Hold onto your smartwatches, folks. Here comes a potentially scandalous statement: Not everything in our lives benefits from being Uber-ized or given the "there’s an app for that" treatment. Case in point? Deathcare sales. Yes, I know. In an age where even our refrigerators have Wi-Fi and Alexa can tell you a joke when you’re feeling down (though, let's be honest, some of her jokes are rather... refrigerated), here I am, diving into a topic that might make some tech enthusiasts raise an eyebrow. "Whoa, is she really about to go there? Bold statement, Altenburg!" EMOTION OVER LOGIC: WHY DEATHCARE SALES ISN’T LIKE BUYING SNEAKERS ON AMAZONEnd-of-life planning is far from your average purchase. It's not about snagging a deal during a Black Friday sale or choosing between iPhone models. We’re diving deep into the realms of mortality, legacy, and the deep love we have for those we’ll someday leave behind. So, before you start building holograms of funeral planners or virtual reality cemetery tours into your business plan, remember: this purchase is driven by raw, unfiltered emotion, not by how snazzy the tech might seem. A CAUTIONARY TALE: THE PERILS OF TOO MUCH TECHAllow me to share a true story of a top-selling Counselor who for years rode the crest of success but this year, got a little too cozy with his tech gadgets. He crunched the numbers and thought, "Why settle for three face-to-face meetings in a day when I can chat with 15 people electronically in the same timeframe?" He took the plunge. Instead of his usual in-person consultations, he dove into emails, texts, and Facebook messages. From 15 weekly face-to-face presentations, he plummeted to less than five, so that he could focus on his electronic 'presentations', which shot up to over 60 per week. He was presenting to more people than he had before… So he sold more and earned more, right? Wrong. It wasn't a mere dip in sales; it was what I would refer to as a screeching halt. His stellar five-figure contract average came crashing down to below two grand, and his average contracts-written-per-month decreased by 60%. If you’re a commission-based salesperson, you probably felt the punch in your gut just reading those statistics. The Counselor wasn’t just broke, he was genuinely perplexed. "These families seem so interested in our emails," he'd lament during our meetings. "Why don’t they finalize things? Why aren’t they following through?" In his quest for efficiency, our Counselor had become just another blip on the digital radar, another ping among the ceaseless barrage of notifications that his potential clients received daily. Gone was the opportunity to really understand them, to discover the stories behind their eyes, or to grasp the weight of their decisions about end-of-life care. In eschewing face-to-face interactions, he'd unknowingly snuffed out the chance for genuine human connection. With this disconnect, the emotional motivation that once drove his clients to act in the best interests of their loved ones evaporated. THE SIREN CALL OF TECHNOLOGY VS THE UNDENIABLE CHARM OF A REAL, LIVE HUMAN BEINGWith everything from our toasters to our toothbrushes getting smart upgrades, it's certainly easy to be sold on the idea that tech is the magic pill for all industries. And yes, Zoom meetings, e-signatures, and digital brochures have their perks. But, beware of the digital rabbit hole. Where a new smartphone, car, or astronaut-designed pair of sneakers might be sold through slick online ads, the intricacies of deathcare sales need a different touch. Something warmer. More human. There's no app that can replicate the comfort of a reassuring hand on the shoulder, the understanding in a compassionate gaze, or the vulnerability shared in a heartfelt story by an end-of-life expert and guide (ahem, that’s you). Face-to-face discussion is the arena where the magic happens in our field. These interactions allow for that deep emotional connection; they keep the focus on the very human reasons for end-of-life decision-making, and frankly, we’re short-changing ourselves and the families we serve by utilizing technology as a shortcut around true connection. Okay, tech aficionados, before you start hurling virtual tomatoes at me, let me be clear: Technology isn't the enemy. Heck, it’s pretty darn useful. And yes, I use it too! Organizing schedules, maintaining client records, sending reminders – these are areas where technology shines. The trick is to ensure that it complements, not replaces, the human touch. Once clients step out of the cocoon of a heartfelt chat, the digital world with its pings, notifications, and endless scroll can swoop in, shifting their mindset back to cold, hard logic. And we all know that logic isn’t what leads end-of-life decision-making and planning… Emotion is. While tech might bring them to our door, it's the face-to-face relationship-building connection that seals the deal. The moment it becomes just a transaction, the essence of what we truly do becomes lost. In fact, logic and end-of-life arrangements can be like oil and water in our shiny-product-focused society. HARNESSING TECH’S POWER: BRIDGING THE DIGITAL WITH THE PERSONALAmidst the cautionary tales, it's essential to acknowledge technology's transformative potential. While it shouldn't usurp our personal touch, it can, without a doubt, amplify it. The trick? Let technology be the bridge, not the destination.
it's a balancing actStriking the right balance between tech efficiency and human connection is an art. It's about ensuring that every digital touchpoint leads, not to a sale, but to a genuine human interaction. Because when it comes to deathcare sales, the most potent app on the market is empathy. And if ever there was an industry that needed a personal touch, it's ours. After all, we’re not peddling sneakers or smart fridges here (although I wouldn’t say no to one that makes ice cream on demand). We’re dealing with the most profound of human experiences. Let’s ensure our approach is equally profound. And a final note to the tech gurus that are working so hard to sell their newest AI product as the easy sell: Just as tech conversations can't match the indelible mark of in-person heart-to-hearts, fling a digital tomato my way and you'll see it won't leave quite the same stain as a real one would. So, you'll have to book a face-to-face appointment with me to ensure that red blotch really sets in! In her book, Selling with Sensitivity, Liza Altenburg shares more insights, tips, and lessons in empathy. “My hope is that it will serve as a guiding light for others entering this important and sensitive line of work,” she said. “I want them to feel empowered and well-prepared, knowing that they have a companion in their corner – a resource that truly understands the challenges and emotions tied to death-care sales.” Learn more about Liza and her new book here. For even more insights on empathic communication, CANA offers an online and on-demand course on Communication Skills Fundamentals. This one-hour course gives practical examples of effective communication techniques, including authentic and empathetic communications and overcoming roadblocks.
Pop quiz: What do the following questions have in common from a digital marketing perspective?
