On today's show we're going to
be talking about how to get
more leads from your website by
causing shoppers to be
generally interested in what
you have to offer and impressed
by how you present yourself.
There's a lot to this topic
from understanding your
audience to refining the
specific types of information
you are presenting on your
website.
Do it right and you will reap
the rewards.
Welcome to Strategy Talks by
Funeral Results Marketing where
funeral professionals discover
the latest marketing strategies
that get results.
Now Join Robin Heppell and
Brian Young as they share their
insights and experiences to
help you and your firm during
these ever changing times in
the funeral profession.
Well, welcome to another
episode of the Strategy Talks
by Funeral Results Marketing
and before getting into today's
topic I wanted to let you know
to stick around to the end of
the show to find out how you
can get your free
Self-assessment Report Card to
help you with your website.
Great Brian.
So today we want to talk about
how to get more leads from your
website and how to be
more appealing online
and to help us do that,
we're going to do some Q&A with
Brian here who has worked in
the space for much of the last
10 years.
So, Brian why does one website
get more interest more leads
more shopper calls than another
website.
That's a good question, Rob.
And really it's just a matter
of cause and effect.
Because shoppers find your
website. And then,
after finding it because they
saw and read what
appealed to them,
that's what causes them to
reach out to you.
So obviously there's two pieces
there. There's getting found
and second, there's been
appealing.
And, I know a couple of weeks
ago you talked about how to
make your website more
SEO friendly which is certainly
all about getting found
and I know the future podcast
will discuss effective
advertising method.
So, those are other things that
can help a person's website and
business to be found.
But then, the question is what
comes next.
And that, that's what we want
to answer here today. How do we
maximize the appeal of the
website that shoppers
go to after viewing that
advertising.
You know, is it all just about
the design of your homepage,
the graphics
that it's wrapped in or
are there other ingredients in
the recipe of a website's
appeal.
And actually there are a lot of
other ingredients.
And that's what we want to
examine in our in our podcast
today.
Well I always like to start
from the big picture and get
the context and then delve into
the details.
You know, the death care
industry is a
male dominated industry
but who is the target audience.
And a lot of owners aren't
aware of just how large
the target audience is
on the female side of the line.
72 % of death care shoppers
in America are women.
And that number actually comes
from a 2010
ICCFA Commission study
they had performed by
Rhonda Harper.
She is marketing to women guru.
She's handled Wal-Mart's
accounts and written for Forbes
and she's a top CEO
and marketing expert to women.
And so that number isn't
surprising to the few people
who were were investigating
that before but it was nice to
hear from an outside source.
Three quarters of all death
care shopper in States
are women.
Well, that's a really
interesting stat and maybe it's
kind of shocking the first time
you hear about it but it makes
sense.
So, what effect does having
a female target audience have
on your funeral homes ability
to get leads and appeal to
these shoppers.
Yeah, that's a great question.
It's hard to connect with a
target audience unless you
understand them,
unless you understand what they
want to learn, what they care
about what matters to them.
And then you speak to those
concerns and I want to
get into some of the many
specific things women are
looking for as we go along
here today.
But first I think it would be
viable to point something out.
If we look at the types of
information most funeral home
websites don't
you find that it's mostly about
the same?
I do.
I hope you've seen that but
I've looked at it you know I
think probably several thousand
over the last 10 years
and I think it's this lack of
differentiation and lack of
individual personality that's
been noticed by America not
just online but offline.
And I think the proof that
comes out every time
somebody says something like,
"you know funeral homes are all
about the same" or
"I don't like funeral homes" or
"funeral homes are just
expensive" and you know sadly
that's a lot of negative stuff.
And I've never met a funeral
home owner who likes to hear
that but maybe
your first thought upon hearing
those things is,
well the causes of those
problems stems from a lot more
than than just the funeral
homes having the same generic
things on its website
that other funeral homes have
on their websites.
And sure that's true.
That's true
but it's also true
that the website is one of,
if not the easiest place
to try to nullify and reverse
those negatives and those
negative opinions.
They come to the website and
they respond to advertising
marketing they're coming to
websites first.
Quite often we'll talk about
that a little bit more
and I've only seen a few
funeral home owner that are
actually accepting that reality
for the challenge it is.
And for the opportunity that it
is and really trying to make
the most of it.
OK then why do you think so few
funeral home owners are
thinking this way and
not investing in the appeal
of the website.
Well I think there are several
contributing reasons.
The most often cited reason I
hear is that the majority of
families do not pick a funeral
home based on its website and
that is what the survey is for
my industry's top consulting
firms have shown.
But there's at least three
key things to note about that
general finding.
First,
when we look at Google
Analytics which we discussed in
our podcast or too back,
there's tens, or scores,
or in some cases hundreds of
shoppers on
a funeral homes website each
month.
Now, a lack of phone calls from
the shoppers doesn't mean the
funeral home didn't get
shopped.
