value proposition. Find creative ways to use it to remind your families why they’re choosing you.
The Iconic, an Australian online shoe store, did a great job finding creative ways to show off their value proposition by using their search box to remind website visitors of their large selection:
You don’t have to go overboard, just make sure that when someone lands on your website, they have a clear understanding of why you’re valuable within the first 10 seconds. Otherwise, that website visitor is going elsewhere.
And don’t stop there…
Use your value proposition everywhere you can – including your social media profiles, your phone conversations, business cards and your marketing materials. Heck, even your email. The last thing you want families to forget is why you’re valuable. And since we already know families choose a funeral home based on perceived VALUE (not price), you’ll never have to be part of the downhill price battle. Because we all know it’s a losing battle, don’t we?
Incorporate your value proposition into your website today
Need help incorporating your funeral home’s value proposition into your website? Schedule a free consultation with one of our Website Success Specialists to find out how you can start attracting families by proving your value. Give us a call at 800-798-2575, ext. 5. or click here to schedule your consultation.
As unfair as it is, funeral directors, cemetery professionals and the funeral industry in general has a lingering image problem, and there’s a lot of public relations work that needs to be done.
Now, imagine if you will the foyer of a funeral home as a calm transitionary area to remove our coats, adjust from the outside elements, as well as the mood and thoughts we carried in with us.
A place with a display of funeral home & office décor that celebrate a life well lived, provide comfort, inspire faith and honor the memory of those dear to a person’s heart, while allowing us time to discuss our feelings before being subjected to a sea of registry books, funeral stationery, cremation or burial and service options.
This type of inspirational wall décor cannot only eliminate the expectation that funeral homes are awkward, uncomfortable places to be, but also create a more inviting environment that reinforces the fact that funeral directors are incredibly caring, emotional and passionate people who truly have empathy for those seeking faith, comfort and hope during a most difficult time.
Value proposition. “People may not remember everything you say, but they’ll always remember how you made them feel! “
I therefore invite your company to review a selection of my inspirational writings and wall décor at the following links:
http://www.richardlawrencebelford.ca/parables.php
http://www.richardlawrencebelford.ca/product-gallery.php
I look forward to your thoughts.