But the answer we're looking for is that each of those questions shows up in a featured snippet such as "People also ask," "From the web," or "Other sites say" when someone searches Google for related keywords (such as "funeral cost"). Perhaps you've heard of featured snippets in general or "People also ask" questions, but you might be wondering: What are those other snippets? And why is Google always changing the layout of the search engine results pages? Let's take a deep dive into Google's new feature snippets testing and what it means for deathcare marketing. what are featured snippets?Also called "answer boxes," featured snippets are short pieces of content Google takes directly from web pages to display in search engine results pages. For Google, the goal is to provide the searcher with as much relevant information on the search page as possible. For example, as of the writing of this piece, The Annuity Expert held the featured snippet for the search "how much does a funeral cost." Google displays the following text in the answer box, along with the URL and link to the page the content came from: According to the National Funeral Directors Association, the average funeral costs $7,000 to $12,000. This average includes the cost of viewing and burial, basic service fees, and transporting remains to a funeral home. The average cost of cremation is $6,000 to $7,000. On the same search engine results page, Google presents a box with "People also ask" questions—queries it deems the searcher might also be interested in. For this search, some questions included "Is $10,000 enough for a funeral?" and "What is the cheapest funeral cost?" For cremation services and other deathcare firms, these snippets and boxes provide another way to show up organically on the first page of Google search results. If Google thinks you provide the best, most relevant answer to a specific question, it scrapes your content to include on the page along with a link to your site. You can show up in the answer boxes even if your page doesn't rank in the top 10 results for that keyword. Even better, you can show up in the top 10 and in an answer box, providing you more presence on the first page and an increased likelihood of winning the click. Having other ways to land on the first page of Google is great news for businesses that provide cremation services. Three-quarters of people never click past the first page of search engine results, so if you're not on page one, you're probably not getting seen or driving organic traffic. what else is google testing?Snippets and answer boxes are such good ideas, Google is trying out more of them. Throughout early 2022, the search engine has tested "From the web" and "Other sites say" features.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR CREMATION MARKETING?For cremation service businesses, these new tests are mostly good news. If Google moves to regularly providing more link options in answer boxes, that's more real estate on page one of the search results. Of course, if you already own a featured snippet, this change comes with a small bit of bad news: You'll have more immediate competition for the click. If Google rolls this change out over all pages and keywords—including those related to cremation—anyone driving traffic with featured snippets might experience a drop in traffic. WHAT SHOULD BUSINESSES DO ABOUT ANSWER BOXES?Many marketers and SEO firms make the mistake of focusing exclusively on Google properties like answer boxes. They tailor all their content to win the featured snippets, and when Google makes a change like this, a lot of their work must be rethought. As a deathcare firm engaging in digital marketing, you should never load all your eggs in one basket. Is there value in asking relevant questions and answering them with short, concise paragraphs? Absolutely. Users love this, because it helps them scan content for exactly what they need (which is why the FAQ page remains a popular format). And if your answers win you an extra link on page one of Google results, even better! But avoid writing content just to win answer boxes. Google's move to add more links to those properties dilutes the power of them, and you can diminish the quality of your content by focusing solely on these things. Instead, stick with tried-and-true content marketing best practices:
Putting high-quality content first—even above the latest Google change—supports long-term digital marketing success.
No matter what you think about the evolution of the North American Funeral Rite, you have to acknowledge that cremation is, and has been for some time, a major part of society’s expectation of what happens when someone dies. As the demand for cremation services has increased over the past few decades, funeral professionals have responded in a variety of ways to meet their consumer’s expectations. Some have even tried to divert their community’s attention away from cremation, to no avail. Regardless, cremation is now fully integrated into our society’s funeral ideal and shows no signs of changing anytime soon. Funeral service professionals must now add Cremation Specialist to their long litany of talents. Most funeral service professionals don’t operate cremation equipment, but thankfully, that is not required to have cremation expertise. Knowing what goes on at the crematory, by what means the decedent will travel through the process, and how your firm and the crematory assure the remains that start the journey are the same that are returned at the end will put the family’s mind at rest and create a sense of comfort and confidence that their loved one is in good hands. One doubt many have, which can be alleviated from the start, is how the decedent’s identity will be confirmed, verified, and documented throughout the journey. This could be put into words during the removal or as part of the arrangement conference. Knowing and confidently clarifying both the ID process and the chain of custody protocols is good practice for a cremation professional. If you don't feel confident outlining the process, talk to your crematory operators. They can walk you through everything in detail and even if you don’t have all of the steps perfectly memorized, sharing with your families that your crematory does indeed have a formal process that is followed consistently is expert-level knowledge. Most believe that cremation causes pollution. Any time something burns and heat is generated, emissions are produced, but the cremation professional takes an educated approach when answering inquiries regarding emissions and the environment. Modern cremation equipment is designed so well that (when properly maintained and properly operated) the emissions are minimal and insignificant. The sophisticated control systems and airflow design along with the physical design of the equipment assure minimum emissions. According to environmental experts, cremation is one of the lowest sources of pollution and, because of that, isn’t regulated by the US Federal EPA (but are regulated at the local level). If one has to wait for something, they are undoubtedly going to want to know how long the wait will be. The variables involved in calculating how long it will take seem endless. How busy is the crematory at the moment? Are all of the necessary permits and authorizations in place? Is the deceased of average size or will there be extenuating circumstances that may delay the cremation? (For example, the decedent is a larger individual that will require special handling at the crematory). For the most part, if there are no barriers, the actual cremation takes between 1 and 3 hours to perform. There is also the time needed for processing and packaging the cremated remains. Keeping track of all of these variables can be cumbersome, but navigating all that is something a cremation professional does as part of their service. Often families will have questions regarding the actual cremation process. Knowing the basics regarding how things work is not difficult. Cremation, by definition, is a thermal (mechanical or other dissolution) process that reduces deceased human or pet remains to bone-like fragments. The process also involves the further reduction of the remains via pulverization of the bone-like fragments into pieces that are usually no more than one-eighth inch. The temperatures involved range from 1400°F to 1800°F depending on the make and model of the equipment. All cremation equipment has multiple chambers that combust and re-combust what is produced during the process so the pollution that is created is eliminated before re-entering the atmosphere. For the most part, what goes back into the atmosphere is breathable, clean air. Another important characteristic of a cremation specialist is their lack of assumption that the cremation family does not find value in more traditional funeral services. The cremation specialist knows it's their duty to help the family find the right services to honor their loved one in concert with their choice of disposition. This may be nothing more than the removal of the deceased at the place of death, curating the necessary forms and authorizations, and the actual cremation — but it may be more. It may be a full-on “traditional” funeral service complete with embalming, visitation, rosary, livery, procession, church or chapel service before the cremation, and a graveside committal service. It may be something in between. The funeral director cremation specialist is, at their very core, a funeral director regardless of the choice of disposition, and facilitates an event appropriate for their families. With any consumer transaction, the more you know about the products and services you offer, the happier your client will be. If someone wants to buy a new Ford F-150 pickup they are going to head to the Ford dealer, not the Volkswagen showroom. Value is perceived (and directly related to) the expertise of the professional facilitating the transaction and funeral service is no exception. Anyone can claim they are a cremation specialist, and having these answers undoubtedly makes you a better arranger. But what sets a CANA-Certified Cremation Specialist apart is the training they receive to ensure everyone is treated with the same level of care, service, and compassion. CANA’s new Certified Cremation Specialist program provides professional development training that makes an impact on your day-to-day work right away. Classes are tailored to your experience in the arrangement room, the prep room, and even before they make it to your door. The program is designed to focus on communication skills, sales, and personalization as a funeral professional experiences them. More than doing the job as a funeral arranger, even more than doing it right, this program is designed to help arrangers show that they care. They care about the people in their community, the success of their business, and growing their career. We'll announce the second cohort of 2022 soon. Learn more about the program and join the wait list here
