The Meaningful Funeral - Issue 2 | Winter 2017

THE MEANINGFUL

FUNER AL A N E X C L U S I V E P U B L I C A T I O N by F R A Z E R C O N S U L T A N T S

Issue 2 | Winter 2017 W E B S I T E S S AV E T I M E A N D M O N E Y I S YO U R W E B S I T E S A F E ?

W H Y U X M AT T E R S T O FA M I L I E S A R E YO U LO S I N G W E B S I T E T R A F F I C ?

O N E I M P O R TA N T W E B S I T E R U L E

LETTER

from the editor Dear readers, Welcome to The Meaningful Funeral magazine. Our goal with this magazine and its articles is to help you market your funeral home to gain new clients, and also serve your current client families in better and more meaningful ways. Our mission at Frazer Consultants is to help funeral homes reimagine the funeral experience for their families, and this magazine is just one more way for us to do that.

This issue is all about websites — what makes an effective website, how your website can better serve your families, and even how your website can better serve you and your funeral home. You’ll find important statistics about SEO and mobile, and learn ways to improve your online strategy.

I hope that you enjoy reading the content and learning more about websites, and look forward to hearing your feedback as we continue to improve our magazine. If you have content suggestions, we would love to hear them — just email us at marketing@frazerconsultants.com.

And if you really love our content, sign up for our newsletter at frazerconsultants.com/meaningful to have fresh content and funeral news delivered to your inbox every week!

M AT T F R A Z E R P R E S I D E N T, F R A Z E R C O N S U LTA N T S

TABLE OF

CONTENTS 20

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W H Y YO U R F U N E R A L H O M E S H O U L D H AV E A W E B S I T E

I S YO U R F U N E R A L H O M E WEBSITE SAFE?

Websites provide innovative features to families no matter where they live.

Your funeral home website is filled with your and your clients’ personal info.

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I S YO U R F U N E R A L H O M E LO S I N G WEBSITE TRAFFIC?

Website traffic is important for your funeral home’s exposure.

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W H Y YO U R F U N E R A L H O M E S H O U L D ENCOURAGE PERSONALIZED OBITUARIES

Obituaries should be more meaningful than the traditional death notice.

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Everything You Need to Know About Mobile for Your Funeral Home A lot of funeral homes already have embraced this trend and have mobilefriendly websites, but are you getting the most out of being mobile?

W H AT I S U X A N D W H Y D O E S I T M AT T E R T O FA M I L I E S ?

User Experience (UX) matters more than ever. But what exactly is it?

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1 0 Q U E S T I O N S TO A S K P OT E N T I A L FUNERAL HOME WEBSITE PROVIDERS

Don’t buy a website until you’ve asked the provider these 10 questions.

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D O E S YO U R W E B S I T E W O R K F O R Y O U R FA M I L I E S ?

I S YO U R W E B S I T E S T U C K I N T H E WRONG DECADE?

You should be looking at your website as a tool for your client families.

Most websites have changed a lot in 20 years, but not all of them.

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C O N T E N T E D I T O R U P D AT E F O R FRAZER-POWERED WEBSITES

H O W YO U R F U N E R A L H O M E W E B S I T E C A N S AV E Y O U T I M E A N D M O N E Y

We’ve updated the interface and layout to make it as intuitive as possible.

For the ever-busy funeral director, saving time and money is important.

Why Your Funeral Home Should Have a Website Funeral directors may not think their funeral home needs a website if they have few or no competitors. But as Baby Boomers age, they’re the ones making their parents’ funeral arrangements.

They may live cities or even states away, so they’re using the internet for funeral planning. And if your funeral home doesn’t have a website, they’ll go elsewhere.

Websites are not just about the convenience for funeral planning.

Websites provide innovative features for all of your families no matter where they live. It opens the door to online purchases, such as memorial products and even funeral payments. It also creates personalization opportunities, such as online memorials, funeral webcasting, and other online-exclusive features.

A W E B S I T E C R E AT E S T R U S T

A credible online presence shows families that you’re a trustworthy place to work with. Not only should you have a website, but it should have an appealing design.

According to a study by researcher and psychologist Dr. Elizabeth Sillence, 94% of participants said that website design contributes to whether or not they trust or distrust a company.

Plus, you can connect with families by sharing your funeral home’s story online.

For example, maybe your funeral home has been run by your family for generations.

Or maybe your funeral home is known for community engagement. By sharing your story, you connect with families on a more personal level.

E A S E O F F I N D I N G I N F O R M AT I O N

No matter if families live out of state or down the block, they search online for the information they need. According to the marketing company Blue Corona, 70-80% of people research businesses online before visiting them or purchasing something.

