Although reviews matter to all business types, it is a far more serious affair for funeral homes. Families will always want to provide their departed loved ones with the best service they can afford, and will therefore turn to the experiences of others to make their decisions. Findings show that 59% of consumers look at two or three review sites before making a big purchase. Given that a funeral is one of the biggest financial considerations made by a family, reviews are a key part of their decisions making process.
Funeral home reviews are an easy way to establish how trustworthy of a business you are and is often one of the first things a potential customer will see when searching online. Reviews are also a great way for your funeral home to generate more business. Potential customers are trusting online reviews more than ever, as 83% of them say they now trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation. It is therefore important for your funeral home to develop a process for asking for positive online reviews. Once your funeral home has these reviews, you must showcase them on your website and social media platforms to increase the credibility of your brand.
As customer reviews are becoming increasingly important to the success of your funeral home, here is a list of five tips on how to generate and leverage your funeral homes reviews:
Make Your Funeral Home the First Choice in Consumer’s Minds
It is said that the best form of advertising has and always will be word of mouth. In today’s world this means a consumer sharing their opinions via online review sites like Google Local, Yahoo Local, and Yelp! Your funeral home reviews are not only a key factor in consumer decisions, but also determine what order you are found and listed in on these popular search engines. Ranking on the first page of Google is not enough, your funeral home is merely a choice in the customer’s mind. There are up to 15 other funeral homes to choose from on this page.
What will make you stand out? Consistent positive reviews on your funeral home from families that have experienced your funeral homes quality services. In fact, great reviews increase the chances that your funeral home will be chosen over the other 14 listed that either have dated reviews or very few reviews.
How to Generate Funeral Home Customer Reviews?
Make the process simple. Most of your customers are not going to want to leave a review if you make them fill out several online forms. Simply ask for your client’s name and their email address and then allow them to write their positive comments. Your funeral home can ask for reviews in several ways such as through questionnaires, newsletters, on social media, or in person after a service has been provided. Although you must be respectful of families and other clients in their process of grieving, you can place a link to the review area of your website or within your emailed newsletters to customers. You can also place a call to action such as “leave a review of our services here” on your funeral homes social media pages or website. This is usually enough to encourage action on behalf of the customer once the relationship has been established.
Your funeral home does not need millions of customers leaving reviews directly on your review pages, you can also incorporate feedback you’ve heard from customers in person while you are providing your funeral services. All you have to do is simply ask the customer if they mind being quoted and then you can use their positive comment within your testimonials online.
Don’t Be Afraid to Ask Your Customers for Reviews
Almost 70% of satisfied customers are happy to write a positive online review about their experience. Consumers say that if asked, they are more than willing to provide feedback about the businesses who provide them with quality service. This is a great opportunity for funeral directors to showcase their excellent customer service. Once you serve a family, don’t be afraid to ask them for a review of the services you provided. If you know a family will give you a positive review, encourage them to leave a testimonial on your Google Local or Yelp! Page. This is key as one of these two pages will show up in search engine results. Having these positive reviews will set you apart from competitors.
Show Case Your Funeral Home Customer Reviews
Reviews are one of the most influential ways you can show potential families that they will be receiving excellent service. Your funeral home needs to showcase the reviews you have gotten from families who have nothing but positive things to say about the experience with your funeral home. This will grant your funeral home with the ability to quickly and easily gain the trust of your website visitors. Your funeral homes reviews should also be posted on all your social media pages to ensure the credibility of your brand is consistent across all marketing mediums.
In terms of your funeral home website, it is important to place reviews related to the specific content on the corresponding page. For example, if the review relates a certain funeral planning service you provide, the review should be placed directly on the page explaining this service. This will ensure that visitors are reading the reviews and that your company receives the full benefit of having these reviews on your website.
Deal with The Customer Reviews from “Negative Nancy”
If your funeral home receives negative reviews be sure to respond to them immediately. Why? Because statistics show that if a company responds to a negative review, the chances that the same customer turns around and posts a positive review is much higher. The chances that the customer will delete the negative review increases as well. Therefore, responding to negative reviews is 90% of the time a good thing, and can even increase your sales. Positive reviews should also be responded to as quickly as possible. Why? Your positive reviewers are customers who are helping you show others why they should choose your funeral home. You will want to thank them for their help in this process.
Make sure your funeral home comes up with a game plan for monitoring and responding to both positive and negative reviews. Who will be responsible for responding to them? Who will monitor them? This process is key to your funeral homes creation of a credible and reliable online presence.
Start Leveraging Your Funeral Home Customer Reviews!
Now that you know how to show prospective customers that they can trust you, leverage them! Showcase all of your funeral homes reviews and gain visibility within the online world. Do this, and potential families will trust you before they even walk into your funeral homes doors.
FrontRunner is always here to help you improve your funeral homes online presence. Do not hesitate to contact our extensive team of funeral home marketing specialists. We will help tailor the right strategy for your firm so that you can leverage your funeral homes reviews successfully. Why not invest in your online reputation so that it is above and beyond that of competitors? You will be thankful you did when a family enters your funeral home and knows all about you and trusts your services through reading online reviews.
Ashley Montroy, Marketing Director at FrontRunner Professional, has committed herself to helping funeral professionals understand and excel in today’s digital age. With a long-standing history in the funeral business and her father being a licensed funeral director for over 30 years; she grew up learning the family funeral business. Ashley holds a bachelor’s degree from Carleton University and diploma from Algonquin College. Today, she continues to speak to over 15 state and provincial funeral association groups each year on funeral marketing in the digital age and protecting funeral firms online using experiences and examples from working with thousands of funeral homes in North America through FrontRunner Professional.