Earlier this year, our Foundation Partners marketing team embarked on a three-pronged research project to better understand the online habits of the post-COVID deathcare consumer. After conducting hundreds of online surveys, one-on-one interviews and focus groups, we partnered with CANA in November 2021 to present the results in a webinar entitled, “How Consumer Attitudes Toward Online Deathcare are Changing.” Our presentation team included Sally Camm, whose firm Astound Commerce conducted the research, Luke Frieberg, president of eFuneral, Foundation Partners’ Vice President of Marketing Scott Ankerholz and me. Our panel of digital marketing experts shared five broad consumer trends impacting deathcare and outlined steps you can take today to stay ahead of the curve. If you missed it, no worries; simply click here to watch the recording and download the slidedeck. five trends that will shape our futureAfter hundreds of surveys and conversations, five key trends emerged that are impacting the deathcare purchase journey. 1. WELLNESS Consumers are increasingly focused on wellness, which encompasses not just physical but mental, spiritual and environmental concerns as well. As a result, younger consumers (under 45) want to engage in a different, more positive conversation about death and deathcare. In general, they have a broader definition of death preparedness than previous generations. Instead of who will get what, the conversation is more about how they can have their affairs in order — emotionally, spiritually and relationship-wise — so they can enjoy their lives now and ease the burden on family members. With this in mind, you may want to expand your preneed marketing efforts to include younger families. Additionally, your services don’t have to stop after memorialization or permanent placement services are done. Today’s families appreciate aftercare services, like grief support, assistance obtaining death certificates and other “concierge” services that help them navigate the myriad of tasks required to close the affairs of a loved one. 2. INDIVIDUALITY As the focus on religious funeral services wanes in the U.S., families are opting for services that celebrate the life and uniqueness of the individual. Nearly a third of consumers who completed our online surveys reported that religion did not factor meaningfully into how they considered making funeral arrangements. As more funerals become joyous occasions and celebrations of life, we have the opportunity to unleash our creativity to help families say farewell to loved ones in style. This will create new revenue streams as we reimagine funeral services. 3. TRANSPARENCY During our in-person interviews with both at-need and preneed consumers, 95 percent cited transparency as one of the major reasons for their choice of a deathcare provider. In their 2020 Funeral and Cemetery Consumer Behavior Study, The Foresight Companies found that 75 percent of consumers said they want pricing available online and will not do business with providers who are not transparent. Fifty-two percent said they will ONLY do business with companies that provide online pricing options. But these consumers are not just looking for price transparency; they also want process transparency. Why? Because process transparency puts them in charge and, during the highly stressful at-need time, it allows them to maintain some semblance of control when their lives have been changed forever. Consumers have become accustomed to tracking their online transactions and their expectations during the deathcare journey are no different. Deathcare providers who can offer up-to-the-minute notifications of things, like when loved ones will be cremated and when those remains will be ready for delivery or pick-up, will have an advantage over their competition. 4. OMNICHANNEL SERVICE Today’s consumers want an integrated, seamless journey across digital and physical experiences – online, by phone and in person. While recent consumers of deathcare services report that in-person remains their preferred method of arranging, we saw a greater willingness among those who have not yet purchased to turn to online arrangement options. Luke Frieberg shared a case study in which an eFuneral partner encouraged families to review their options on their website before the arrangement meeting. Some of these families completed their purchases on the website, while others came into the arrangement meeting with more clarity around their decisions. Of those families that completed their purchases online, 93 percent upgraded the casket generating additional revenue. Overall, the cost of arrangements made online were 20 percent higher compared to purely in-person meetings and resulted in additional revenue. The firm also reported that families were more relaxed and that funeral directors had a better experience when meeting in person after providing this online option. 5. TIME STARVATION Time, and the lack of it, was a primary concern in our interviews, particularly among the at-need consumer. At a time of high stress, especially during COVID, consumers look for us to remove the friction from the decision-making process and to do it in a timeframe that suits them. One of the key ways consumers save time is by doing online research themselves to narrow the selections before they call. Our online cremation consumer survey also showed that both cremation users, and non-cremation users, value the convenience of online arrangements and the ability to browse options on their own terms. Both consumer groups reported that they were either “somewhat satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their experience. ARE YOU ADOPTING DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES?Industry research, including our own, overwhelmingly indicates that Americans are more comfortable than ever blending tradition with modern preferences. As more families search online for deathcare information and funeral homes, having a website that presents information and options that are clear, transparent and easy-to-use is essential. eCommerce options have gone from a “nice to have” to a “must have” in today’s environment. Consumers say they want us, as the experts, to show them the entire process they are going to experience so they can be prepared, informed and make better decisions that they can feel good about. These tech-savvy, questioning consumers will put pressure on all of us to do better in 2022. It’s a challenge that presents unlimited opportunities for us to reimagine funeral services in a way that reinforces our value to grieving families.
Consumers have driven the popularity of cremation and funeral directors, cemeterians and crematory operators are doing their best to keep up with demand. In May 2019, Homesteaders Life Company and CANA set out to explore a consumers’ experience with cremation from women who personally made the arrangements for a loved one. Our goal was to explore beyond multiple choice responses to get to the question “Why?”. When we dig down to uncover motivations for their decisions, we can attempt to understand their experience from beginning to end. Put simply, we sought to better discover the cremation experience.
We listened to the perspectives of several groups over the course of three months. All participants were Baby Boomer-aged women living in Phoenix, Arizona or Nashville, Tennessee who were arranging a cremation for the first or second time. As the women described their cremation experiences, they realized that they often had very different experiences and learned from each other. They expressed a desire for more information or education about cremation, since this was often a new tradition in their families. There were many insights gleaned during the focus groups, but we are highlighting just a few in this post that stand out.
1: Consumers Want More Education
The focus group participants raised several questions, many of them related to handling of “ashes.” Participants suspected some rules existed, but weren’t sure what the rules were or where to find them. In general, the women tended to do what they wanted, but they carefully watched over their shoulder just in case it was improper – or even illegal. That is definitely not the best cremation experience.
Often, these women learned from friends or their own experiences rather than having a go-to resource. Google was mentioned more than once as a starting place to research information on cremation options. Many women noted that they were pretty familiar with “traditional funerals” but that they weren’t as knowledgeable about what cremation entailed. It’s a newer tradition, and they felt that not as much information is available to help them understand the process.
Where did these families get ideas for the service? The internet. Where did they find a cremation provider? Mr. Google. They didn’t have to wait to sit down with a funeral director to get a price list of goods and services. They researched online and put together a preliminary budget well before meeting at the funeral home.
If they didn’t like the urns or jewelry on display in the arrangement room, they turned to – you guessed it – the internet: Amazon, Etsy, Walmart, and other retailers they know and trust that feature product reviews and recommendations on these keepsakes they probably haven’t bought before. Not one woman described returning to the funeral home to purchase cremation jewelry or an urn after the service. This was qualitative research, and not quantitative, so it is possible that many families do return to the funeral home for merchandise, but this research did not suggest that is common.
So what’s a local cremation provider to do? You may want to consider additional ways to reach out to consumers and help them understand all of the options available for service and memorialization. Be the expert in cremation. Become the trusted information source in your community. Don’t be afraid to talk about cremation and the options it provides. Consumers will choose cremation whether you talk about it or not. It’s better to be the expert than leave the consumer to figure it out without you.
2: Language Matters
Funeral professionals speak a different language than cremation consumers. Over the years, funeral professionals and society decided that euphemisms were gentler and kinder.