For funeral homes, this could be your firm’s product and service offerings, contact information, or other information families want to know. They want to easily find this

information, so if they can’t find it for you, they’ll find a competitor’s website where they can.

E X C L U S I V E O N L I N E F E AT U R E S

A website can provide your funeral home and its families with convenient features only available online. It makes funeral planning more convenient for families, and it also provides them with additional resources.

These could include grieving resources, personalization ideas, and the option to pay for products and services online.

For example — with a Frazer-powered website, your funeral home has access to innovative and family-favorite features like Social Tribute Walls for creating permanent virtual tributes, Tribute Store to simplify the flower ordering process for families, Tribute Pay to easily pay for products and services, and the 360 Days of Healing email subscription for families coping with grief.

With features like these, your funeral home can provide families with a truly unique and personalized funeral experience online.

T O R E A D M O R E , V I S I T:

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The Meaningful Funeral | 03

Is Your Funeral Home Losing Website Traffic?

Website traffic is important for your funeral home’s exposure and finding potential client families.

The more people who visit your funeral home’s website, the more people that could turn to you for help during their time of need. Obituaries can be an invaluable tool when it comes to attracting families to your website.

When it comes to deciding where to post obituaries, it’s important to consider search engine optimization (SEO), cost, and the amount of control you have when displaying your information online.

WEBSITE SEO

SEO is about getting more website traffic and appearing higher in search engine result pages like Google or Bing.

The better your website’s SEO, the more traffic your website will get.

If you use a third-party obituary hosting site, potential families may never make it to your funeral home’s website because when they search online for a loved one’s obituary, the third-party site shows up rather than yours. There may be ads or external links on the obituary hosting site that potential customers can click on as well, and then they won’t return to viewing your obituaries.

C O N T R O L O F I N F O R M AT I O N

Being in control of your information and how it’s displayed online is important, but by using an obituary hosting site, you’re losing this control. Obituary hosting sites may not fit your funeral home’s brand or website design. The color and layout of your website may look completely different than the obituary hosting site, so it makes them feel ununified. You also can’t control any kinds of ads or links that are included next to an obituary.

information if it’s not backed up or transferred somewhere and the obituary hosting site goes out of business.

THE COST

Posting obituaries online is a popular trend with newspaper circulation declining and the high cost to have them printed in newspapers, but obituary hosting websites are harming your funeral home’s web presence. Using a thirdparty obituary hosting website costs your funeral home money and website traffic.

W H AT ’ S T H E S O L U T I O N ?

To regain control, switching to a Frazer-powered website gives you access to many industry-leading features, such as Social Tribute Walls where you can post obituaries.

Personalization is an important funeral trend of 2017, so it’s important to have a place to share obituaries containing a life story and give grieving family and friends the opportunity to engage and remember their loved one forever.

With Tribute Walls, not only do you have a permanent place to easily add obituaries, but loved ones are provided with ways to come together, share memories, and honor the life of the deceased. On Tribute Walls, you can light a candle or leave a symbol; share messages, photos, or video to the posts if you wish; send flowers and other gifts to the grieving family; and other Tribute Wall features.

Best of all, by keeping all of your obituaries on your own website, you keep your website traffic and maintain control over how obituaries are presented to the families you serve.

T O R E A D M O R E , V I S I T:

With the popularity of searching for information on mobile devices, you want your website to have easy readability on mobile devices, but the obituary hosting site may not be responsive on mobile devices and not display as nicely as it could. There’s also the risk of losing your obituary

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The Meaningful Funeral | 05

Why Your Funeral Home Should Encourage Personalized Obituaries When families announce a death, your mind probably wanders to the traditional announcement you see in a newspaper.

These announcements list close relatives, funeral service details, and maybe a favorite hobby — but that’s about it. A lot of families don’t know that with online obituaries, you can really dig deep into the life of a loved one and tell a meaningful story.

It’s not the years in the life that count, it’s the life in the years. Families need to be aware that they can write indepth, inspirational obituaries about their lost loved ones rather than the predictable announcement of a death.

There’s potential for so much more than just providing essential information.

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P E R S O N A L I Z E D O B I T U A R I E S H E L P Y O U R FA M I L I E S

When families write a deeper story about their loved ones, it helps them in many ways. They’ll have time to reminisce about all the light their loved one brought to their life, and the positive memories they have. Obituaries will help them grieve, heal, and connect with each other in their time of hardship.

P E R S O N A L I Z E D O B I T UA R I E S H E L P YO U R F U N E R A L H O M E

By encouraging families to write more personalized online obituaries, your funeral home will also reap the benefits

TRIBUTE CENTER

Ditch the pre-printed stationery and get personal.

With more than 500 different themes for print-ondemand memorial folders, prayer cards, thank-you cards, bookmarks, candles, and DVD packaging, our easy-to-use Tribute Center software makes personalization possible.

