Have you ever been to a funeral home website that looks like it was designed by a next-door-neighbor instead of a web design company? Or even worse, has your own site not been updated since Y2K?

Unfortunately, a lot of funeral home websites fall into this category.

Usually, these sites will have small fonts, an outdated layout, cheesy animations, distracting music and gloomy and muted colors.

The problem with these sites is that they don’t provide a credible web presence that inspires visitors to choose your funeral home. Instead, they inspire visitors to quickly click “x” on your website and choose a different funeral home.

Not sure if your funeral home website is helping or hurting your business? Keep reading to find out if yours is guilty of any of the following problems:

Problem #1: Focusing the homepage too much on yourself

If your website is all about you, you might as well delete it and start over. This is especially true if you’re wasting precious homepage real estate by telling families about you.

Your visitors want to know how you can solve their problems and make their life easier. So use your homepage wisely to provide families with the resources they need when a death occurs rather than focusing on your facilities, fleet, history and staff.

Let’s consider an example: What if you landed on a company’s website and all you saw was pictures of the company’s staff and office? You’d probably be left wondering how they can actually help you and your business. More than likely, you’d return to Google to search for  a company that meets your needs.

Problem #2: Outdated or depressing web design

The way your potential families choose your funeral home has changed. Instead of reading your newspaper ads, hearing about you on the radio or dialing you up when they see your funeral home’s  billboard, they research and make decisions online.

To make sure your website has a good impact on families purchasing decisions, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Does your design make people want to celebrate a life lived? If not, consider updating your color palette or simplifying your design.
2. Is there depressing auto-play music? If yes, turn it off. Auto-play music is generally a poor online experience. This is especially true if it’s depressing.

The problem with outdated or drabby website design is that it doesn’t present the best possible first impression for your firm. Actually, it provides a negative one. You want your website to be uplifting and to inspire people to honor life. An up-to-date, modern, and appropriately designed site helps to accomplish this.

This funeral home website encourages life celebration through bright colors and joyful pictures rather than dark, drabby design with pictures of people mourning.

Problem #3: Burial and cremation pages

In the end, burial and cremation are only disposition methods. Instead of focusing on just disposition methods, show families what makes your funeral home meaningful—a funeral service.

By not showing your families the true meaning and value of your services, you’re basically writing them off as your next direct cremation. More than ever, families are interested in celebrating their loved one’s life in a unique way, so make sure your site communicates how you can help them do just that.

Problem #4: External guestbooks & memorial pages

Online guest books are a great way to help your families get support and encouragement from friends and family members online. They give people an opportunity to remember the deceased and share their thoughts and stories.

But if they’re not located on your site, you’re sending away valuable website traffic and disrupting your website visitors’ user experience.

Make sure to offer memorial websites that are built into your site and provide families more opportunities to interact with your funeral home. This creates a positive brand experience where family and friends who are honoring their loved one through your website are more likely to remember you, and have a positive memory when they do.

On this social memorial website, family and friends can view the obituary, sign a guest book, purchase flowers & gifts, and even light a candle in honor of the life lived… all from the funeral home website.

Problem #5: External links to flower shops

Another missed opportunity is sending families to external flower shops. It’s a good idea to make it convenient for your website visitors to purchase flowers, but you’re losing out on valuable website traffic and revenue-generating opportunities by sending them to a third-party website.

Why send your visitors to a third party website when you can find an eCommerce solution that works with your local florist? Some solutions pay you up to 25% on every product sold.

There are many eCommerce solutions in the funeral profession that allow you to offer flowers and gifts directly on your website, positioning your firm as a one-stop-shop. Many providers will pay you a commission on every product sold, without you needing to do anything. Doesn’t that sound great? We think so.

Problem #6: Difficult navigation

Websites need to be easy to use and navigate. When a person lands on a page, they need to know how to get back to where they started from, and how to move forward. For example, if a customer clicks into a site and then eventually wants to go back to the homepage, there needs to be an easy way to do so.

Here’s an example of a funeral home website that’s difficult to navigate. Once you get to this memorial page, if you try to go back to the funeral home website, you can’t. At this point, you’ve potentially lost a visitor, and you’ve definitely lost a branding opportunity.

Problem #7: Complicated pre-planning forms

Generating preneed leads from your website is a critical way to ensure future revenue for your funeral home. But if your forms are too long or too complicated, you might be in trouble.

There’s a general rule of thumb that every extra form field you ask your visitors to fill out will decrease the chances they’ll actually complete the form. Even asking someone for their name and e-mail compared to just asking for their e-mail will decrease form submissions.  So if you have a long and complicated preneed form, you’re likely losing out on generating leads.

Here is an example of a well designed pre-planning form that helped Schoedinger Funeral Service generate 2,000% more preneed leads from their website.

Now what?

Hopefully, you’ve learned a lot about web design as it relates to attracting and caring for your families. Sometimes little things like how your site looks doesn’t seem to be such a big deal, but when you look at it through the eyes of visitors, you realize that even little changes can make a big difference.

Take a minute to evaluate your web presence. Are you making any of these mistakes? If so, take the necessary steps to fix these problems so you’ll have a credible and professional web presence that will attract families to your funeral home.

Transform your website into your funeral home’s #1 marketing tool with f1Connect. Click here or call 800-298-2575 ext. 5 to learn more. 

Joe Joachim

funeralOne

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