But sometimes euphemisms are confusing and the situation demands specific language to describe a process or professional practice. Death care, much like other professions, has developed its own jargon to describe its work, particularly with cremation to establish its differences to burial and related practices and products. However that jargon may be confusing rather than increasing understanding when talking with consumers.
How can we connect with consumers if we are speaking different languages? The table below highlights some of the language disconnects uncovered during the research.
This language disconnect was painfully obvious from the first minutes of the first focus group. The most common example is one of the most common terms in cremation: “ashes.” Today, mortuary science and funeral service students are taught the terms “cremated remains” and “cremains”, which are also widely used by funeral professionals. And yet not one single focus group participant used any term other than “ashes.”
In the arrangement room, funeral professionals rarely correct a consumer they are serving, but rather translate “ashes” to “cremated remains” in their head, or simply mirror the language used by grieving family members to provide comfort and promote understanding. But what about a website or other marketing materials? Should written consumer-facing language use common terms like “pick up the body” instead of “first call” to build common ground and understanding? More and more death care providers are doing so for reasons ranging from SEO to increasing sales.
3: Preplan Please
The focus group participants quite unexpectedly raised a particular topic on their own: preplanning. Preplanning, advance planning, prearranging – whatever you like to call it – was never part of the research’s list of topics to explore. Nevertheless, it was something the women brought up during the “Queen for a Day” exercise that occurred near the end of each focus group.
The participants were crowned “Queen for a Day” and asked to issue a decree. They could make any change they wanted and the whole world would have to follow their order. This was intended to encourage them to describe their ideal cremation experience. Not surprisingly, the most common decree was to bring back their loved one. The second most common request, however, was a complete surprise: they decreed that everyone preplan, prepay and discuss their wishes with their family member in advance.
Why was preplanning so important to these women? Like many family members, they wished they would have known more of the details their loved one wanted for their celebration of life. While they may have known their loved one wanted to be cremated, they may not have known much more than that. What about a venue? What about musical selections or special readings? What about thoughts on what to do with the “ashes” after the ceremony?
Perhaps if the women had known more about the “new” tradition of cremation they would have tried to ask their loved one more questions. Better yet if their loved one had preplanned, those questions would have naturally been raised and answered. What a relief the focus group participants would have felt knowing that they were fulfilling all of their loved one’s final wishes, not just the desire to be cremated.
Prior consumer research tells us that some people feel it’s not necessary to preplan when a cremation is involved. Actually, the opposite may be true. If cremation is a new tradition within a family, how will the survivors know what to do? Imagine this scenario: a husband wants to be cremated but he and his spouse never get around to talking about it. Then the husband dies and the spouse simply turns to what is most familiar and selects a casketed burial instead of cremation. Preplanning isn’t tied to the type of service, disposition and permanent placement chosen. The whole point of planning ahead is to formally document the deceased’s wishes, that way the family can truly honor them and is spared the pain of merely guessing what those wishes were.
The existing language disconnects discussed earlier are also a good example of why preplanning is beneficial. Any clarifications of what different terms mean can be addressed in advance. The result is a much more satisfying experience for both the funeral professional and family at the time of need instead of trying to find common language during a time of extreme stress.
Aside from wanting their loved one back, these women expressed a desire for people to talk about their final wishes in advance to make the at-need arrangement process easier. Please encourage all families, regardless of what type of celebration of life they want, to preplan (and prefund if possible) before it’s too late.
Looking to the Future
Is this research still relevant during a pandemic? It stands to reason that the insights gleaned are still helpful. During this pandemic, millions of families have experienced the death of a loved one. In 2019, the US experienced 2.8 million deaths, but preliminary counts indicate the national number exceeded 3.1 million in 2020. Conventional wisdom states that most families experience a death every 7-10 years, so many adults may only plan three or four funerals in their lifetime. But during the pandemic, nearly everyone in this country knows someone who has died – whether friend, family member or celebrity.
Preliminary numbers indicate that cremation rates in the US jumped nearly 3% in 2020. The focus group participants may offer insight as to why. The women described cremation as simpler, as you make the choice to cremate in the moment and that is all that is required – no casket, clothes, or cemetery needed right away. Cremation is legally considered to be final disposition, so they can take the cremated remains home with them and make other decisions at their pace. This possession is also appealing, particularly for a spouse or child who can keep their loved one close. The decision for permanent placement in a cemetery or scattering can come later, even generations later, which may be particularly helpful under pandemic restrictions.
CANA and Homesteaders Life Company set out to understand WHY women are choosing cremation and to better understand what cremation is or is not in the consumers’ mind. What we heard is that their loved one requested cremation and they had to figure out and plan what that experience was for their family and friends. Despite a desire for more education and confusion about language, these women had no regrets. In fact, they were highly satisfied and wouldn’t change a thing about their experience.
This post is excerpted from a five-part series in The Cremationist, CANA’s quarterly magazine available exclusively for members. The full series explores seven key insights in-depth and features perspectives from CANA Members on how they see these experiences in their business. CANA Members: log in and access the full magazine archives with your member credentials. Not a member yet? Join to access this research and much more.
A note before we begin: The assignment that this post references was completed before the coronavirus changed the way funeral homes and crematories could operate. However, students continue to complete this exercise each semester, and the responses do not change. As a result of the pandemic, CANA Members are much more dependent on phone and electronic communication to make successful arrangements and help their business succeed. The lessons learned from this assignment are still more relevant than ever. CANA is a membership association. All of the work we do is in support of our members, and that includes talking to consumers. One of the key benefits of CANA members is their listing in our provider directory, a valuable resource for both trade calls and also the general public. Consumers call us for many reasons: They need help locating a CANA member in their area. They have an imminent death and don’t know what questions to ask the funeral home or crematory. They had a bad experience or there’s something that just doesn’t feel right, and they need someone else to gut check them. But consumers also call CANA asking how they can avoid using a funeral director. They often tell us they want a direct cremation because they think this the way they can bypass using a funeral home. Now, we know this is not the only reason for choosing direct cremation, but it is definitely a factor for many. If you’re confused as to why consumers have this desire to “stick it to the man,” as some tell us, and steer clear of “the funeral director,” let me share a story that will shed some light on this issue. the assignmentI teach the Cremation Principles & Practices course for Worsham College’s online program. While there are many key ideas we try to impress on these future funeral directors, our focus in this blog post is how we teach them that customer service matters. The assignment is to pretend to be a consumer and phone shop at least three funeral homes for cremation services. They are instructed to ask three questions:
All of the funeral homes contacted as part of this first assignment were in Illinois. These seem like pretty straightforward questions, right? Well, for my first class in Spring 2019 this was a very painful exercise for these students, and the students in the courses since then have experienced the same thing. They think they are entering a profession where everyone cares as passionately as they do about helping families through a very traumatic event with compassion and respect. What they learned was that yes, in a lot of cases, this is true. There are some really great funeral homes and crematories out there who are compassionate, honest and welcoming. But they also learned that there are some businesses who are not, and many of the students ended up feeling anger, hurt and shock, as well as a determination to do things differently when it’s their turn. Below, I’ll share quotes from some of the students’ assignments. This post is much longer than usual entries in The Cremation Logs because we wanted to show you the details of this feedback. There were plenty of wonderful funeral homes who treated the students with respect and answered all their questions. But there were equally as many who did not, and that is what is concerning. To keep this blog to a reasonable length, we are only focusing on the negative experiences for purposes of education and continuous improvement. Responses are organized by the questions students were assigned to ask. Please keep in mind that the people answering the phone had no idea they were speaking to students — i.e., future colleagues. They thought they were talking to consumers. Which makes some of these responses all the more horrifying. It is also important to note that none of this feedback was provided to the funeral homes called by the students, and no action was taken in regards to the violations we’ll discuss. This was an educational opportunity, not a scheme to catch any bad actors. "What is the cost for cremation?"Here are some of the students’ stories related to the question of the price for a cremation.