C O N TA C T U S F O R M O R E I N F O , O R V I S I T O U R W E B S I T E TO D O W N LOA D T R I B U T E C E N T E R F O R F R E E !

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as well. Personalized online obituaries will increase traffic to your website. Also, helping families tell their loved ones’ stories will show that you’re there for each family every step of the way.

H O W YO U C A N H E L P

To help families understand what they can do with an obituary, provide them with examples and suggestions.

As a funeral director, families are relying on you to make them aware of the options available for them. A meaningful tribute can create laughter, spark memories, and generate happiness for families and friends.

TIPS FOR OBITUARIES

First, you should outline the important events in their life. What stories stand out that illustrate a loved one’s best qualities?

Consider interviewing a few family members and get their personal stories and memories of the deceased. This will help make the obituary lively. Tell a personal story that will show the accomplishments and personality of a loved one.

Pictures serve as a pleasant reminder of the deceased and give readers the ability to recognize the individual, so try to include a few.

Lastly, remember to write from the heart. Express your love and appreciation by showcasing their best characteristics.

T O R E A D M O R E , V I S I T:

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TRIBUTE VIDEOS

Easy-to-create cinematic quality memorial videos for families.

With nearly 200 intros and endings, almost 400 licensed songs, 850 high-quality stock video clips and 500 themes for DVD packaging, you can create a meaningful, completely personalized video for families in minutes.

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Does Your Website Work for Your Families?

Your website makes your job easier. It advertises for you, it helps you get information about potential families, it houses all of your obituary information in one place, and it’s sometimes even how you get paid.

But at the end of the day, your website isn’t just for you. You should be looking at your website as a tool your client families can use to get what they need.

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So what do your families want from your website? We did some research, and came up with a list of things they’d like to see when they visit your page.

QUICK

According to an article published on Wired by Nilesh Patel, your families don’t just want your page to load fast. More than 47% of them expect your page to load in two seconds or less.

PROFESSIONAL

According to a Dex Media survey, consumers aged 18 to 34 expect local businesses to have a website that looks professional, 35- to 54-year-olds are more likely to contact businesses with active sites, and those 55 and older think a smart website gives a business credibility in the community.

I N F O R M AT I V E

Dex Media also says younger consumers prioritize both the appearance of the website and whether it is mobilefriendly. Consumers 35 to 54 expect to be able to find

key information about the business, and older consumers want core information about products, phone numbers, and addresses.

PERSONAL

According to an article in Entrepreneur titled 10 Things Customers Want on a Website, customers want smaller businesses to have a website with personality, flavor, and sensibility. They expect a more personal touch than the websites of bigger corporations.

VA L I D AT E D

Entrepreneur also suggests having third-party validation through testimonials, awards, positive news, case studies, etc. Reviews are another good way to show potential client families what others have thought of your service.

EASY TO USE

most important factor in a website’s design is “the website makes it easy for me to find what I want.” For funeral homes, that means obituaries should be easy to find since that’s what most visitors want to see. They shouldn’t have to search for the obituaries or click on multiple menus to get to them; recent obituaries should be right there on the front page.

THE FOUR P’S

According to an article from Bright Local titled What Local Consumers Want Most from Local Business Websites, the “four P’s” for local business website success are Product, Price, Place, and Phone number. These are the four pieces of information consumers of every age expect to easily find on your website.

T O R E A D M O R E , V I S I T:

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Consumers also want a website that’s easy to use and navigate, according to Entrepreneur. And according to a HubSpot article by Mike Volpe, 76% of consumers say the

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webs

CROWDF ADVERT

WEBSITES

Our websites work hard so you don’t have to.

Frazer-powered websites are more than just beautifully designed — we put thought into every aspect of your site so that your families get the features they need, and we’re constantly adding features at no additional cost to your funeral home.

C A L L T O R E Q U E S T A F R E E D E M O N S T R AT I O N T O D AY !

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sites ad

FUNDING TISEMENT

Content Editor Update for Frazer-Powered Websites We’ve recently rolled out a new update to Frazer-powered funeral home websites that we’re excited to tell you about!

The update focuses on the admin panel’s content editor.

The content editor is where you can make changes to the text and images featured in your site’s content.

Currently, the content editor on Frazer sites is located under the Website Manager tab in the admin panel. It allows for key changes to your funeral home’s pages, such as your welcome message, employee information, or your funeral home’s history section.

We’ve updated the user interface and the layout of the content editor to make its use as intuitive as possible. It now looks very similar to what you would find at the top of a Microsoft Word document, with options to change font sizes and styles, bold and italicize, and otherwise change how your text looks.