Also,
many people decide to call it
business if its website
impresses them.
And so, says a number of
studies fact that's actually
not taught in a lot of business
when one class is around the
country they're talking about
the new phenomenon that the
Internet has brought to
commerce because it used to be
advertising and a visit
to a store,
or a call on the phone.
And now the vast majority
of advertising results in
a preliminary visit to a
website or perhaps even a
social media space like
Facebook.
And after that,
if the shopper is pleased or
satisfied then they'll go on
to the next step to visiting
the store,
contacting the store by phone
or form,
online form or e-mail.
So you know,
again, to go back just
to recap three things about
the general finding that says
you know families don't pick a
funeral home based on its
website. Well,
first Google Analytics show
there's a lot of shoppers who
are on funeral home website
each month.
Second,
nearly all funeral home
websites come from just four
large template website
providers at least in America.
And you see their names in all
the trade shows.
So while the staff and pictures
are quite different on most
funeral home websites,
the generic stock content that
they come with is mostly the
same for everybody across
thousands of websites.
So again,
that's a failure to stand out
and impress.
And since a lot of shoppers
are coming into their first
contact with your brand via
your website,
they're seeing that you're
the same as everybody else.
In fact, I remember when Alan
Creedy said back in
2010 maybe even
earlier that for many families,
the first experience they have
with the funeral home now is
with its website.
And so,
you know a lot of industry
experts have noticed this over
the years and there's not a lot
of content there that
impresses. So that's another
reason I'm not surprised
families don't cite the website
is as being the reason they
picked the funeral home.
But here's the third reason and
this is something you'll find
interesting.
In the last two years,
I've noticed a big increase
in the number of website
clients telling me each month
that "hey, a family just told
me they picked me because my
website." Now and you know
in 2012,
even 2014
I was only hearing that several
times a year.
You know, there was a few guys
with exceptional websites and I
hear more from them but
generally just a few times a
year. But now,
I'm starting to hear it each
month that their families
are picking funeral homes
because of their websites and
that's just shocking.
But you know,
thing usually evolve.
So, I think those three reasons
should be considered when you
reflect on the stat that
the majority of families don't
pick a funeral home because of
its website.
That's true.
But the website certainly
influences whether or not they
call and whether or not they
call excited about what they
found or you know,
just one of many others were
the same and I got to start
somewhere.
Here's a couple other things to
think about.
If just 10 to 20 percent of
families let a
site maybe online read reviews
influence which funeral home
they select,
that is still a huge deal to
the owner of the funeral home
because if you pick up
an extra 10
or lose an extra 10 percent of
calls each year,
you know,
that depends on that determines
whether or not you had a great
year and ok year or a bad year.
Right? So,
can you really afford to
neglect the website if you're a
funeral home owner? I don't
think so.
And the last thing I'll say is
the more price oriented a
family is or the more
price oriented a family thinks
it is,
then the more likely they are
to go to the Internet to look
for a funeral home or a death
care provider.
So, what do you mean the
more price oriented
family thinks it is?
Well, as you probably heard
Batesville and other industry
vendors say,
many families start out
thinking about price
and they're only starting there
because they don't know where
else to start.
And if you've heard Nectar
Ramirez speak she's the
director of customer training
at Batesville. I think
everybody knows who she is.
She often talks it at
state and national conventions
about how often families
arrive and depart a funeral
home without ever having
learned of their greater
memorialization options.
Maybe they come in and start
talking about price a lot of
times they'll leave without
ever learning about things like
cremation jewelry or different
ways to personalize.
And she shows how more
effective communication in the
arrange room greatly changes
what the family wants to buy
and how satisfied they are with
what they buy.
But it's really easy to prove
that the website could have
been the first step in
effectively communicating with
a number of those families.
And it's easy to see that the
lion's share of funeral home
websites are very weak and
or generic and or
unappealing in terms of what
it is they're communicating.
So, families who think they're
price shoppers and actually
they're value shoppers,
they get left and the price
shopper category because
of what they hear in the
arrangement room and also,
what they hear on the website.
Next, I guess what I should say
is they're left in the price
shopper category because what
they don't hear in the
arrangement room in
relation to this podcast what
they don't hear or don't
read or don't see
on the website
as we've seen it heard many
times over the years,
families are willing to pay for
the things they find value in
and since they're shopping the
website first,
before you ever get the chance
to talk to them or have them in
your arrangement room or give
them a tour of your funeral
home where they can see what
they could have what they could
buy.
The website could be doing that
for you.
OK, so that makes sense and
it's a good segway into
discussing what specific
types of things can be done on
a funeral home website to
generate appeal and get more
leads and more shopper calls
for the funeral home.
Can you elaborate
on that a bit, Brian?
Yes, sure.
So let's consider a funeral
home website in the context of
that scenario I just mentioned.
