localfuneral.co.uk brings in new business

Since signing up to localfuneral.co.uk this year, Warwick Cobbett, Funeral Director at Evershed Brothers in London, has received six online enquiries that have resulted in funeral business.

Evershed Brothers has six branches throughout south London, providing around 650 funerals a year, and it can trace its origins as an independent family funeral director back to 1832.

Warwick was quick to sign up to localfuneral.co.uk and believes the short time it took to put his company’s details on the website was worthwhile.

He said: “When I heard it had launched, I signed up to it immediately. It was quite straightforward to put your details in and the site clearly takes you through what to do.

“I was surprised to find that we started getting enquiries fairly quickly after that, and since we’ve been on it, we have had a fairly steady line of enquires from people, most of which have turned into funeral business for us. We simply receive an email and text from the website that someone is interested in speaking to us and then we reply within a time limit to get their contact details.

“Then all you have to do is phone them up and have a chat with them about their needs and, in our case, direct them to their nearest Evershed Brothers branch.”

He believes that localfuneral.co.uk is an effective way to help people in need to contact local funeral directors following the popularity of other comparison websites.

“Most people live off their smartphone or tablet these days, so contacting people and services via websites is just a natural extension of that. They could just as easily pick up the phone and ring you, but, given the choice, lots of people prefer the online approach,” he said.

Warwick also thinks localfuneral.co.uk gives the user a good experience. He said: “There’s no hard sell – it simply gives our details and this gives people the confidence that they are dealing with an independent funeral director.

“Of all the people I have spoken to who have approached us using the website, no one has told me that it was difficult to use or that they were bombarded with lots of information they did not want – everyone has found it straightforward and pretty user-friendly. If it’s too long-winded to use, then people will just not bother with it.

“It has certainly been worth signing up to and I’ve been pleased with the enquiries we’ve received. I hope its success for me has also been replicated up and down the country.”

Warwick said he would recommend localfuneral.co.uk to other independent funeral directors as a way of marketing their services online.

He added: “There is no downside to it. The worst that can happen is that you don’t get as much work as you thought you might, but, as there is no cost involved, any new business generated from the website is a real bonus.”

localfuneral.co.uk is the latest example of Golden Charter’s commitment to supporting independent funeral directors across a range of areas. Visit the site at localfuneral.co.uk. To sign up to appear on the site, or to opt in, simply contact support@localfuneral.co.uk

For more details, please speak to your local Golden Charter representative.

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