We’ve also added the ability for your funeral home to easily upload your own PDF files to your site. Using the new file manager, it takes seconds to upload PDF documents to your site, such as your General Price List.

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Does Your Funeral Home Follow This Important Rule?

One of the big design trends of 2017 has been mobile-optimized websites.

Why does mobile matter? To put it simply, it’s how you get found on Google. Google now penalizes sites that aren’t mobile-friendly, causing your funeral home’s website to show up farther down the search results.

Google recently reported that local searches are now occurring more often on a smartphone than a desktop device. And a study by the marketing company McKinsey & Company found that 61% of users are unlikely to return to a mobile site if they can’t easily access your information, and more than 40% said they will try a competitor’s site instead. Not making mobile a priority could be costing your funeral home potential business.

To make sure your funeral home website is mobile-friendly, here’s a quick rule you should know.

THE BASIC RULE OF THUMB

It’s what’s known as the “one eyeball, one thumb, arm’s length” rule. Here’s a quick rundown of how it works: Let’s start with the “one eye” part. On a mobile device, all your important basic information should be easily readable with one eye. That means that even mobile users who are distracted still easily find important things like your

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business hours, contact information, location, services, and even obituaries.

The “one thumb” part means that the content and links are easy to navigate using just one thumb on a handheld device. One study on mobile design by UX Matters found that most people (85%) use only one hand to navigate a website on a smartphone, making this an important aspect of your mobile site’s layout.

And the “arm’s length” part means that all your content, including pictures and video, can be viewed comfortably at arm’s length.

OTHER TIPS TO CONSIDER

Google offers other tips to get the most of your mobile design. First, you should make it easy for customers to navigate your products and to make payments. To do this, you could add an easy-to-use payment platform like Tribute Pay, upload your General Price List to your website, or even add a page with photos of products you offer with descriptions and prices.

You can measure your website’s mobile-friendliness by how easy it is for a user to complete the most basic tasks.

When someone is visiting your site on a smartphone, what are they usually there for? Can they order flowers easily?

Can they write a memory on an obituary? Google’s blog wrote that “being able to support these [basic] tasks is critical and this is why the measure of your mobile site is how well customers can complete their objectives.”

You also should select a design that’s consistent for all devices. These days, everyone’s mobile experience is different. Think of all the different kinds of smartphones or tablets out there. Google recommends using a responsive web design so that no matter where someone reaches your site, the experience will be the same. Responsive web design also will boost your search rankings, meaning you’ll grab a higher spot in the Google search results.

OTHER DESIGN TRENDS TO CONSIDER

Mobile is just one of many important digital design trends.

Here are some others to watch out for.

One is the importance of content layout. John Moore Williams of Webflow wrote that “design’s ultimate role is to present content in an intuitive, efficient, and ‘delightful’ way.” That means whether visiting from a mobile device or

desktop, your content should be laid out in a way that’s easy for users to navigate.

Immersive storytelling is another trend. An article by Forbes contributor Tomas Laurinavicius wrote that, “Combined with bold, visually stimulating design and a whole array of interactive UI elements, immersive storytelling is helping brands to connect with their customers on a more personal, engaging level.” Your website should help share your brand — the story of you and your funeral home — with families.

And another big trend is authenticity. As content continues to play a major role in web design, it means we will see more authenticity from businesses and their websites. A Usersnap article by author Thomas Peham about 2017 web design trends notes that this means fewer stock photos and more real, authentic photos. The article states that “the important thing to remember however is that your website serves a purpose and therefore everything on it, including the image, must do so too. Images of your people (meet the team) are popular too — put a face to the brand.”

T O R E A D M O R E , V I S I T:

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mobile

EVERY THING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

FOR YOUR FUNER AL HOME

The use of mobile devices to view websites is not a new thing. According to Don Dodds, Managing Partner and Chief Strategist for M16 Marketing, small and medium business enterprises gain the most from utilizing the latest technological advantages and developments because it puts them on an equal playing field with larger enterprises.

This includes ensuring that your website is mobile-friendly.

A lot of funeral homes already have embraced this trend and have mobile-friendly websites, but are you getting the most out of being mobile? And if you don’t currently have a mobile-friendly website but are thinking about creating one, do you know how to provide what’s best for your funeral home and the families you serve?

If you’re unclear, have no fear — we will go through the basics of the relationship between the internet and mobile devices, the implications this relationship has on your funeral home and the families you serve, and what you should do to ensure your funeral home’s website is doing what it should.

FA C T S A N D F I G U R E S

First of all, why is mobile-friendliness so important? Here are some statistics from the Pew Research Center and CNet that should make it clear for you.

As of November 2016, 77% of American adults own a smartphone. On top of that, 22% of American adults own an e-reader, and 51% of American adults own a tablet computer.

