Online Reviews: The Good, the Bad and the Undeserved

“It’s hard to deal with a loss of a loved one when cops are sitting here with radar guns. Thanks for the consideration guys!”

This is an actual Google review I recently found along with a one-star rating. The funeral home is being blamed for where the police decide to set up a speed trap. The review brought down the funeral home’s overall rating on Google over something the funeral home had absolutely nothing to do with. I have seen similar complaints about floral arrangements, cemetery issues and death certificate delays. You can’t control (or remove) what the public posts about your business, so what can you do?

Respond - Bury - Elevate

  • First, respond to each review letting others know that the situation was not under your control or responsibility.
  • Next, bury the review by getting lots of new, positive (dare I say "glowing"?) reviews.
  • By doing this, the negative review will be difficult to find and your overall rating will be elevated quickly.

As part of my job with OGR, I spend quite a bit of time looking up funeral homes and going to their websites. Most businesses have fewer than 10 reviews on Google. 

Even fewer respond to the posted reviews. OGR member funeral home Veterans Funeral Care developed a plan to increase their reviews and went from six to almost 100! What did they do? They asked. Then they responded. They worked their plan. Best of all, the reviews that were posted were personal and filled with staff names and details. Each review has a response from the owner that contains additional details letting anyone reading it know that each person the funeral home takes care of is unique and memorable. This is what you want to have for your reviews as well.

When was the last time you took a look at your online reviews? Are you ready to get your number of reviews up? Eager to engage with satisfied clients in an open public forum? Let OGR help you. We will send you a templated request email with links that will take every family you email it to directly to your funeral home’s review page. 

Email Nancy at [email protected] to get a personalized email template asking the families you've served to leave you an online review.

This message was originally published in the Spring 2022 issue of The Independent® magazineClick here to read the entire issue.

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