When was the last time you checked how many Google reviews your business has? And how recent was your last one?
And what about Funeral Guide Reviews? Do you have lots of reviews on Funeral Guide, but only a handful on Google? If this is your business then beware that you could be missing out on new clients as your reputation on Google, the most used search engine, doesn't look as good as competitors with 5 star Google reviews.
Try this out
Search "funeral directors" in Google. The same search that many families who need a funeral director will do. Take a look at where your business lists. How many times it lists and if there are any stars by any of your listings.
Now take a look if and where Funeral Guide lists. When you click onto the Funeral Guide listing, does it help your business in anyway?
When I did this search, in my area Funeral Guide was listed 13th in the organic listings after the paid ads and the map pack. So it took 5 scrolls on my mobile to get to Funeral Guide. When I clicked the link, it sent me to a "find a funeral director" page where I'd have to repeat the very same search I'd just done on Google to see a list of funeral homes and their star rating.
This about your families who have just lost a loved one and what they might do. I suggest a lot more people will just search on Google to find a funeral director, and don't use Funeral Guide.
So you can see why just focusing your efforts solely on getting reviews on Funeral Guide isn't the most smartest move.
Take a look at this funeral director's listings on both Funeral Guide and Google:
On Funeral Guide, they have 297 reviews and were last reviewed one week ago, which is brilliant.
But look below at the the Google Business Profile for the same business. They only have 16 review and the last one was 3 months ago. There is a huge misconnect. If you look further down the Google Business Profile it does highlight the 5/5 rating from the 297 Funeral Guide Reviews, but the person may have already been put off by the low number of Google reviews and chosen another funeral director. Or they don't know who Funeral Guide is, so it doesn't provide value to their search.
This funeral home is not alone, in February 2024 I looked at the Google Business Profiles of 70 funeral directors across the UK. And 75.4% of these had less than 20 Google reviews. And for 44.9%, their most recent review was older than 3 months. The smart business move is not to ignore Google Reviews It's vital that you understand that it's Google reviews that drive your star rating on your Google Business Profile, not the reviews on Funeral Guide.
And as Google is the most used search engine, you need to focus your attention on getting getting as many reviews as possible, and having recent reviews, as both volume and recency are both equally as important.
98% of people consider online reviews an essential resource when making a purchase decision.
The more reviews you have the better. The more reviews you have, the more website visitors you get.
And having recent reviews is really important too. 97% of people say recency is at least somewhat important, with 61% saying recency is very important.
We all know how important online reviews are. Each and every one of us reads them when we’re choosing products and services, and they influence our behaviour.
By focusing your attention on getting reviews on Google to give your funeral home the best chance of winning the click against your competitors.
A note about reviews on other platforms
We're not saying that having reviews on Funeral Guide, Facebook and other directories is a bad idea. The ideal situation is that you have lots of recent 5 star rating on all the platforms that your potential clients use to max out on the trust factors. The problem arises when the there is a disconnect in the story that is being told by reviews on the different platforms. 2 stars on one platform. 11 reviews on another. This is where mis-trust in your 5 start reviews starts to creep in for people.
We know that it's not practical or realistic for funeral businesses to get lots of reviews on all platforms, so then it become important to focus most of your efforts on getting the most reviews on the platform where the more people will see them when they search for a funeral director.
And this is Google, not specialist industry platforms.
How to get more Google reviews?
The simple answer to this question is that you just have to ask clients for them. It may help to add the ask for a review into a point of contact that already exists for a client. Or you may wish to ask for a review as stand alone contact with a client. Or you may also wish to consider can you automate the ask for a Google review with an email, to ensure that it doesn't get forgotten.
There are many different ways you can ask a client for an online review after the funeral, and I cover these in my How To Get More Online Reviews Workshop. It’s important to try different ways and see what works best for your business.
How to use online reviews in your marketing?
When you get a great review, it's also important to make sure you use it across your marketing.
To attract people search for a funeral now get your Google star rating showing in your organic listing (which not many funeral business are doing, so you could gain an advantage here!)
To help to increase your visibility in your community with people years before they will ever need your services use 5 star reviews on social media, advertising and other promotions.
In our How To Get More Online Reviews Workshop we give you lots creative ideas for how to use your client reviews (and testimonials) in your marketing to maximise your chances of attracting new clients now and in the future.
You can book onto the next How To Get More Online Reviews Workshop here.
Avens Marketing provides specialist marketing support to funeral directors to help you grow your business. Whether you are new to marketing your funeral home, or have been doing it for many years, we can help you increase the visibility of your business locally, engage local families, attract new clients, enhance client experience and increase referrals. Our FREE Marketing Health Check is great place to start to help you evaluate the effectiveness of your local marketing efforts. Simply answer 30 yes/no questions to get you thinking.
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