In 2016, about 12% of American adults relied solely on their smartphone for internet access, especially younger adults, minorities, and lower-income households.

Also, as of October 2014, the number of active mobile connections outnumbered the number of people on the planet, and was growing at a rate five times faster than the human population.

If you’re curious about how your own website fits into these statistics, you can log in to your website’s Google

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Analytics, select “Audience” on the left side, then “Mobile.”

The numbers may surprise you. And if you really want to know how your website stacks up, you can run a test through Google to see how user-friendly it is. How well do you stack up?

Don’t feel intimidated by the number of mobile visitors that come to your site and the effectiveness of your website on mobile. If you’re not quite up to par, you’re not alone — but you might be if you don’t consider making improvements soon.

MOBILE AND SEARCH ENGINES

In June 2013, Google announced that they would be changing how they ranked a website in their search engine based on how well the website performed on mobile devices. Almost two years later, Bing announced similar changes to their ranking algorithms.

Search Engine Optimization, known as SEO, is incredibly important if you want families to be able to easily find your website when they use a search engine. If major search engines like Google and Bing are taking into consideration how mobile-friendly your site is, perhaps it’s something that needs some attention.

When it comes to SEO and mobile-friendliness, there are a few things you should keep in mind. For one thing, navigation like menus, buttons, and links should be large enough and spaced out enough that they are easy to operate with touchscreens rather than a mouse.

Another important thing is that you should not have to zoom in or scroll very much to get the info you need.

Pinching and scrolling to be able to read information does not make for a very good mobile experience.

Videos and other visual content also should be usable on all devices. If a video requires additional software like Flash or QuickTime to be seen, it’s highly likely that it won’t be viewable on mobile devices.

Search engines typically consolidate indexing and ranking signals for pages with both a desktop and mobile version, and pages that are mobile-only won’t rank as well. That means having one version of your site that is responsive to different screens is your best option.

In addition to SEO being a big factor for needing a mobile site, in May 2015 Google announced that people were searching more on mobile than on desktop. And of those mobile searches, 40% were local in nature, meaning that users were looking for information on a local business.

If you want your funeral home’s website to be found in online searches — especially by mobile users — you should 18 | The Meaningful Funeral

keep reading to discover what makes a website mobilefriendly in today’s world.

RESPONSIVE WEBSITES

One thing you will undoubtedly see come up in the mobile-friendliness conversation is the use of responsive websites. About an eighth of websites are currently responsively designed, and this number will continue to grow. The term “responsive web design” was first coined in 2010, and it’s recognized as one of the best if not the best way for your website to be optimized for mobile. In fact,

Google considers responsive web design a best practice and recommends it for mobile configuration and SEO. Responsive websites are websites that respond, or adjust, to the screen size being used (hence the name). This includes more than just the difference in the screen sizes of tablets, smartphones, and PCs — it also includes whether you are using a device with a portrait or landscape orientation, like when you turn your smartphone to the side.

Essentially, having a responsive website means that no matter how wide the screen, the website adjusts itself so

that none of the content gets squished into oblivion. This allows the design of the website to be consistent, and it also ensures that the website is as usable as possible across different platforms.

WA N T T O R E A D M O R E ?

Download the rest of our free eBook all about mobile websites and see how your site measures up:

frazerconsultants.com/tmf-mobile

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Is Your Funeral Home Website Safe?

As more businesses make their way to the web, identity and data theft start to follow.

Funeral homes are no exception. Your funeral home website is filled with not only your personal info, but also the info of the families you serve. That’s why Frazer Consultants takes every effort to protect your data.

A R E YO U S U R E I T ’ S S A F E ?

When you think of data breaches, you might think of some of the recent headlines like Equifax or Whole Foods. But big businesses like these are not the only targets.

Hacking small business data is on the rise. A 2012 Verizon Data Breach report found that more than 70% of cyber-attacks were targeted at companies with less than 100 employees.

H O W C A N Y O U E N S U R E D I G I TA L S A F E T Y ?

An important facet of internet safety is SSL – Secure Sockets Layer. SSL is a safety feature that is used to transfer personal information across the internet. It encrypts all

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data sent, so that information such as credit card numbers remain private. It’s what Frazer Consultants uses to protect financial data in Tribute Pay and personal data on our websites.

So how does it work? SSL works between the internet browser you are using and your web server. The server uses a SSL certificate that is recognized by a web browser such as Chrome, Firefox, or Internet Explorer. Any information sent or received from your server to the browser, or browser to server, will be encrypted.

Frazer Consultants recognizes the importance of keeping your families’ information private, and our websites are

WEBSITES

Websites that are beautiful on every screen.