The family doesn't know what
all is available.
Well, how can you get more
leads or shopper calls from
these families by means
the website and it comes down
again to effectively doing show
and tell.
So, what should you show
and tell about?
And there's you know,
there's two things obviously.
There's things they want to
know about.
And then there's the things
they don't know that they want
to know about.
And I'll talk about that
a little bit more a second.
But, first regarding things
they want to know about.
Well if they're going to have
some kind of a service,
then obviously the chapel space
is of prime concern.
Well, how many funeral home
website have you seen where the
chapel or meeting room space
looks bright? or
is it more common that somebody
shot that picture with a
cellphone or an old digital
camera fifteen years ago it
looks all dark and gloomy.
Here's why that's such a big
deal. I think you already know.
But here's the validation.
Back in 2013 or 2014,
I guess 2014,
the major study was
commissioned by the ICCFA.
I'm going to talk about who did
that specifically in a few
minutes.
But,
it was learned just how many
women complain about dark
gloomy chapels and funeral
homes.
So, the worst thing you could
do and try and win business
from families that you have not
historically served,
maybe a family that's
historically used your
competitor and now they're
shopping around. Maybe they've
never been in your chapel
you're looking at your website
and if they see a low like
then picture and that looks
kind of gloomy.
What makes it more appealing
than the funeral home they used
before?
If that was your chance to win
them to win a shopper call and
get the chance to win their
business,
you may just
lost it.
The same with the priced other
rooms like visitation rooms
a lot of times they have a low
ceiling,
candlelights and there's no
natural light in the room and
there aren't enough lamps and I
would just say whenever you're
shooting pictures of your
chapel or any other room in
your building make sure you
have lots of light.
In fact, be afraid of washing
out the picture.
That's when you're probably as
much light as you need and that
will directly connect with
those female shoppers who want
something bright and not
something dark and gloomy.
Some of the things that we know
funeral home shoppers are
looking for,
believe it or not men,
the staff page.
The staff page you know,
after your Homepage and
your Obituary pages
and quite often your Contact Us
Page. The Staff Page
will rank somewhere between the
third and sixth most viewed
pages on a funeral home
website.
It doesn't matter what kind of
market you're in whether
they're in a big metro area or
way out in the country or
anything in between.
And these women want to see
who they're going to be working
with.
Do they find smiling,
kind, warm inviting
faces you know,
from people who are competent
and safe or they getting
a stiff upper lip,
you know big you know,
metal rimmed engineering
glasses from the 1980s and
straight faced
with a dull background behind
the funeral director.
I hate to say it, but you know
we're getting, we literally are
getting judged by how we look
in that situation.
There's a great chance to still
look very warm and inviting and
safe versus
stalwart and you know,
down to business. So,
I think you get the idea.
Another thing we know shoppers
are looking for and
you may or may not love to
share this and there's
different degrees of doing it.
But obviously we know the
shoppers are looking for
pricing just like we are
looking for pricing when we're
shopping online and there's
many cases where funeral homes
don't want to show their
pricing,
of course here we're big
advocates for being transparent
and putting their packages.
We'll talk about that more some
other time but even if you just
put price ranges or packages
with price ranges
and details specific details
and even better if you can have
pictures that go with it.
I've even heard of a few firms
that are starting to do videos
to go with their packages so
that you can actually kind of
see what do I get if I
buy this higher end
package and includes chapel and
visitation as
they have a room for
reception and that type of
thing.
Another thing we learned from
them, I guess I should be doing
this study specifics in a
minute but I'll hold it off
just a little bit longer but,
regarding package names,
and I'm speaking more
specifically for a funeral home
right now than for cremation
business.
There's nothing wrong with
calling the package a simple
funeral home package for your
base.
Your base level. But stay away
from terms like basic funeral
home package or anything
that might have a slightly
negative connotation
because women,
well nobody wants to as man or
woman or man. But women are a
little more attuned to this
studies found.
They don't want to
feel like they're being cheap
for their loved ones especially
a parent.
So, anything that makes someone
one of the basic.
That's all they can afford.
Well, you might lose somebody
whereas by simply calling it a
simple funeral package instead
of just set up a basic funeral
package or anything less than
that, that might win them
because maybe mom always said
she wanted a simple funeral.
Granted, we're talking more
about the people who go up from
here. They have nicer packages.
There's all science to that and
we can talk about that.
And I think Rob I think you're
actually going to have a
podcast about that coming up
but the point there is to
stay away from anything that
would sound like a negative
name or make a woman feel like
she's being cheap or
cutting back if she goes with
the basic package.
Ok, great.
That makes sense.
So, now what about the things
that they don't know
they want to know about.
Like so when exactly what do
you mean by that,
Brian?
Sure. And I know that's sort of
like what.
What is it they don't know they
want to know what they want to
know. So, let me give you some
context.
