NFDA Publishes Consumer Survey

On June 22 the National Funeral Director’s Association released the findings of their Annual Consumer Awareness and Preferences Study.  Headlines of the Press Release from that day indicate that about 2/3 of American consumers feel it is very important to communicate the plans for their own funeral services, but only about one in five people have done so.

The release from NFDA also points out some other things that you will understand just from being involved in the business but it also points out some topics that you might find quite bewildering.  Here are the major findings:

  • Consumers do not “shop” funeral homes.  Less than one in five Americans called or visited with more than one funeral home prior to making at-need or pre-need services
  • Funeral/Memorial Service and/or Celebrations are changing.  Almost half of the survey respondents attended a service or celebration in a non-traditional setting in the last year.
  • The importance of religion in funeral/cremation services is at an all-time low.
  • Families are planning services for cremated bodies in greater numbers.
  • “Green” funerals or environmental friendly funerals are gaining in popularity.
  • Over 1/3 of respondents would be interested in having a therapy dog present

Funeral Director Daily take:  As I mentioned most of those items are pretty self-explanatory although I will tell you that I was really taken by the number that would be interested in  having a therapy dog present.  I’m guessing that on that item the number of respondents in metropolitan areas would be higher than in rural areas and since this publication tends to be aimed more at the rural independent funeral directors, most of you were with me in that thinking.  However, trends turn into societal norms so it really bears watching – even for us in the rural areas.

The rest of these items certainly do not surprise me.  Actually, the 20% that do “shop” funeral homes seem high for me but again I’m guessing that metropolitan funeral homes -where the funeral director is not known personally or by reputation to the consumer – skews this number higher than in the rural areas.

It does not surprise me that people are planning more services for those loved ones who are cremated.  Anecdotally, we are starting to have cremation services for families we have served with direct cremations for a prior family member.  I’ve learned that when the family had their first cremation service they thought they wanted a “Direct Cremation” only, but later sensed that they missed something.  My hunch is that the second time around for these families they will add a visitation or memorial service to get a more meaningful goodbye for their loved one.  This is good news for funeral homes as it will help to raise a firm’s revenue per call as families choose more options.  Many of these families will be those families who now choose a non-traditional service such as in a park or other location which is why that number continues to rise.

Finally,  I don’t think the “Green” funeral where we bury without a casket, vault, etc. will gain tons of steam in its entirety.  I do believe, however,  that families – moving forward- will look at environmentally friendly ways to carry out the services that they prefer – such as flameless (alkaline hyrolysis) cremation over traditional cremations.  Those preferences will only grow.

So there you have it — some great food for thought.  Now it is time to think about these statistics and figure out how you can get your funeral home to prosper from what people are thinking.  Not being stuck in your ways – but moving with future consumer preferences – that is how you will gain market share.[wpforms id=”436″ title=”true” description=”true”]

 

 

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