Funeral Planning In The Age Of Convenience
The days of families needing or wanting to walk into a funeral home for the entire funeral planning process are coming to a close. Just as the days of brick & mortar shopping begins to meet a similar end. Everything nowadays is about convenience. Who can get it to me the quickest? Who allows me to do everything online, from the comfort of home? Who offers the most flexible payment options? These are the questions that shape the decisions of modern consumers. Sure, older generations still maintain loyalty to businesses who have been reliable in the past. However, young people hold much fewer allegiances, if any – opting to instead buy from companies that offer the most convenient buying experience above any other factor. For funeral homes, the new challenge is catering to these consumer habits and continually finding ways to create convenient experiences.
After ensuring that your website is user-friendly and informative, the first step should be finding ways to provide families with the same experiences they are looking for from every other business. A great place to start is expanding your funeral home’s payment options and make sure they are available online. Especially because the last thing you want is for your competitor to be the more convenient option.
The truth is families are in a rush. No one has time to go anywhere anymore. If they can do it online or by using a cool app, the choice is easy. Why should your funeral home be any different? When seeking to solve this problem for our clients, we built a new tool called FuneralPay, which enables firms to accept payments directly on their website with FuneralPay Online, offer crowdfunding with A Helping Hand. As a result, the firms we work with will now be able to offer a new level of convenience that was previously not on par with what families expect.
In addition to accepting payments, FuneralPay Online will enable anyone, family or friend, to search for the deceased and make a contribution directly toward the cost of the funeral. So it is not only convenient, but forward-thinking as well. A Helping Hand offers a funeral funding platform, that encourages community support during times of loss. With these tools, our hope is that FrontRunner clients will now be seen by their communities as progressive and will be chosen by families because of the comprehensive funding options available.
Let’s face it, family dynamics are not what they used to be. People used to stay in the same place for generations and this meant continuous relationship with certain funeral homes. Now, people are spread all over the place and coming “home” to be part of the funeral planning process is simply not possible for everyone. With FuneralPay, anyone, anywhere can make their contribution to the funeral from the comfort and convenience of wherever they choose.
In the age of convenience, funeral planning will quickly become just like any other transaction for families. Everything will soon need to be streamlined, easy, quick. While we may not be there just yet, FuneralPay will help our clients take that first step towards meeting families online, making things more convenient and offering more flexible payment options.
As always, our goal is to help the funeral homes we work with stay ahead of the curve and be at the forefront of death care technology. We will also be releasing a funeral financing platform that will allow families to pay for the funeral they want in affordable installments. In helping to build and improve the online experience offered by our clients, we are ultimately staying true to the foundation of funeral service: helping families when they need it the most.
If you want to know more about FuneralPay, our upcoming releases or how FrontRunner can help your funeral home with technology and marketing, contact us today. We are always ready and willing to help.
Brandon is the Marketing Communications Manager at FrontRunner Professional. He holds a Social Sciences degree from McMaster University and a Graduate Certificate in Integrated Marketing Communications from St. Lawrence College. His creative writing and innovative ideas bring new life to the company, FrontRunner’s clients and funeral directors world-wide.