I read a study a couple of
years ago.
Rather shocking.
I'm not sure how large it was
but I certainly had a grain of
truth in it.
I want to hold on to.
It said that about half of
American families were not
satisfied with their funerals
even though they gave very
quality of service.
You know, they attended this to
the funeral director,
attention to detail.
They said that compassionate
care funeral home facilities
were very clean whether it was
old or new,
big or small.
And so when they were asked why
they weren't satisfied,
the common answer was
"Well, we wanted something
more,
something a little different."
OK, well obviously you know we
want to know what that is.
When they were asked "Well,
what is it that you wanted
different?, What you wanted to
look like or what did you want
to see?
What did you want experience?"
and the response that came back
was "Well, we don't know but
we'll know when we see it."
And so, the conclusion was that
these were the baby boomers
that historically looked to
change things up to make it
their way.
And I don't think that's new to
anybody with anybody who's been
paying attention to what's
being said by the thought
leaders or just what it been
experience with families knows
that to be true but boomers
are looking for something
different.
What can you think of
a more ideal situation
for appealing to a consumer
with something new and
different than a website?
I mean they're basically
pulling up your online employee
and saying "What can you do for
me? What do you have to offer
me?" That's just the
context for shoppers that are
looking for something more than
an average or traditional
religious based service
funeral service. And we haven't
even talked about the things
all the things that female
shoppers, you know, they're 72
percent of the equation.
We didn't talk about all the
specifics they're looking for.
We're going to get into that.
But
this is an ideal situation to
present things that are new,
that are different,
different flavor and
generate interest for
people like why I haven't seen
that before. The last two
funeral home websites look the
same, they had a chapel,
they had a staff.
It's in general information.
They show me pictures of
caskets. You know I guess I
have to call them if I want to
learn anything else.
But on this website,
Wow! I've never seen that
before so probably
the biggest.
Didn't know I wanted to know.
Thing is,
when you show something they
didn't even know existed it
could exist and I'm going to
talk about it a little bit.
So,
several years ago,
the first thing I saw coming
out and making its way from the
casket vendors onto websites
were examples of personalized
funerals. So,
maybe we all seen this there's
this there's the golf cart in
front of the room and a bag of
golf clubs and maybe even some
fake grass and make a miniature
green and they create a whole
setting or a scene that
represents you know an interest
or a passion of the loved one
and family still loved that.
So having pictures on websites
that started to show up in
that, that started to open the
eyes of the less imaginative we
could say,
like Oh! that's
a neat idea! we could do that.
I really like that.
And that would generate some
calls.
More recently pages and
websites that talk about things
like Signature services or
special things we offer.
Maybe you highlight the fact
that you've got a kid's room.
You may not have thought of
this.
But, again statistically
72 percent of your shoppers are
women.
These women are busy.
Most of them have professions
as well as their home life.
They've got to manage kids,
manage a household.
A lot of them are divorced.
And so they don't have many.
Maybe it's just them and the
kids are very busy and under
pressure and they're trying to
take care of a funeral or if
they're older, the kids are
still teens. But you get the
idea, saying that you have a
kids room that can be a real
appeal knowing that you're
going to make it easy for them.
Maybe you talk about some of
the more common things like a
dove release or a balloon
release or having a bagpiper.
But I've also seen things like
having a farewell ride in a
motorcycle hearse or
even newer.
Maybe you haven't gone to the
Four Star Wars sendoff
experience
and that might seem kind of
ridiculous but
hey, it's not.
Doesn't have to be cheap and I
wouldn't mind doing the Star
Wars enough experience for
eight thousand dollars.
How about you?
You know it's.
And obviously pictures worth a
thousand words in these cases.
And video,
if done right is worth even
more.
Now, you might be thinking you
know, how do I do this?,
would I have to stage this
director bringing actors and
decorate all up myself.
And
two answers to that.
My first answer is it would
absolutely be worth it
especially if you're in a
suburban or metro market.
Would absolutely be worth it
because of how many people are
looking for something different
and what you're trying to do is
NOT start all the different
things you can do.
We're trying to show them some
and get them to realize that
hey, whatever you want to do we
can do it here.
That being said,
I've noticed over the years
that many funeral homes have
one or two really over-the-top
funerals each year
and these are prime
opportunities for you to get
some pictures.
And I'm not suggesting that you
get in there and take pictures
of everybody in attendance
where we have faces and that we
have to worry about getting
permission written sign offs,
we get released to have to use
those images from each person
in the picture.
But I have known funeral homes
who run their staff in there
say that's
funerals not starting for a
couple of hours and they'll run
their staff in there and even
call your friends if they know
it's going to be a good one.
And shoot the picture from
behind the head on one side of
the chapel and capture the
front of the room
and they're able to get an
image it's very usable.
Or maybe it's in the
arrangement room or the
reception room.
