No place like home

Now that most funeral directors have a website it’s a good time to review the way they receive visitors on their home page. It’s a darn difficult one to get right and no mistaking. After all, no one wants to buy a funeral. So how do you allay fears, define and differentiate yourself,  inspire warmth and trust? How do you address needs and wishes when you’ve only got a five seconds to hook them?

Here are some draft tips for FDs. I hope you will hone them with your customary no-holds-barred comments – and add some of your own.

Go easy on the ancestors

It’s cool to show your roots but they don’t actually make you any better than lots of first-generation businesses. Make genealogy relevant — and for goodness’ sake make sense. Avoid:

As a 5th generation independent family run concern, our success depends on your satisfaction.

Don’t make a bad thing worse

The last thing they want to hear is this: 

When you suffer bereavement, a funeral for a member of your family is the most difficult day of your life.

Park the cars

Funeral shoppers are looking for nice people, not people with nice cars. To most of them, all hearses look the same. 

Hide your status anxiety

Leading a funeral procession is a role you play. The first person they want to see in a photo is the real you.  Lighten up on the black and the fancy clobber — you don’t need to big yourself up. 

We like this photo   

But we concede that these two look terrific              

Cut the flowery twaddle

Don’t alienate yourself by talking like a bygone age. Write as people speak now.

As professional and compassionate funeral directors, we are conscious of the responsibility, trust and confidence bestowed upon us.

On initial contact we will ask for preliminary details, whereupon if the deceased has died at home, in hospital or in a private buy liquid tadalafil online nursing home we will advise the conveyance of the deceased to our private chapel.

We incorporate the profound values of honesty, trust and professionalism, offering an exclusive service for families and their loved ones.

Kill your jargon

Hygienic treatment and attendances to the deceased are considered to be very important by our company.

Do away with ‘disbursements’ and ‘floral tributes’. While you’re about it, try and avoid ‘caring’ and ‘dignified’, too, if you can. They’re a bit worn.

Talk to your reader, not about yourself

It is a rare privilege to be a funeral director, to stand in a sensitive position at a crucial time in the midst of your family

Proud to be an independant?

Then get your text professionally proofread.

If you can’t get the spelling, grammar and punctuation right on your own website, what does that say about your ability to arrange a funeral?

No one can be cremated untill the caurse of death is definitely known. There are two cremation certificates (forms B&C). Each must be signed by two different doctor’s.

PS it’s –dent.

Normal people know nothing about industry politics

If you want to diss the big beasts, make an intelligible case.

Continuity and a personal caring service are things that tend to be overlooked within larger conglomerates.

Talk price, talk up value

There’s no point in being a funeral director if you cannot define the value of a funeral. What good’s it going to do them?

Put their best interests first

Show your readers you’re on their side. Advise them to shop around, get at least three quotes and go with the FD they click with best. Invite them to ring you for a no-strings chat if they want. Make yourself likeable. 

All examples above from real websites.

And the GFG award (provisional) for the website which fires off most key messages quickest in the most palatable form is awarded to our sternest critic, Kingfisher Funeral Services of St Neot’s.