Frazer offers responsive website design, which means your funeral home’s website responds to every screen it’s viewed on. Whether it’s a mobile phone, tablet, or desktop, you can be sure your site will be both functional and beautiful.

C A L L T O R E Q U E S T A F R E E D E M O N S T R AT I O N T O D AY !

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built with security in mind. But we don’t stop there. We make sure our developers work to constantly update all our Frazer-powered sites to keep them safe.

We recently released an update to Frazer-powered sites that will allow SSL to encrypt everything you do on the admin panel. From the minute you log in to your admin panel, your information is secured by encryption. This added layer of security will help protect your funeral home and your families’ personal information.

O T H E R T I P S T O S TAY S A F E

You can never be too careful when it comes to privacy on the web. Here are some extra safety measures you and your staff should use to help keep your information private.

One of the easiest things you can do is use strong passwords that you change every three months, and don’t let employees share information or logins. Make sure that each employee has a unique login and password. You also should delete users and their information if they no longer work at your funeral home.

You also should give administrative privileges only to those that need them, not all your employees. This will give you more control over who can and cannot see sensitive information.

Another thing to do is make sure your Wi-Fi is password protected and encrypted. This way, nobody outside of your firm can use your network to access information or commit cyber crimes.

Lastly, you should install protective software on all the computers your firm uses. There are plenty of programs out there like Norton, AVG, or McAfee. A good security software can help ensure safe browsing, and avoid things like malware and viruses.

T O R E A D M O R E , V I S I T:

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T R I B U T E LOA N S

Offer the flexibility your families need with Tribute Loans.

With financing, families can afford to give their loved ones the send-off they deserve. Offering financing directly on your website means one more service you offer families, and it also means your funeral home gets paid up front.

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What Is UX and Why Does It Matter to Families?

User Experience (UX) matters more than ever. But what exactly is it? And why is it so important?

User experience is what separates a good website from a bad one. Think of it as customer service on your website.

It gives families visiting your site everything they want and makes sure that they will come back to it.

U S E R E X P E R I E N C E : D I G I TA L C U S T O M E R S E R V I C E

The official definition, according to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), is “a person’s perceptions and responses that result from the use or anticipated use of a product, system or service.”

Let’s imagine it this way. You’ve booked a stay at a hotel.

When you get there, you find that the room you were promised isn’t available. On top of that, the sheets are dirty and the air conditioner doesn’t work. Even if the staff was extremely nice, you would probably want to consider the hotel down the street next time you visit.

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That’s exactly what the user experience is all about. It’s simply making sure your online visitors have a great experience when interacting with your funeral home online. Think of it as your funeral home’s values and commitment to service — just on your website.

W H Y T H E U S E R E X P E R I E N C E M AT T E R S

Several years ago, just having a website was enough.

Because the internet was a newer concept, people didn’t have many (if any) expectations when interacting with a business online. Therefore, the user experience wasn’t much of an issue.

But now the internet has become the main way that Baby Boomers and younger generations will first interact with a business. Let’s look at a few findings that show just how important the user experience is.

According to Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, visitors’ first impression of your website is 94% related to its design and layout. And according to The Daily Egg, a poorly designed or outdated website leads to less trust from a visitor.

Almost 50% of users feel frustrated or annoyed when a website is poorly optimized for mobile use. Even more (52%) said a bad mobile experience will mean they are less likely to engage a local business, says Impact’s 30 Eye Opening User Experience Stats.

According to Kissmetrics, 40% of people will abandon a website that takes longer than 3 seconds to load. And

according to HubSpot, not having a clear navigation structure will cause people to abandon your website. It also hurts your SEO ranking.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF A GOOD USER EXPERIENCE

A poor user experience means fewer people will use or come back to your website. And that means they will turn to a competitor. How can you make sure your families have the best user experience possible online?

Your best bet is to follow the guiding principles behind a good user experience. Peter Morville, a pioneer in the UX field, outlines what he refers to as the “user experience honeycomb.” In the center of the honeycomb, there’s the user’s value and meaningful experience. It’s surrounded by six core concepts that define the user’s experience.

These are the core concepts you want to design an effective website around.

Useful. The content on your website should be useful for families. It should give them all the information they want and need, especially important information like contact info and the services you offer.

Usable. The website must be easy to use for everyone, including Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, and Millennials.

Simplicity is key to getting the most engagement.

connection with families when they visit.

Findable. You want your website, and its content, to be easily found. This means having a layout that’s easy to navigate so families can find all the information they need right away — remember, the harder it is to find something, the more likely they are to leave your website. This also means making your website easy to find in the first place.

That will require a strong SEO strategy, and design plays an important role in SEO rankings.

