May 06, 2020
The Coronavirus pandemic has had a major impact on how funeral homes communicate with families and the public. In this age of social distancing, a growing number of people are now going online to research different funeral options and compare options. As a result, information queries sent through funeral home websites are becoming a much more common method families use to get in touch with a funeral director.
Most funeral home websites have a ‘Contact Us’ form instructing visitors to leave their information and reason for contacting. Funeral professionals would frequently overlook these messages because they were often sent to a single, generic email address that was not monitored 24/7. In 2018, ASD introduced our Web Form WatchDog™ feature to help funeral professionals become more responsive to submitted web forms.
An example of a funeral home’s ‘Contact Us’ web page.
With this feature, inquiries submitted through the firm’s Contact Us form automatically generate an alert within ASD’s notification system. This safety net ensures funeral home web queries are answered in a timely manner and are always sent to the designated on-call funeral director. ASD received the 2018 NFDA Members’ Choice Award in recognition of the numerous benefits Web Form WatchDog™ offers to funeral homes.
Over the past two years, ASD’s Technical Team has worked to expand the capabilities of this feature and provided enhanced message screening options. Our Call Specialist team will now carefully review all incoming website queries on behalf of the funeral home and classify the message before it is dispatched. ASD can filter out non-urgent or spam marketing messages, alerting the funeral home only when an urgent need is communicated.
When an urgent web form is submitted, ASD will follow the designated contact preferences that have been specified by the on-call director. For example, ASD could email, text or send an ASD Mobile push notification with the new web form details. The on-call director has the ability to acknowledge the message via email, text, ASD Mobile or via the ASD’s website. If no response is received within a predetermined time, ASD will call the current on-call person to ensure the message is handled in a timely manner.
Recently, ASD activated Web Form WatchDog™ for more than 1,000 funeral homes across the country. Through our company’s partnership with Consolidated Funeral Services (CFS), ASD was able to very quickly provide access to this feature to all of our mutual clients. Since activating this feature on a large scale last week, we have processed more than 284 important web queries and have handled over 36 Death messages.
Understanding how much funeral homes need extra assistance at this time, ASD is offering free access to Web Form WatchDog™ through the end of 2020. This NFDA award-winning feature is fully compatible with all funeral home website providers. To activate Web Form WatchDog™, directors can simply contact their web provider and request that they add this tool to their funeral home’s existing ‘Contact Us’ web page.
“We aim to be more than an answering service for our clients. Our goal here at ASD is to be a technology leader, assisting funeral professionals in managing all aspects of their funeral home’s communication,” says ASD Vice President and head of our Technology Team, Marty Czachor, Jr. “Right now, funeral directors are being pulled in so many different directions and may be overlooking some forms of communication. Our Web Form WatchDog™ gives funeral homes a second line of defense and gives directors added peace of mind, allowing them to provide an enhanced level of customer service to their website visitors without having to sacrifice personal convenience or efficiency.
If you would like to learn more about ASD’s Web Form WatchDog™ and how to add it to your funeral home’s website, please contact our Client Solutions Team at 800-868-9950 ext. 5 or email Solutions@myASD.com.
RELATED READING:
Let ASD Monitor Your Funeral Home’s Web Inquiries With Our “Contact Us” Web Form WatchDog™
ASD Wins 2018 NFDA Members’ Choice Award for Company’s Web Form WatchDog™ Feature
6 Ways to Gain Control of Your Funeral Home’s Communications
About The Author
Jess Farren (Fowler)
Jess Farren (Fowler) is a Public Relations Specialist and Staff Writer who has been a part of the ASD team since 2003. Jess manages ASD’s company blog and has been published in several funeral trade magazines. She has written articles on a variety of subjects including communication, business planning, technology, marketing and funeral trends. You can contact Jess directly at Jess@myASD.com
