The Online Coffin Business Isn’t Usually Online
steve This week we had an unusually high mix of online orders, usually people call, sometimes several times before they place an order.
They call to confirm that it’s the real deal
They call to understand the process
They call to go through the choices on the catalogue
They call to find out how the funeral director will feel about receiving a coffin they didn’t supply
And lastly at the last call they decide to go ahead with the order
Even though you can process the order all online 99% of people call.
I feel they want to have a connection within someone as with the whole funeral process.
We are able to offer a completely independent view into funeral planning and even helping to choose a funeral director local to you.
For the opposite of this when someone orders online the first thing we do is call the person to go through the order with them. You do not get this kind of support with Amazon or eBay!
The purpose of the call is to ensure they have the order correct, organise other items like nameplate or different lining, and most important that we have size of the person correct. Additionally at this point some people change their mind, and this absolutely fine, as at that point we started working of the particular coffin or obtaining one from one of wholesalers. A surprising number of people do change their mind and go with something completely than the one they first ordered.
There is another good reason to speak to the customer directly. Not all the products on the catalogue are available all of the time.
The traditional coffins and cardboard coffins are made to order so they are always available. All the other types; American Caskets, Wicker Coffins, Bamboo Coffins, Banana Coffins are all from Stock. We use UK based wholesalers for all our products, but sometime they don’t have everything available when it’s needed.
In these situations we do our best to offer the best alternative coffins that are actually are available. We never make promises we can’t keep.