How has Centre Funéraire Rivière become a reference in its area thanks to digital technology?

requests for funeral quotes per month on the Internet

120

flower orders per month via the website

+21

new Google reviews per month

Objectives:

Actions implemented by Simplifia :

A key player in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region with its 9 funeral agencies, the Centre Funéraire Rivière teams have been helping families for 30 years to honor the memory of the deceased in a totally personalized way.

Center Funéraire Rivière needed to strengthen its brand awareness in a highly competitive geographical area, in order to sustainably develop the business and improve the satisfaction of their families. This required a digital shift to increase their visibility and attract new families to their funeral agencies.

General Manager Raphael Quezel talked to us about his Internet strategy and the support he provides for families.

Optimizing your online presence to attract families

The first real challenge, and one that would define the success of the project as a whole, was to answer the question posed by families seeking information on the Internet: "What to do in the event of a death?"

So the first step was to redesign 100% of the aging, poorly designed website. The site needed to be modern, personalized and attractive. Over and above the graphic aspects involved in redesigning the website, it was essential to :

Make sure you're well-referenced locally by search engines
Highlight the quality of the services offered
Facilitating contact with families
Increase the number of calls and visits to branches via innovative contact forms
Track performance to measure the effectiveness of actions implemented

"Today, as a funeral operator, we are obliged to be present on the Internet. Quite simply because there are so many families, and more and more, who choose their operator this way. Digital is just as important as having a nice sign or a nice hearses. It's a fundamental element in ensuring our sustainability and future success."

Raphael Quezel - General Manager

The second step was to create and develop a Google business listing. This Google tool was a key element in developing the local visibility of the funeral center's agencies among families. It also enables the agencies to be located on Google Maps, so that families can be offered directions based on their location.

A number of other initiatives have also been launched:

Integration and automation of Simplifia services within Carbone 14 software
Online advertising campaign on Google
Professional photo and video reporting
Funerary monument online catalog
Creation of dashboards and reports to monitor performance

Controlling your online reputation to reassure families

Center Funéraire Rivière has also set up an automatic collection of customer reviews. 85% of French people place as much trust in online reviews as in personal recommendations. It was therefore essential to have a strategy to inspire confidence and reassure familiesabout the quality of the services offered.

"Families come to our branches because they've seen our customer reviews. They've seen the rating and the positive reviews. It makes them want to come, simply because it reassures them. That's essential."

Since the company took the digital turn and adopted a proactive collection approach, the funeral center has seen a sharp increase in the number of Google reviews posted by families, for an average rating of 4.7/5.

Positive reviews have a considerable influence on the choice of service provider or on the family's visit to the agency. These customer reviews are also centralized so that funeral center teams can respond to them with ease.

Evolution of the number of Google reviews for Centre Funéraire Rivière since January 2021

Converting Internet users into agency appointments

The management team benefits from aprecise, global view of Simplifia's services and web performance, thanks to a range of management functions.

Since teaming up with Simplifia, Centre Funéraire Rivière has seen its results grow significantly. As Raphaël Quezel points out, " A huge number of requests for quotes are posted on our Simplifia website. More and more families are visiting our site and requesting appointments. " Today, some fifteen families call the Villeurbanne branch daily via the website.

"We get a lot of requests for quotes from the Internet. Over the course of a month, we've had around thirty requests for funeral quotes [...] I'd definitely recommend Simplifia to colleagues."

By setting upa follow-up system to manage incoming calls and quote requests, the funeral center's teams were able to quickly turn web visitors into funeral planners.

The success of this partnership has enabled the funeral center to accelerate its growth and strengthen customer loyalty through personalized services for families.

The funeral market has evolved, and today the web is an indispensable means of communication for capturing and informing families, and for standing out from the competition. More and more families, when they leave a funeral home, automatically search the Internet to choose their operator.

Ready to develop your funeral home with Simplifia? 🚀

Simplifia's aim is to support funeral operators in their digitalization and modernization of their service offering. All our tools and services have been designed, worked on and studied by funeral professionals themselves, in partnership with our technical teams, in order to combine business knowledge and digital expertise.

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