Piccalilli beautiful buffet
set up and maybe there's extra
large pictures or posters that
are
any kind of paraphernalia over
in the corner of the room.
These are pictures that bring
ideas alive in the minds of
consumers and the consumers who
are looking for ideas.
They engage with that.
The same,
I think probably this gets
credited to foundation partners
as we're starting to see giant
video screens and funeral
home chapels and by giant,
I mean the size of one whole
wall usually at the front
of the chapel or most of the
wall depending how large the
building is.
But the room is I'm also
I've seen chapells who are
putting multiple screens in
there and they're starting to
create whole video experiences
or video immersion experience
that are larger than life video
experiences.
I know there is a
Senior Center in
Florida that
foundation partners works with
and they've basically got their
own event space
that it gets often used
for funerals and they're
putting in a mat. They already
did put in a massive video
screen in that space.
And it sounds funny to
talk about it but all the
seniors who live there I guess
most of them are being good
sports because many of them
miss that. Wow! that's amazing.
They've been to a few funerals
now in that space and they've
done a great video on that
enormous
screen. And it's the buzz
of the senior community.
So again it sounds
a little funny to talk about
but these are different ideas
and ways that we can generate
interest which creates appeal
for shoppers who are looking
for something different.
And, the result is either
shopper calls or at the very
least downloaded brochures
or maybe have some great ideas
on PDFs you know,
ideas you can use for planning
that great funeral or a
meaningful sendoff or let's
not call it funeral. A
celebration of life is
certainly a big piece of this.
I haven't used that term and I
should.
Celebration of Life is a big
piece. So, these are things we
can do to generate interest and
appeal on the website.
So, what are some of the things
consumers want to know,
Brian? like
what would you say are specific
types of information website
needs to have to stand out and
you know generate more leads
and get more shopper calls?
Yeah that's certainly the
question we're here to answer.
And to answer that question I'd
like to refer back now
specifically due to the study
that I've cited and that was
by a marketing expert.
Her name is Bridget Brennan and
you may have heard of her. She
authored the book "Why she
buys" and she's a contributing
writer to Forbes actually ICCFA
also commissioned her to do
a study I think was in 2014.
It was titled "Optimizing
the Funeral Arrangement
Experience to Attract the
Largest Market Sector".
Now, that's a long title but
that's what it was.
How you
may have heard or present it.
I know she presented it at the
ICCFA.
I heard her present it at the
New Jersey Funeral Directors
Convention but I want to talk
about some of the critical
findings she has.
And you can see very clearly
how this can directly connect
to the types of content we need
to have on a website to be more
appealing and generate more
leads and more calls.
Now, she interviewed a large
number of women in two markets.
She picked a market in Illinois
and a market in Florida
and she didn't just do you
know, surveys in the mail.
There were a survey and there's
also a lot of interviews scores
and scores of interviews in
each market.
And let's notice some of the
things that were learned
when she asked this woman "What
are ways that you'd like to
personalize?" And by the way,
that term personalized is not a
term that many consumers know
when they first hear it. It's
not intuitive term.
I'm just using it here because
as death care industry
professionals, we all
understand it.
But among the top seven things
that were listed were to place
specific music where most of
you offer that,
the ability to play videos,
again not new,
paint pictures of a loved
one up to serve
cherished foods,
showcase favorite food,
that's one we might not think
about as much of our men in the
industry,
individualized ceremonial
touches, and maybe that's a
more common phrase
individualize ceremonial
touches as opposed to
personalized. It sounds longer
but that's the words they use
and wanted to be able to make a
presentation on an iPad
that was set to music and have
that be a part of the
experience.
And we might call that a video
tribute but also just a
presentation where they're
showing a person's life almost
like a show and tell.
And that certainly is a trend
in the direction of the new
celebration of life direction
that more and more funerals are
going in.
Except for perhaps that last
one, none of these are new
things are they?
We've all heard of these
things.
But how many of you have
pictures? nice,
beautiful pictures or appealing
descriptions because obviously
you can't have a picture of
music being played.
That spells out and shows how
you do these types of things
and you call out these things
the special things you can do
in the service that our funeral
home will help you do to make
sure your service is the most
meaningful and the most
you know, individualized for
your loved one.
Things like this. So these are
specific things that can be
done and again you have to use
a little bit of creativity.
But as far as taking pictures
of people eating special food
whether it's ethnic
or whether they just love
pizza. I don't know.
It could be whatever
so I leave off with that.
There's there's so much data
that was in that, in that
study that's just outstanding
because there's a lot of
person feedback.
Another can competitively
critical area is that you know
that at the celebration of life
and why that's so important is
Bridget's study found that many
women found a celebration
of life more appealing than a
traditional ceremony.
Again, that's nothing we
haven't heard but I
just want to put that back out
there again.
If your website isn't specific.
Both traditional funerals and
celebration of life,
you're in trouble.
