Why Funeral Home Marketers Should Pay Attention to This New GMB Option

Online reviews are increasingly important to business success in any industry. People want to see at least 40 online reviews before they buy into your star or quality rating, and building trust is a huge component of success in the death care niche.

That’s why it’s important to seek out reviews by tactfully asking for them from satisfied families or other clientele. Yes, it involves a bit of work and communication on your part, but your future conversion rates and revenue will thank you.
Plus, Google is rolling out a new option that can help you make even more of the positive online reviews satisfied families leave.

The change is rolling out in select countries first and involves Google suggesting 4-star and 5-star reviews as GMB posts when you log in to your profile. You’re provided the option to edit the reviews by shortening them or adding images and links before you post, and the right use of this option puts a lot of marketing power into your hands. Here’s why:

• Consumers are more likely to trust online reviews than messaging from the company itself, which makes sense. Anyone can say they offer friendly, compassionate funeral home services, but a review saying that someone experienced this from you puts the proof in the pudding.
• GMB posts are live in search for up to a week by default, and you might be able to set your posts to extend that to two weeks. That means they’ll show up for relevant search results on your GMB profile and sometimes in Google Maps and organic search results. Turning reviews into posts every week or two is a fast way to generate SEO content for your profile.
• Some reviews provide an easy segue into a targeted call to action. For example, if someone has praised your preplanning services in their review, you can include a CTA and link to your preplanning page in your GMB post.

With Google sorting through and offering up positive reviews for your GMB posts, this new opportunity is an easy one to leverage for funeral home marketing. Once this option goes live on your account, consider checking once a week to find a review you can convert into a persuasive GMB post in just a few minutes.