Recently, to prepare for a presentation at the Cremation Association of North America (CANA) annual convention I’ve been looking into the future to try and see where Death Care is going.  And, I’ve been looking at the Death Care profession in America dating back to the Civil War and trying to figure out how and why certain trends became traditions over time.

 

As I’ve done that I’ve also tried to take a look at where Death Care will be going from here on out — what fads might lead to trends and new traditions for American Death Care consumers.  As I’ve done so, and also looked at the data provided by such institutions as the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) Consumer Preference and Awareness Study a picture appears to me that seems to imply that consumer knowledge of the options available in the Memorialization industry may make a big difference at how business is done into the future.

 

While there is still a disagreement about putting options and prices of a Death Care provider, such as a funeral home or crematory, on the company website among the providers, the consumer has pretty much made up their mind that they would like to see them made public.  According to this summary of the NFDA Consumer Preference and Awareness Study from the National Law Review 66.4% of consumers “visit funeral home websites, utilizing them as hubs to review burial and cremation options, contact information, and pricing.”  In addition, “82.4% of consumers are more likely to engage a firm that posts its General Price List (GPL) online.”

 

According to SQ Magazine, online commerce grew by 5.1% in 2025 and now accounts for 16.1% of all sales in the United States.  We are all doing it and today’s technology makes it pretty simple.

 

I have talked, however, with those involved in the e-commerce of the online Direct Cremation business.  They tell me that even today very few Death Care transactions involving a cremation are done 100% online without someone in the family actually having a person-to-person conversation with the cremation provider.

 

That’s a situation that I believe will change as we move forward with more and more of the digital native age becoming those responsible in families to make Death care purchases.  And, I wonder when that happens, will funeral homes and crematories be giving them all of the necessary  information online to make their purchases?

 

Could Memorialization choices change this?  —  One of the processes that I’ve noticed over my time as a funeral director is that families relied on the expertise of funeral directors to know what their options were when a death occured.  They called their funeral home or crematory because that is the only knowledge source that they had about about finding the options available to them.

 

When they then visited with the funeral home it may have included asking about the options available — such as earth burial or cremation —  but it might have even included asking about memorialization options such as columbariums, cemetery monuments, or other items. . . . And, funeral home operators were right there with them when these families decided on making purchasing decisions.  The discussion and the proximity of the funeral home or funeral director to the potential client at the time put the funeral director in the position to follow through and make the sale.

 

In today’s world which includes information readily available online about all kinds of memorialization options — such as Better Place Forests, Parting Stone, cemetery options, monuments, Celestis orbit, and others — might consumers find that information and pricing online and potentially skip the funeral director and/or crematory in their business transaction?

 

I think that there is a growing risk that if funeral and cremation providers don’t put enough information, including all the products and services that they can offer, pricing options, and more on their websites, information-seeking consumers may just skip over those websites to other places to find what information is available to them.

 

Envisioning a world where “Complimentary Disposition” is included in the Price —  In my latest research I noticed some interesting pricing options that I have found with cemeteries.  I have noticed some cemeteries advertise the sale of premium priced columbarium niches or earth buried cremation grave spaces with monuments.  In the advertising it is noted that the “cremation cost is complimentary with the purchase of these items”.

 

In essence it appears that the cemetery has made the choice that there is a large enough margin on the sale of the niche or cemetery space property that they can also process the direct cremation for the family within that price range.  I’m guessing that they may have cremation on-site under their management or they would use a trade cremation service for this.

 

It does give me pause as we continue to move more into the digital world.  As Direct Cremation with No Services continues to be a somewhat “commoditized” process to the consumer, will other “Memorialization” products go to this type of pricing?

 

If they do. . . . does that de-value the talent, knowledge, and advice funeral directors are now providing to the general public?  Will they even get a chance to offer this advice to prospective family clientele? . . . Or will consumers see that cemetery message about “cremation included” with purchase and go directly to the cemetery to learn more — skipping the traditional funeral home altogether?

 

While it can be argued that this has already happened with low-cost cremation-only providers, the advent of including a disposition within the cost of another product, such as a columbarium niche, monument, or grave space would bring it to another level.

 

In business today we talk about our “Customer Acquisition Cost”.  However, before you can acquire certain customers, you have to get them captive to know your business offerings.  In today’s world that is not as simple as it used to be.

 

More news from the world of Death Care:  

• Greene Funeral Home’s Donita Greene named Virginia Mortician of the Year.  Zebra (VA)
• Everest and MetLife expand Bereavement and Legacy support to Ireland.  Morningstar
• Funeral insurance.  Deadly scheme of expensive promises.  Michael West Media (Australia)
• Venezuela cemetery expands burials for earthquake victims, many of whom remain unidentified.  CNN
• Cemetery seeks (tax) levy as burials decrease.  YouTube.  WMFJ – TV Youngstown (OH)

 

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