And the reason I say that is
you may have heard of
a couple of famous authors
you know, Al Ries and Jack
Trout.
They're famous for some of the
books they wrote the 90s.
Some great thought leaders in
America.
One of them was called
"Positioning".
Have you seen and heard in the
over crowded marketplace.
But another one that's really
sick was the "22 Immutable
Laws of Marketing".
And one of the things they talk
about in that book is
how you have quite often
in a market as it matures you
end up having two choices
you have the old tried and true
and then you have what's new.
And of course traditional
funerals have been the tried
and true for a century
or longer actually you can say,
forever in America.
But this whole celebration of
life is the new up and coming
trend kind of like how there
was Coca-Cola for decades and
then along came Pepsi the
choice of the new generation.
Well, the celebration of life
is the new thing.
It's not new to hear anybody
talk about it but if it's not
on your website you're behind
the times and people who
are looking for a celebration
of life and they find big
pictures of
groups of people doing
everything from sitting in
chairs or pews watching a video
to playing around of Putt-Putt
Golf inside your chapel let's
say, which might sound crazy or
maybe they leave your chapel
and there's this picture of
them leaving in the next
pictures of them running along
behind the hearse and running
gear. The last pictures them
running through a cemetery on
the way to the grave site.
And that idea actually happened
it was covered in Runner's
World.
Those are the kinds of ideas
that bring a lot of
interest and engage
the attention of consumers who
are looking for something
different.
So, you know these are some
specific things
that we could put on the
website in terms of pictures
and descriptions that really
get interest.
The last thing I want to
mention there. It's very easy,
almost all of you already have
this.
You already have a sound system
in your chapel, right?
Many of you already have
cameras installed.
Does your website say that you
have a sound system.
It can sound funny but a lot of
people just to see a lot of you
know models they have there.
Tell them that you have a cell
system. Have a page in here
about a section or in what we
offer where you talk about
our sound system and video
capabilities.
People want to know that stuff
that makes you stand out from
just an average funeral home.
It shouldn't. Everybody should
have these items on their
website but they don't.
You know, Brian this is really
interesting especially when
you're talking about
celebration of life.
And in Canada
the most recent survey
that was done although
it was 2010,
2011.
And now,
remember that over
60 percent of Canadians want to
be cremated.
The survey said that 73 percent
of Canadians want celebration
of life for themselves.
So,
you know more than the
people who want cremation
are saying they want a
celebration of life.
And,
so I've you know,
made a challenge to funeral
homes and the people who have
done it say that it
just works great.
Just take you know,
on your GPL where you have
your traditional funeral
service,
go into your
into word or whatever document
program you have.
Copy it,
paste it with the same price
same details and everything and
just title it "Celebration of
Life". So,
you know, maybe change the
words around a little bit but
you know have that on your
price list because someone
might gloss over a traditional
funeral and then right there,
right next,
you know, right below it you
might say "A Celebration of
Life" and they may stop
reading the rest of the
document.
And folks who have done this
have said you know,
that one move has made them
you know, more money than
you know, any other simple
little fix that they could do
especially just to the GPL.
So,
I just wanted to you know to
share that since we're on that
fact that people use
that term.
I know a lot of industry people
don't like to use that term.
But as you said
we should use
that. You know,
talk their language.
Which leads me to the next
question. Are there anything
that we should have or
or really not have on
the website like is there
anything that we should
avoid in our website content?
Yeah, that's a really good
question.
One of the biggest ones turn up
in that study that
Bridget did was industry
jargon.
One of the quotes I enjoyed
that she shared,
she said quote.
They used words like remains,
which was a very new thing for
me. It was very insensitive.
They need to come up with some
other terminology and that's
pretty close to what I think I
typed it all down right.
But this is something that one
of the women said she talked to
and then Bridget went on to
explain to those of us in the
audience that there were
actually she heard that
over and over and over.
People especially women hate
the word remains.
That's their mother or that's
their father or that's their
sister or their brother.
Those aren't remains and
they get upset
about a human being
being referred to as remains.
And I think we all understand
that so I won't belabor the
point. But, if your website was
written by "professional
copyright writer in Cook
who doesn't know what they
don't know".
And so they come in and they
interview you and then they
start to write your content.
And they're using words like
"remains". Well you don't
realize it but you are really
putting up a dreadful
face of people are some women
when you could be using terms
like "loved one" like "we take
your loved one into our care
and we do this with your loved
one" versus and
you know,
you get back to your
mother's ashes or your loved
one's ashes as opposed back you
know, the remains to get back
the remains,
you understand what I'm saying.
So,
industry jargon,
another one that I find this
industry just does not want to
let go of is
the term pre-need
and I'll share with you an
interesting insight.
Having been in the
Serbian Unit, doing websites
for funeral homes for about 10
years over 10 years now,
I've watched a lot of employees
come through.