Wow. Just, wow. Can you identify the mistakes these funeral directors made? First, let’s be clear that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says “You must give consumers who telephone your place of business and ask about your prices or offerings accurate information from your General Price List, Casket Price List, and Outer Burial Container Price list.” They also include a note that “You cannot require callers to give their names, addresses, or phone numbers before you give them the requested information. You can ask callers to identify themselves, but you still must answer their questions even if they refuse to do so. You cannot require consumers to come to the funeral home in person to get price information.” In an opinion letter dated March 18, 2009, the FTC also says that “It is a violation of the Funeral Rule for a funeral provider to refuse to provide price information by telephone upon request to any person for any reason.” Clearly, we see evidence of several violations of the Funeral Rule in the examples above. In the same opinion letter from 2009, the FTC explains that one of the Rule’s primary goals is to allow for comparison shopping. Make no mistake, if a consumer calls you and you refuse to give them price information over the phone, they will call someone else. And the person they choose will be the business that was transparent and gave them the information they asked for; they will not come and see you just to get pricing. Finally, let’s address the situation where the student was directed to the website by three firms, with instructions to call back if there were additional questions. The person called you for a reason. Maybe they don’t have a computer; maybe they need to make a quick decision and don’t have time to search the website for pricing information and decipher the packages available; or, maybe they just prefer to talk to someone. Pushing them off to the website is not the right approach. They will not call you back. They’ll call someone else who will talk to them. And remember, this would be considered a violation of the Funeral Rule. Answer their price questions, and then invite them to visit your website or your location for more information. "Do you have a crematory on-site?"Responses to the next question surprised the students. Some of them had assumed that if a business has the word “cremation” or “crematory” in its name, they have a crematory on site. I bet many consumers make the same assumption and believe that their loved one never leaves your building until they pick up the cremated remains. Here’s what the students reported from the question about whether the crematory was on-site and if they could see a picture, or who provided the cremation service if there was no crematory on-site.
Why the secrecy? It’s exactly this kind of behavior that causes consumers to mistrust funeral directors. And with the high level of mistrust that exists right now, consumers want to know they are getting their loved one’s remains back, so they are asking questions and doing their research. The best way to assure them they can trust you is to be transparent. If you use a third-party crematory, there should be no fear that the consumer is going to go directly to them. They can’t. They simply want to know what’s going to happen to their loved one. So be ready to explain your chain of custody procedures to families, and, if that includes using a third-party crematory, then be ready to explain what procedures are followed to make sure they are getting their loved one back. “CAN YOU SEND A PHOTO OF THE WITNESS AREA?”The students were also instructed to ask if they could see a picture, or visit in-person, the area where a family would witness a cremation. Here are some of the things the students reported about the firms they called:
I’ll start by dispensing with the one statement that was a complete lie: It is NOT against Illinois law for the cremation to be watched by the public. If the family wants to participate, there is no law or regulation prohibiting it. Now, a company may have a policy that they don’t allow it. That is a business decision. But don’t lie to the consumer. If you don’t offer it, just say so. Now, on to the bigger issue. It’s entirely possible that these firms have crematories on-site, but don’t have the space or the option to add a viewing area. We get it. But based on the answers provided during the phone calls, that doesn’t seem to be the case. So, the question now is “Why not offer witnessing?” And if you do, why would you be reluctant to share that information over the phone? It doesn’t matter if you don’t have a crematory on-site. Many third-party crematories offer a witnessing area for their funeral home partners to bring families. As we mentioned in the previous section, families want to know what is going to happen to their loved one, and they want to make sure they are getting their loved one’s remains back. That is one of the biggest reasons why people choose to witness a cremation — peace of mind. And isn’t that one of your goals as a funeral director? To give families peace of mind during an emotional and sometimes very confusing time? If a family wants to witness their loved one’s cremation, they will find a place that offers it. And they are willing to pay for that option. Families are willing to pay for a lot of things if they find value in it. If you aren’t making plans to incorporate witnessing into your offerings, please don’t ignore this growing trend. General Customer serviceFinally, I’d like to share some general customer service observations made by the students during this assignment. Most of them speak for themselves.
As I mentioned in the beginning, this was a painful lesson for both the students and for me. I was angry on behalf of my students, many of whom were treated horribly. But I was also angry on behalf of consumers. These funeral homes believed they were speaking to consumers. Yet they lied, were rude, broke rules and generally did not represent the profession well at all. It is not our place to judge why someone wants what they want, nor convince them they want or need something different. This is exactly why consumers want to “avoid the funeral director” — they do not want to be sold on something they don’t want. That’s why online funeral arrangements are growing in popularity. You pick out exactly what you want, and no one is on the other end trying to convince you to get something else. I will also reiterate that we know of so many amazing providers who do represent the profession well through their unending compassion and willingness to get to “yes” and give consumers what they want. All of the CANA staff have been on the receiving end of that compassion as we’ve engaged their help in dealing with our own family deaths. I can only hope that these are the providers consumers call, and we eliminate the poor practices represented in this post. Think this couldn’t happen in your firm? Think again. These are rural, suburban and urban firms, in the towns where the students live. Some of these firms were CANA members. The common thread among them was a bias against cremation. Even if you provide regular staff training on how to respond to phone inquiries, it’s still important to “inspect what you expect.” Engage a family member or friend to phone shop your own company and see how your employees are responding when you aren’t around. If your staff doesn’t provide information in the manner you prefer, and you decide remedial training would be a good idea, CANA offers an online Cremation Phone Shoppers course that reviews all the best practices and gives tips on how to respond to different questions. CANA's Cremation Phone Shoppers course helps you make your best first impression when your only resources are your voice and your time. Available online, on-demand, on your device, and at your pace with CE from The Academy of Professional Funeral Service Practice. And coming soon to CANA’s Online Education catalog, Complying with the FTC Funeral Rule clarifies the responsibilities that funeral homes, cemeteries, and crematories have in serving their communities. Learn more: goCANA.org/eduonline Want to learn more about witness areas and viewing rooms? CANA Members should check out “Welcome to the Viewing Room” from Vol. 55, No. 3 of The Cremationist. The article is filled with stories from CANA Members on how they turned what is often an industrial-looking room into a bit of comfort and solace for the cremation families they serve. Each one features photos of these rooms and ideas on how they talk to families about the witness area and the peace of mind it can offer.
