Dear Kelly: The Web & My Business

Question:

I have been to www.amazon.com, www.weather.com, and I access my stocks online. But I am not clear how the web will help me in the funeral industry. How can having a web site help the bottom line of my funeral business?

Answer:

Kelly: Thank you for asking this question - this is often difficult for funeral directors given the nature of the business. To bring light to this subject I've asked Eric Pierson, our Business Design Consultant at Beyond Indigo to comment:

Eric: To answer this question, it helps to first step outside of the funeral industry to take a look at how different types of businesses make smart use the web.

Web strategies vary according to industry differences; i.e. commodities, services, communities, information, etc. Amazon.com is an example of a commodity industry, Weather.com is an example of an information industry, and Match.com is an example of a communities-based industry on the web. Next time that you are online, notice that these web sites have strategies and formats that support their business type. No surprise, funeral homes traditionally fit into the service sector.

But there is more to it than that - which many businesses and many web designers do not grasp. Unless a website is purposely designed to be a revenue center, it can easily be a cost center for your business. Think of your web site as your employee. You would certainly expect to see an employee produce measurable results to help you justify the cost of having that employee - and having a website is no different. Here are two questions that I tell people to ask themselves about their "web employee" to know what it brings to their business:

Can you afford to have a web site that does not justify measurable results of what it has contributed to your business?
If you have a web site already, does it produce reports that make it easy to analyze the positives and/or negatives of the site's performance in meeting your business objectives?

Now let's get focused on funeral homes and the web! Funeral homes with web sites are frequently looking to expand their offerings beyond the traditional services provided. Knowing that the funeral industry is a service-based offering, and knowing that the traditional services are not able to be directly rendered by the use of the web, we need to think outside of the box - which is why this question can be difficult. What other services, products, information, etc. can you offer to your audience? How can you influence their decisions to go with your funeral home for the traditional services? What needs may they have that you have the ability to service?

When you begin to answer these questions, you begin to focus on the consumer. This provides another key element for understanding how to use the web to your advantage. Successful web sites are designed to focus on the needs of their users and then build backwards into the business itself. This is true regardless of whether the business locates itself exclusively on the web or whether the web is an extension of the business. This is also true for you in the funeral industries.

An advanced web strategy provides an online presence that can span across multiple business formats. When you look at successful web sites, you first notice that they are aligned with their industry type. But study them closer. The web sites that provide bottom line results for a business weave smart strategies that not only sell commodities, but provide services for charge, develop communities of users, provide vital information, allow advertisers to purchase space on the site, etc. All of which can lead to increased ROI opportunities. I hope that this has helped!