The two companies I've worked
at and
in every case there's always a
few words that a new employee
says "Hey what's that.
Never heard of that before."
And one of these words is
"Pre-need" and
we're so used to hearing it and
the pre-need insurance
companies out there talk about
it that we just want consumers
to do it our way.
We want consumers to accept
that.
But you know,
you can fight that battle.
You could also just use a term
"plan ahead" on your website
instead of "pre-need".
"Come on in and pre-need today"
was I guess they mean they want
us to plan our funeral.
Why don't you just say "plan
ahead". So look for it.
Look for jargon for words
that aren't intuitive or if you
ever have family say what's
that or look at the puzzled
expression when they're in the
arrangement room,
take a second race up a note
about that word because words
matter.
And as most of you fellows know
or listening that
women are typically considered
a lot more effective
communicators, a lot more
attuned to detail.
And again, women are a target
audience here.
So jargon is something we need
to avoid.
Another thing that we need to
avoid or
actually kind of avoid
/ do the right
way.
Is that study Bridget said a
lot of women expressed
emotional concerns about
the whole process of arranging
a funeral.
And so,
you know, as a marketer I'm
thinking "well hey,
customer service is making a
great first impression.
One of the best ways I can win
their interest and make them
more interested in talking to
me than the other guys is
on my website I can reach out
right away." It's verbiage
that talks about what the
arrangement experience is like
at ABC Funeral Home.
You know, that title I would
give it the attention.
Like yeah, what is the
arrangement experience like
some kind of worried about
that. In a theater two,
three, five, six funeral homes
in town are talking anything
about that.
And your website has a page.
It's even a call to action box
right in the home page.
What is the arrangement
experience like?
What you need to know.
And then you start to get into
answers that nullify these
three. The three talk
in terms of about moving to
right now which were
will I take.
Well I get it. Excuse me,
will I get taken advantage of?
Will I overspend?
I noticed this last one which
is normally wouldn't think will
I do this right.
These are three big concerns.
The three top concerns that
came out of the study.
You know, this and even in two
sections of the country and
different types of markets
well-done study.
So,
if your website's content is
removing anything that causes
concerns whether it's gloomy
pictures or
bad verbiage like "remains"
and in looking to
insert verbiage and features
and information that nullify
fears and create a sense of
safety and
well-being that's going to be
good for you.
And, I want to also point out
here three other things.
There are several ways to make
the female shopper feel less
vulnerable and
I'm not trying to get all
psychological honest,
but then again,
sales market has always been
about shopper psychology and
how to connect with the shopper
because if you're what they
think they're looking, for
they'll buy you.
You're the expert. They think
they want. They'll buy you.
So here's three things.
Tell them that you're
interested in having their
funeral or their celebration
life experience be the way they
want it with the trappings they
want at the price
they can pay.
That you have a solution for
them it's going to fit and look
for ways to get specific.
And I can delve into that quite
a bit.
It's a little bit easier to do
in a conversation than out in
the street.
I think a podcast presentation
and I do see a lot of funeral
home say "You can get what you
want, the price you want.
We have packages for every
budget." But,
look for ways to
press interest
in them being satisfied
and having the experience they
want.
A second way to help reduce
feeling of vulnerability is
tell them you'll give them
space and privacy to make their
decisions.
One of the quotes I read from a
lady that was surveyed in that
study said well actually these
two contrasting quotes one
of them who is said you know,
I wish they would has gone away
and give us some time to think
about it.
I know many of you do that.
I heard many funeral home
owners say,
you know, after we talk then
I'll just get up and leave the
room.
And I find that works wonders.
I just leave the room and go on
and give them some time when I
come back I can tell if they
need more time or not and I'll
give them the time they need.
And it works wonders for us,
builds a great reputation,
families are happy that they
buy and that's a win win for
everybody.
But there's many funeral
directors who aren't doing
that. And as again
as Alan Creeley pointed out
if you and I totally agree with
this even though I'm not an
expert on it by any means.
If a funeral home owner doesn't
know what their funeral
directors are doing in the
arrangement room, if they
haven't watched how that
funeral directors are
conducting arrangements,
then you don't really know how
your brand is being represented
if it's not being represented
by you,
do you?
So, make sure that what you're
saying on your website is
actually getting backed up in
the arrangement room.
And then, in a third way to
appeal to a female shopper
and and remove any feelings of
vulenrability is to
package her options into
appealing plants.
And again I won't try to get
into this in detail.
Rob's going to talk about this
more but what
a woman finds "appealing"
versus what a man finds
"appealing" as you might
imagine can be a lot different.
And with 72 percent of our
audience being female that's
something we fellows really
need to think about and focus
on in order to maximize
happy customers and all
our bottom line.