Accessible. Again, you want a website that’s designed intuitively and is easy to use. This includes making your website just as accessible to anyone searching on a smartphone or mobile device as it would be on a desktop computer.

Credible. A great user experience is built around trust.

Remember that first statistic? First impressions are based on design. And a poor or outdated design is the fastest way to hurt trust between your website and a potential client family.

By following these guiding principles for your website, you’ll be able to give your families a better user experience online.

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Desirable. This means a website with modern features — like Social Tribute Walls or convenient payment options.

It also means desirable branding. You want quality photos, logos, and a modern design that creates an emotional

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10 Questions to Ask Potential Funeral Home Website Providers What’s included in my setup fee?

Different website developers price their packages and services in different ways. Some designers, for example, choose to create custom quotes for individual clients based on the exact features they need. Others offer a series of packages that provide set features at different pricing tiers.

No matter which provider you ultimately choose to work with, or what type of pricing structure they offer, be certain that any “must have” features you want on your site are included in the setup fee quoted to you. If, for example, you definitely want rotating banners on your home page, make sure the quote or package you’re looking at includes them.

Don’t make assumptions — there’s nothing worse than having to pay more than expected for features you thought were included.

What kind of ongoing expenses can I expect?

In addition to your initial setup fee, you also can expect to pay a monthly fee to keep your site active. In all cases, your monthly fees will include your hosting fees, which is

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the server space on which your site resides. But in some situations, funeral home website providers will offer other features as part of these fees, including tech support, future tech upgrades and more.

Have you worked in the funeral space before?

When searching for a funeral home website provider, you’ll encounter two different groups — companies that serve funeral professionals exclusively, and agencies or individual designers that do not specialize in any particular field.

Either option has the potential to give you a great website, but it’s important to be aware that working with funeralspecific providers can potentially save you time and money, since they won’t need to “reinvent the wheel” for your site.

For example, many funeral-specific providers will include pre-built forms — like a pre-arrangement or pre-planning form — in their initial setup fees. If you’re working with a designer or agency that has not worked in the profession before, you’ll likely be charged more to pay for a developer’s time spent coding the forms from scratch.

Will you help me move my obituaries and online condolences?

This is a big one. Your existing website likely has a number of obituaries and online condolences stored on it, depending on the number of calls you handle. There are two things you want to avoid when moving to a new website: losing this data, or having to manually move it to your new site yourself.

you submit your own text. If you don’t have the time, find a provider that’ll give you content you can work from.

Can I update my website on my own?

The only way to avoid problems is to ask each website provider you’re thinking of working with whether they’ll handle this transition for you, and if the migration is included in your setup fees. If they aren’t confident that they can handle this task correctly, look elsewhere for website design services.

Say your funeral home adds a new staff member. Will you be able to go into your website and edit the text yourself to add them to your staff page, or will you have to contact your provider to make changes? And if you must go through your provider, how long will it take to get your changes made and what will you be charged to do so? In nearly all cases, you’re better off having control over your own content than waiting on another company to manage it for you, so look for providers that offer the backend editing features you’ll need.

Do you work with my funeral home management software?

Does my setup fee include any SEO?

While it’s by no means a requirement, having your funeral home website connect with the management software your business is using can save you a ton of time and energy. As an example, when these types of connections exist, you may be able to enter your obituary data once and have it auto-populate to your website. Not all website designers or providers support this functionality, so be sure to ask before signing on the dotted line.

Search engine optimization (SEO) refers to specific onsite and off-site activities that can be undertaken to make your site as appealing as possible to search engines. This increases your chances of ranking highly in the natural search results for certain queries. When websites are built, there are a number of different SEO techniques that should be implemented at the site structure level. If the website provider you’re interviewing can’t explain whether these recommended actions have been carried out, look elsewhere.

Do you work with templates or are your sites fully custom?

There’s no right or wrong answer here. A fully custom website can be crafted to suit your needs from the ground up, but you’ll pay for the privilege. At the same time, a site that’s based on a standard layout can turn out to be visually stunning — if you’re able to make all of the modifications you need.

Not all funeral home website providers that work off of layouts allow you to customize the design of your new site, while others will update everything from the color scheme to the background image and more, depending on the package you purchase. Given how important it is to have an attractive, branded presence online these days, it’s important to be sure your provider will help you to make the changes you need.

Will I need to provide all the text for my site?

Some website developers will have you submit all new text for every page you want to have on your new site, while others will provide you with template content that can be used as a base. Again, there’s no right or wrong option here.

If you want to have a hand in crafting every word that will be found on your new pages, look for a company that’ll let

Will you sell the design I choose to my competitor?

If you choose to work with a funeral home website provider that works from standard layouts — especially those that don’t allow you to change design features on your chosen template — be 100% certain that your developer won’t sell the same design you’ve chosen to one of your competitors.

