The funeral industry needs to keep moving forward to keep up with the technological demands of consumers

1. Technology is the only future
The funeral industry has embraced technology
throughout its history and continues to do so, but is it
going far enough? As more and more activities occur
online or via new hardware, the industry needs to look
around and consider how it can get ahead of the curve.
Although nothing can beat the personal, caring
outcomes that face-to-face contact brings, it would be
wrong to assume that everyone wants to come into a
showroom and spend perhaps several hours choosing
from a wide range of options. For many, being able to
look at their choices online as and when they feel able
to do so is less distressing and easier to manage. The
opportunity to dip in and out without pressure, send
links to other family members, to ask questions as and
when they arise – all of this is now normal in other
industries and it needs to be normal for funerals.
And as anyone who has shopped online will know, there
is endless scope to offer customers additional or
complimentary products, to link to partner companies
and to tailor a shopping basket with offers or
alternatives. Indeed, a well thought out website
probably gives greater scope to offer an end-to-end
service than physical premises ever can, not least
because it does not require the company to carry a
wide range of physical stock. Beyond the customer-
facing element, a good system would also streamline
the management side of any company so that payroll
and balance sheets are integrated.
The perfect website would guide customers through all
the decisions they need to make, give them choices,
keep track of their spending and remind them of all the
tasks they have to complete (including ones unrelated
to the funeral director). With an increasingly digital life,
families need support not just to close the deceased’s
physical activities but also their online activity and this
is an area where forward-thinking funeral directors can
offer a substantial and much-needed service.
The challenge for the funeral industry is to be all things
to all people. Those who want to come to a showroom
and be guided by a knowledgeable person should be
able to do so. Those who do not, should be able to
manage their arrangements in the way they would
manage anything else in their life. What’s more, the
latter group gets larger every year. The days of funeral
directors thinking that a basic website and Facebook
page are enough are well and truly over.
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