There are a number of proactive measures we as a profession can take in pursuit of remaining relevant to contemporary consumers. Developed from ideas presented by Kim Medici Shelquist, Senior VP of Planning & Development for Homesteaders Life Company, and Ernie Heffner, President of Heffner Funeral Chapel & Crematory, this post focuses on the relationship between end-of-life care and death care and the family’s experience. HospiceThe first US hospice was established in 1974 and viewed as an alternative to current heathcare options for those at the end of life. Kim explained that, in many cases, traditional healthcare establishments were not welcoming, so hospice professionals had to fight for respect. The largest growth of hospice care providers in America occurred after Congress passed legislation in 1982 to create a Medicare hospice benefit allowing Medicare/Medicaid to fund hospice care. As of 2014, there were 6,100 hospices nationwide and more entering the market every year. Facts About Hospice ProvidersMost hospice care is not a non-profit endeavor but rather care provided by for-profit organizations and keenly attuned to demographics, networking, market shares and the competition. Ernie described that hospice organizations have changed significantly from the volunteer-based approach some of us may remember from the early days of hospice care and now have first-class marketing graphics and a business plan to match. The close personal relationship of a hospice care provider with surviving family members does not end with the patient’s death but can extend for more than a year after. Ernie researched and reported many of the following statistics from the website of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.
The Role of the Hospice WorkerHospice care providers are a very special, caring group of people. They are held in high regard by the families they serve. Their opinions and advice are trusted. They are passionate, dedicated, and tenacious. There is little turnover, and even those who do leave often move to another hospice. No other healthcare professional actively talks to family about the end of a life and planning the way a hospice care provider does. Kim explained that they do whatever is in their power to reunite families and meet patients’ needs, they are flexible and open-minded, and they figure out how to provide the best end-of-life experience possible. Ernie recommends the chapter “The Power of Presence” in Doug Manning’s book, The Funeral, to appreciate the connection and relationship hospice care providers have with families. Almost half of all deceased people in the US last year were under hospice care before they ever got to a funeral home, crematory, cemetery, or anatomical gift registry. That’s significant, because unless you have a great community engagement program, a family’s first contact about funeral plans is hospice staff. Social workers ask patients and families about their wishes and intentions long before you see them. Statistically, these caregivers have built a very personal relationship with almost half of these families immediately prior to the death of their loved ones. If that doesn’t motivate you to think about what you’re doing in your community and your hospice outreach, I don’t know what will. The average length of hospice stay is about 70 days. That’s a long time to create a relationship with the family. 59% of hospice patients receive in-home care. Hospice staff go in, day after day, and build that relationship and gather the details of their lives and their family dynamics. It’s a very different situation – we get three days, they get almost three months to hold those really hard conversations about really hard parts of a patient’s life. In that role, they become trusted advisors and the go-to people for all things related to death and dying. Serving Hospice FamiliesThe average hospice caregiver, no matter how well-intentioned, only knows as much about funeral service as someone who goes to a lot of funerals. Most are invited, and attend, many patient’s services and thus see many local funeral homes. But, there’s no aspect of hospice training that goes into the ins and outs of funeral service. We use a lot of trade-specific information and technical jargon that is confusing to families and just as confusing to those caregivers. And if these people go to a lot of funerals, it means they go to a lot of bad ones, too. What does that caregiver think after they leave? If the next family asks, “What should we do?” they might not recommend your funeral home because they remember that bad service. Some funeral directors ask, “Why do they tell them to do the cheapest thing?” Kim reminds us that the social worker has seen their hospital bills, heard about maxed-out credit cards, and sat with the widow afraid of losing the house after losing her husband. That social worker is not concerned about whether the funeral home is interested in offering an upgraded casket. If the social worker sees you trying to sell the family anything, they might remind them that they don’t need it. It’s not right or wrong—it’s just the way it is. We can talk about “that’s not her role” or “the family might have wanted to do something nice and she took their choice away,” but you’re talking about a dynamic where she was protecting them. Hospice social workers and caregivers take their role as advocates very seriously. They value collaboration. That means if you can create a relationship and build trust, you can position yourself as an advocate of the family, and you can collaborate on the process. If they see you acting in the best interest of their families, they will support you. By the time the hospice family comes to the funeral home, you need to understand what they’ve been through. You are professional and passionate members of funeral service, but terminal illness is different. In a hospice situation, the family often has the opportunity to come together and say goodbye. Sometimes, they’ve done it three or four times. They’ve done the first part of the grieving process. They've had a lot of time to talk about death, to think about death, and often have additional support via hospice resources to prepare and guide them. The family is often present at the time of death, and it’s not unusual for them to have a brief ceremony right then. Kim explains that, the presence of the family, the words of the chaplain, the goodbye to their loved one – after that, they may not need a traditional funeral to process their grief. And it’s important for funeral professionals to understand that. That’s not to say that there isn’t need or opportunity for service and ceremony, but we must remember that those in hospice have declined for a long time. Their survivors often say “I don’t want people to see my loved one like that.” It’s hard for families to think about a visitation because of the change that illness has brought. They don’t want their friends and families to remember the deceased that way, or worse, not recognize their loved one anymore. But they don’t necessarily understand what you can do about that. They don't always understand how body preparation can make a big difference—whether they agree to full embalming (which can reduce swelling or return moisture) or merely a shave and a haircut (which can make them look like themselves again). Lastly, you know that these families are spread out, so they’ve spent time and money on travel in addition to the financial costs of long-term care, lost time at work and time with their immediate families. They are exhausted physically, emotionally, and financially. And this stress has likely heightened any kind of disagreements about medical care and funeral planning. How To Get Started in Developing a Hospice Outreach ProgramDeveloping a meaningful relationship with hospice care providers in the community is not about dropping off cookies at Christmas. It is a commitment to education that can benefit all concerned, providing the families we mutually serve with seamless and meaningful end-of-life transition. Ernie provides three key strategies for starting your hospice relationship:
In Conclusion...Dr. Alan Wolfelt, internationally acclaimed grief counselor, author and educator, has said “Education starts with understanding the people we serve.” To that point, it is helpful to review the demographic and societal statistics of your community, understand how these facts dramatically impact end-of-life service providers, and embrace the adaptations needed by the profession—including further education and training—in order to remain prospectively relevant to contemporary consumers. Like Ernie says, life is about relationships and experiences. We are in the business of celebrating the life of the individual by recognizing how they touched the lives of others. Our mission is to orchestrate and direct a meaningful ceremony with compassion, flexibility and options and in way that is as unique as the person who died. Kim Medici Shelquist's remarks excerpted from her presentation at CANA's 2017 Cremation Symposium titled "Seek First to Understand: How will changing demographics and end-of-life care options impact the funeral profession?" Ernie Heffner's full article is featured in The Cremationist, Vol 55, Issue 1, titled “Staying Relevant in a Changing World” featuring important discussion on the role of Celebrant services, the importance of minimum standards, hospice, and more. The Cremationist is an exclusive benefit of CANA Membership.