A couple of things I'll share
here is that in
that study women said the
decisions they made
when choosing what they wanted
for final arrangements
reflected on them personally
reflected on their tastes,
reflected on their love and
respect for the deceased
which by the way they don't
like that term very much either
deceased loved who died.
And also reflecting on their
budget and they didn't want to
look cheap.
So, one thing I will just
quickly touch back on related
to packages I mentioned it
earlier was that
they don't want to look cheap.
They want to look like they're
making upgrades.
They don't want to look like
they're cutting back on
features.
So, they want to feel like
they're making an upgrade when
they add to the package.
But like the starting package
isn't a bad thing.
So really consider that when
naming your packages and again
we'll talk about that more in
the future. Feel free to call
and talk about that with us.
And now to there
are two of the things here are
things we can do to help female
shoppers feel less vulnerable.
Emphasize that your staff is
there for them whenever she
needs them and that's a big
deal granted
most funeral homes have been
doing that for decades or
longer. There's all kinds of
legendary stories of how the
phone rings in the middle of
the night.
Remember that John McQueen said
his dad used to always had
somebody spending the night
down there and their funeral
home. So no matter what time a
call came or somewhere there
was always somebody there for
them. Times have changed a
little bit that's still the
spirit of the traditional
funeral home.
Make sure it's spelled out on
your website and you might
consider spelling it out in
modern terms,
we're available for you however
you need including
phone calls,
emails,
text messaging.
We shudder to hear it.
There's families who are
reaching out for a first
contact through Facebook
and not just low cost shoppers
being talked about that later
but Facebook is a growing
medium for regular
communication. So that's just
going to be in the wheel house.
The skill set of any effective
business going forward you need
to be planning for it.
And finally you know we need to
assure them that getting hold
of the staff will be easy
whenever they're needed.
It kind of fits in with what I
just said but it's going to be
easy to get hold of us through
any of these means we're here
for you. We want to make this
as easy as convenient can.
Again because a lot of these
female shoppers are you
know they're managing families
and they have careers
that the kids have after school
things. Now they have all this
pressure of a loved one has
died.
If they're single
and they don't have the aid of
a partner or a spouse
to help them that just adds
more pressure and they're
looking for things to reduce
pressure to make it fast and
easy and still also to be
meaningful and fulfilling
and where they feel like
they've honored in church their
loved one with the choices that
they've made and they want
reassurance that they've done
that. And there's just a lot
that goes into communicating
that.
Now, having heard all that,
which is quite a bit and still
I feel like it's general I
didn't get into maybe as many
specifics but we really get the
nitty gritty but having heard
all that,
hopefully we began to see just
how lacking
the content has been on
death care websites.
And you know, if you ever want
example of some good content,
maybe look through some of the
leading senior retirement
centers or another favorite
example I have is wedding
resorts and hotels and your
favorite vacation spots where
the competition is intense.
There's lots of contenders that
have a
skilled marketing and
advertising departments like
pick your favorite beach where
there's a Marriot,
a Hyatt,
the Sheraton.
See just how specific
and visual they get in
explaining what all they have
to offer.
Those are good examples but
overall, hopefully this will
help us
increase the level of specific,
attractive, engaging and
appealing information we put on
our websites that will
generate more interest
and more shopper calls and more
contacts and more leads
from families whether it's
that situation or their
plight.
Hey, Brian this has been great.
It's just a great
piece of
education for folks to really
look at their funeral home
website and kind of assess
it. And that's why you know,
we've made available for
you here on the website
the self-assessment that you
can download.
Just review that and then you
know, make sure going forward
that you know you're thinking
about that when
you're updating your website,
when you're getting a
photographer in to take new
photographs.
The terminology
that you're using or maybe you
shouldn't use all those
things should weigh on
your mind and make
those changes as soon as you
can.
So, once again,
Brian that was that was just
great Also too,
one thing that I wanted to let
you know is that
at Funeral Results Marketing,
we are in the
beginning stages of planning
our first live conference
that we're going to have.
The details will we found at
cremationconference.com and
this will be in the
fall probably September or
October.
So look for those details and
both Brian and I are excited
about that.
And if you have any burning
questions at all about online
marketing for your funeral
home, about your website,
your online cremation business,
make sure you leave it here
below this episode
and we'll try to answer it on
an upcoming episode.
And then if you like
what you're hearing,
please leave a comment on the
blog or give us a
rating on iTunes or Google
Play. We'd really appreciate
that.
And,
but most importantly thank you
for taking your time today.
Spending it with us.
Our goal for you is to serve
more families and provide more
meaningful services.
Make sure you check back soon
for another episode of Strategy
Talks by Funeral Results
Marketing.
Until the next episode.
This has been Brian Young and
Robin Heppell.
This has been another episode
of Strategy Talks with Robin
Heppell and Brian Young.
To ask a question or leave a
comment visit
FuneralResultsMarketing.com/Talks
To make sure that you never
miss an episode,
you can subscribe to this
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