Emotional and Rational Buying Motivations for Deathcare Services

Every purchase—even one for funeral services—comes after a complex series of motivations is processed by the consumer. Some of those motivations are consciously considered while others drive the purchase decision in subconscious ways. Funeral home marketing must speak to all of those motivations to help pull people through the sales funnel.

Emotional and Rational Buying Motivations

Buying motivations are broken into two main categories: emotional and rational.

Emotional buying motivations don’t involve careful or logical consideration and tend to rely more on feelings. Purchases made out of fear, love, or sorrow are driven mainly by emotional motivation, for example. Some emotional motivations relevant to deathcare might include:

• A desire to assuage grief with a meaningful ceremony
• Being proud of a person or family legacy and wanting to demonstrate it with an appropriate memorial
• Fear that the loved one might not choose the funeral options the deceased would have liked
• Worry that one’s own final arrangements might cause a burden for loved ones

Rational buying motivations do involve logical consideration and tend to rely on facts. Purchases made with cost-savings in mind or a desire for quality service because of practical benefits are examples of rational buying motivations. Some examples of these motivations in a deathcare situation include:

• Budget-conscious funeral planning, such as an at-need family making decisions to fit the limits of life insurance coverage
• Preplanning for the purpose of locking in today’s prices
• Choosing cremation or burial for potential financial or perceived environmental benefits
• Wanting to preplan to ensure personal final wishes are recorded and carried out

Preplanning Versus At-Need Buying Motivations

As you might guess, preplanning clientele is more likely to lean toward rational motivations while at-need families may lean toward emotional motivations. But all potential funeral home clientele will have motivations from both categories.

Creating blog posts, social status updates, landing pages, and other funeral home marketing content that speaks to these types of motivators helps you engage your audience, build trust, and increase conversions.