Superstar sellers, unreliable incomes, infighting amongst staff, confusing metrics… the list of problems in the world of preneed sales can be exhausting. The world of preneed is full of myths, misnomers, and fake news. These things can foster unrealistic expectations, or worse, can create significant barriers for managers responsible for their preneed programs and for regular folks seeking a meaningful career in funeral sales. To find the solution, let’s take a look at the following formulas: AC / #AA = C% #CG / C% = RA AC / AAB = CC% RA / CC% = RLG No, these are not a new batch of curse words or hashtags, they are tools you can use to maximize your preneed potential. They may look intimidating, but they are easy-to-use formulas that allow you to use real data to drive real sales. play moneyballBut let’s digress for a moment. Most readers will have seen or heard of the movie Moneyball. The film dramatizes the real-world example of how, in 2002, the Oakland Athletics baseball team radically changed the traditional game of baseball by using statistics and mathematics (called sabermetrics) to scout and analyze players. What they realized was that traditional methods of scouting relied heavily on biased or incomplete information. This led other teams to overpay players in the hopes of buying success. In contrast, the Athletics adopted sabermetrics to build formulas using quantitative analysis of different player abilities. By building the right formulas, they were able to put the right pieces together to build success. This new method translated to on-field success; the newly-built Athletics tied the longest winning streak in American League history, and clinched the 2002 American League West title. How does this concept translate to preneed sales? To quote a line from the movie: “Your goal shouldn’t be to buy players (i.e., counselors), your goal should be to buy runs (i.e., appointments).” Using statistics and mathematics, a successful preneed program can be developed to reliably predict success and take the mystery and magic out of the game of preneed. METRICS VS. INTUITIONSo where do we start? The most basic metrics of a successful preneed program can be distilled into a simple mathematical equation: Actual Contracts divided by Actual Appointments = Close % AC / AA = C% This should be the launching point for the development of a simple formula to accurately predict the number of contracts a program can produce annually. All managers responsible for preneed programs should have a reliable way to accurately measure the closing percentage of each of their counsellors. Further, they should know their closing percentage for every type of lead. For example, the closing percentage for call-in and walk-in business should be over 80% whereas the closing percentage for a more challenging lead, like direct mail, will be significantly lower. When developing your program, this metric can be used to strategically apply human resources to the appropriate lead source. TEAMWORK VS. SUPERSTARWhen developing a preneed team, many people are overlooked for a variety of perceived reasons: they’re too quiet, they aren’t motivated, funeral directors aren’t good at sales, etc. However, it is unrealistic to expect that one person can bring all of the necessary traits or skills to develop a successful preneed program. In the same way that the use of sabermetrics in Moneyball proved that a baseball team doesn’t need to have a superstar to win, the game of preneed doesn’t need to have a superstar seller to be successful. Once you have figured out your closing percentage, you can safely estimate the number of appointments you need to book to reach your goals. This formula looks something like this: Contract Goal divided by your Closing Percentage = Number of Required Appointments #CG / C% = RA This means that if you have an 80% closing percentage and your goal is to sell 200 contracts, you need to book 250 appointments to meet your goal. Working backwards, you then need to know how many calls you need to make in order to book those 250 appointments. This can be tied to your call conversion percentage, which can be calculated by using the following formula: Actual Calls divided by Actual Appointments Booked = Call Conversion Percentage AC / AAB = CC% If you make 100 calls that result in 15 appointments booked, your Call Conversion Percentage is 15%. If we tie this percentage to the previous example, where your number of required appointments was 250, this means that you’ll need to have 1,667 leads to call to meet your goal: Required Appointments divided by Call Conversion Percentage = Required Lead Generation RA / CCP = RLG Each organization will generate leads differently, but the best way to build leads is to diversify your lead sources. Consider incorporating direct mail campaigns, social media, referral programs, group seminars and presentations into your marketing mix. You can even apply Moneyball-style formulas to calculate how many leads you’re generating and where they’re coming from. putting it all togetherUsing these formulas, or designing your own, can reap huge benefits for your organization. Using a reliable and consistent approach will put an end to the “feast or famine” results that are often seen when working campaign to campaign. Year after year, your contracts and volume will stabilize and your success will become much more predictable. For more information on how “hacking your process” can improve your preneed business and help the families you serve, check out my session “The Art (and Science!) of Creating a Successful Preneed Program” at this year’s CANA Preneed Summit! Are you looking for more about creating a preneed strategy that makes a difference? The Art of Selling Cremation: A Preneed Summit is back for the second year to with a one-day intensive on today's pressing preneed topics. Join colleagues in Las Vegas on February 5th, 2019 – see the full schedule at www.cremationassociation.org/CANAheroes.
In today’s world, talk about going completely online is a topic for most businesses. The preneed industry is no different. Our consumers, as with any others, like to do research and shop online, so providing them an avenue to do this is very important. Providing options and allowing customers to shop and truly plan out their funeral is what they are looking for. 1. Offer a range of optionsIn some cases, an online contact will lead to a cremation sale with very few additions, very simple and straightforward. In other cases you’ll need to provide avenues to shop for a range of items, including caskets, other merchandise, and services. In all cases you need to be prepared to serve each customer differently and provide them with the options they want so they can shop and do it on their own time. Make their online experience similar to what you provide in person. Make it easy and engaging for them to interact with you. 2. capturing personal dataAnother key component is to continually monitor who is visiting your sites and capturing their information to ensure you can follow up. Planning and purchasing funeral services online may be difficult for some consumers, so establishing those relationships and providing ways for families to contact you if they have questions will be key to finalizing the purchase. These consumers may even opt to come and meet with you after planning most of their funeral online, because they just can’t or won’t finalize arrangements online. Be ready for this type of consumer. They will be very prepared to tell you what they want and will be looking for your help to finalize their plans. We are finding that the younger demographics, people under 40, are using “Contact Us” forms as a first contact. They include messages like: “I’m interested in pre planning. Please call me,” or “My uncle just died. I need some information. Please call me.” These consumers are more likely to send an email than make a phone call, so make sure your “Contact Us” form is on your home page or easily available on the main navigation pages. 3. Consumers want to see pricesPricing is important to these online shoppers, so please don’t leave it out. If families don’t find pricing on your website within two clicks, they will leave and find another funeral home. We do know that mobile is used more than desktop searches, so be sure to pull out your phone and count the number of clicks it takes for a person to find your pricing. If you don’t have pricing on your website and you’re not sure if you should add it, check your website analytics report. This will tell you where consumers are going on your website. The standard is #1 - Obituaries, #2 - Contact, #3 - Pricing. If you have a high bounce rate—over 50%—on your pricing page, then this tells you consumers are leaving. 4. MARKETING ONLINE SERVICESMarketing your online services should be no different than what you do to market your funeral home services currently. Let consumers know that they can shop and browse their options online in your direct mail campaigns, at your group presentations, in your advertising, and on your social media pages. Online shopping should fit into all of your current marketing efforts and be presented as an additional service and option you provide. Perhaps you even lead with your online shopping options in your marketing so that people know they can plan in their own time and you are ready for them when they are ready. 5. Get creative with videoPeople don’t read like they used to. Just look at your social media accounts. Compare video to text and you’ll find that posts are going to be 5 to 1, with more and more video being added all the time. A great tool you can use is an “explainer video.” These can be in the form of animation or with still photos, telling more about your product or services. Online preneed sales may not be for everyone but providing the option to everyone will ensure that you are getting those sales from people who are ready to buy online. This doesn’t mean that you have to sacrifice your great service. It just means you are offering them a way to plan in their own time. You can still provide your great service on the website, after the sale, and while the policy is in force. This article originally appeared in The Cremationist, Vol 54, Issue 1 by the same name. Are you looking for more about creating a preneed strategy that makes a difference? The Art of Selling Cremation: A Preneed Summit is back for the second year to with a one-day intensive on today's pressing preneed topics. Join colleagues in Las Vegas on February 5th, 2019 – see the full schedule at www.cremationassociation.org/CANAheroes.