Your website is your funeral home’s online calling card. And if your calling card looks the same as your competitors, you risk having your customers wind up confused — or losing them altogether. If the provider you’re interviewing can’t guarantee that you won’t receive a duplicate site, or that your future competitors won’t be able to select the design you’ve chosen, move on to your next option.

T O R E A D M O R E , V I S I T:

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Is Your Website Stuck in the Wrong Decade?

Websites have been around for more than 20 years, and they have changed immensely since they were first introduced in the early 1990s.

In a 2016 article titled What 24 Famous Brands’ Terrible Websites Looked Like When They Launched in the 1990s, Business Insider gave us a look into the ever-changing world of websites by showing us 23 popular brands’ websites in the ‘90s and what they look like today. The difference is staggering.

Our favorite brands like Apple, McDonald’s, Walmart, Pepsi, and more had websites that were loaded with text and WordArt-esque graphics that are just plain hard to look at. At the time, though, these companies didn’t have much to compare their websites to and hardly any of the capabilities we have today to create beautiful websites that are easy to use.

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Websites today are rich in design, well-organized, and user-friendly. A recent article in TechCrunch titled Design in The Age of the Consumer states that “In the past decade, the importance of design within technology companies has risen dramatically as more digitally savvy consumers demand beauty alongside flawless functionality and great user experience.”

Your website design needs to be attractive to look at and unique from your competitors, but it also has to be highly functional so that your visitors can easily get what they need. In today’s fast-paced world, users are not at all averse to moving on to another website if they find one that is too difficult to navigate.

On top of creating a website that’s both beautiful and functional, one of the biggest challenges when it comes to successful website design today versus back in the 1990s is that websites increasingly need to be mobile-friendly.

This is especially important now that Google considers mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal, which means that not being mobile-friendly could hurt your chances of being found in search results.

Does your website stand up to today’s standards, or does it resemble one of the websites from the ‘90s?

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T R I B U T E PAY

Crowdfunding options without the risk.

With Frazer-powered websites, your families can host crowdfunding campaigns for memorial funds, medical expenses, charity donations, funeral expenses and more. The best part? Your funeral home is in charge, traffic stays on your website, and you get paid up front.

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How Your Funeral Home Website Can Save You Time and Money

One of the biggest ways a funeral home can do so is by cutting back on redundant tasks; things like entering data and filling out forms. Data entry work can really start to add up, especially if the technology you are using isn’t integrated.

D ATA E N T R Y W O R K C A N C O S T Y O U

Is data entry costing you? Here are the ways in which it can.

You know the age-old saying: time is money.

And for the ever-busy funeral director, it’s important to find ways in which you can save yourself time each day.

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Having to enter data more than once and into different software programs can lead to fatigue. Nothing takes the wind out of one’s sails like tedious tasks each day. And the problem with fatigue from data entry is that it can lead to errors.

F R A Z E R C O N S U LTA N T S W E B S I T E S I N T E G R AT E W I T H :

SRS Computing Funeral Home Software, The Smart Director by Continental Computers, Inc., Passare, Osiris, Mortware, CRaKN, Aurora Family Advisor, Funeral Decisions, ASD (Answering Service for Directors), and Funeral Call.

The more times a person has to enter data into multiple programs, the more likely it is for a mistake to occur, such as a spelling error or a wrong address. Having to go back and correct those mistakes takes time, and we all know time equals money.

That’s where we come in. At Frazer Consultants, our goal is to use technology to help make life easier for you.

F R A Z E R I N T E G R AT I O N S

We’ve worked hard to integrate with everyone in the funeral profession to better save you time and cut back on those tedious tasks. You know better than anyone that redundant work takes time from what really matters —

providing compassionate care to families in need.

Our integration with the big funeral software companies means you only have to enter data once, saving time and ensuring accuracy. For example, when entering obituary data into your records, our integration with these companies means it will automatically populate onto your funeral home website.

T O R E A D M O R E , V I S I T:

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WEBSITES

Let your families tell their story.

With our Social Tribute Walls, families can share so much more than an obituary and condolences.

Your website becomes a scrapbook of memories — full of messages of love, photos and videos, digital keepsakes, and so much more.

C A L L T O R E Q U E S T A F R E E D E M O N S T R AT I O N T O D AY !

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2 5 0 1 PA R M E N T E R S T R E E T SUITE 300A M I D D L E TO N , W I 5 3 5 6 2

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T R I B U T E PAY

Make it easier to get paid up front.

Tribute Pay puts your funeral home back in control of your accounts receivable. Offer credit card payments, financing, insurance assignments, crowdfunding, and electronic checks all in one place — and get paid up front no matter what option families choose.

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