Recently I went to a local store to purchase school uniforms for my youngest child, who after years of agonizing anticipation, gets to finally join her two siblings at the “big school.” I wanted to embrace her enthusiasm for the transition. So, one week after her pre-school graduation, and at least two months before the first day of school, we headed to the uniform shop. I had received a “rookie days” coupon worth 20% off my bill if I came in before the back to school rush. Why wouldn’t I jump on this? My daughter was so excited! We loaded up on polo shirts, pants, skirts, jackets, sweaters, and a new backpack. Unfortunately, I made one critical mistake. I didn’t realize it until I reached the register, but I forgot the coupon. I hoped it wouldn’t be a big deal, since it really was more of a flyer than a coupon, without a bar code or discount number. To my dismay, my discount request was rejected. I was told that I needed to have the coupon in hand in order to receive the discount. I assured the store employee that I had the coupon and even described the hot pink, black inked design and where I received it. It was suggested that the store was still open for another hour and that I could probably drive home to get it and bring it back before the store closed. I tried to plead that since they only offered the coupon to specific private schools, and mine was one, and I only knew about it because my child is clearly a “rookie,” purchasing the Kindergarten uniform for one of the specific schools, perhaps they could make an exception. No, unfortunately, I was denied. I asked if I brought the receipt and coupon before the expiration date at the end of the week, if I could receive a price adjustment. This was, thankfully, approved. Two days later I notched out some time after work and between my son’s all-star baseball practice drop off and my daughter’s dance recital rehearsal drop off, to return to the store with the receipt and coupon in hand. After interrogating me about which particular employee gave me permission to get a price adjustment, the Assistant Manager reluctantly authorized the adjustment. This authorization came only after she had me identify the employee in an almost court-room drama style: “Can you please point to the employee.” The employee in question first denied that he gave such permission. I’m certain he was afraid of the boss, but I was not walking away from this after all of my trouble. I had to remind him of our interaction, plead with him to look at my kids and remember how he helped us find a specific jacket in the stock room two days earlier. He eventually admitted to the interaction. Finally, after much anticipation, anxiety, and frustration, I’d get my discount. Another employee at the register was visibly annoyed that she had to process the adjustment. She had to enter the return and then charge back all of the items on my extra-long receipt in order to issue a credit. This of course, was not her fault. After making her frustration known to me, and a few grumblings later, she did attempt to be polite. The Assistant Manager noticed but made no attempt to address this behavior or the situation. She did give my kids a free grab bag with pencils and plastic toys; and entered them into a guess how many gumballs are in the jar game to win a gift card. A nice gesture, yet despite the freebies and fun promo, my customer experience was less than what I’d call positive. In fact, if they had one of those one-question surveys that every other retailer loves to ask these days, I know what my answer would be. Question: Based on your experience today, would you recommend this business to anyone? Answer: “No!” Sadly, I have a feeling that the Assistant Manager thinks that I had a positive experience. Yet, I will make every effort to avoid this store in the future, and I’ve already told this story a few times to other school moms. They had an opportunity to WOW me, by making a small exception in order to make my experience more convenient. Instead, their strict policy wasted my time and frustrated their employee, which made me feel unwelcome and guilty for calling out someone who tried to help, despite the strict policy. The coupon was meant to make me feel special, but instead, the experience left me feeling burdened and untrustworthy. Customer Experience Starts Before We Meet ThemCustomer Experience is your customers’ perception of how your company treats them. CEO’s from companies like Amazon, Zappos, Chik-fil-A, Apple, and Southwest Airlines obsess over Customer Experience. When Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos explains why Amazon has become one of the most successful companies on the planet, he does not offer his genius or innovative technology. It comes down to one basic principle: outstanding customer service. Amazon’s brand promise is to become “Earth’s most customer-centric company.” In fact, they have a return policy that is so liberal, they often tell customers to just keep items that were shipped incorrectly. This actually happened to me twice. The first time was when they accidentally sent me two DVD’s of the toddler video, Wiggles: Pop Go the Wiggles. I tried to return it, but they simply said, “we are sorry for the inconvenience, please keep it.” I’m sure the $8.99 was not worth the hassle of processing a return, but with that experience, they received a customer for life. The generous return policy is one of the reasons I, like millions of customers, love to buy from Amazon. They, unlike my local uniform shop, instill trust and confidence with the customer. Amazon has permanently redefined what Customer Experience should be, making Customer Experience a primary source of competitive advantage in business today. With over 63% of all cremations going home, competition is fierce. We have to compete for customers more than ever before. In today’s business environment, we must assume that a customer is anyone who steps foot on our property and anyone who looks us up online. Customer Experience starts when they first learn about us to when they no longer need our services. Particularly for funeral homes and cemeteries, that journey may never end. Customer perceptions affect behaviors and build memories. If customers like you and continue to like you, they are going to do business with you and recommend you to others. It is critical to develop a Customer Experience strategy, which leads to the level of satisfaction that breeds loyalty, referral, and greater sales volume. Keep in mind that 86% of customers are willing to pay more for a better Customer Experience! Begin With a PlanCustomer Experience must be part of your brand identity, it must be something that everyone on your team owns, and that you, as owner or manager, obsess over. Customer Experience is more important than any traditional advertising you do. How do you develop Customer Experience that makes everyone feel welcome, builds trust, and fosters loyalty? It starts with a plan – an actual strategy. Just like a marketing and sales plan, operations plan, budget and financial plan, master plan for development of cemeteries, you have to have a Customer Experience strategy. Start with this:
Getting everyone on board and truly understanding customer needs is the key to a successful and sustainable program. As you learn about what it means to communicate with customers on their terms, you'll find it's easier to make informed decisions about your overall Customer Experience strategy. If you want to learn more about how to develop a Customer Experience strategy, please join me at the CANA Cremation Innovations Conference next month in Fort Lauderdale. Lori will present on Customer Experience 101: How to Develop a Customer Experience (CX) Strategy at CANA’s 100th Annual Cremation Innovation Convention this July. We know you have high expectations from the presenters' content so learn from the experts on where cremation is going and how your business can continue its success. Learn more and register: gocana.org/CANA18 Update! One hundred years of conventions proves that CANA successfully tackles the topic of cremation by continually providing relevant, progressive content. The 2018 convention was no exception. Weren't able to join us? You can access Lori's presentation recording and all other speakers' wisdom on our Learning Management System. View session descriptions and pricing here: gocana.org/CANA18. Our presenters are carefully chosen to ensure practical takeaways that you can apply to your business. Cremation consumers reject ritual and tradition and expect a unique and personalized experience. The industry has seen an influx of products and services that aim to create that experience. But Customer Experience is defined as how customers perceive their interactions with your company. Leading companies understand that how an organization delivers for customers is as important as what it delivers. That’s why Customer Experience is the next frontier for companies hoping to maintain a competitive edge.
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