New Family Texting Solution Set to Transform Funeral Home Communication
ASD’s NEXT STEP Text™ allows funeral homes to immediately provide important resources to families via text message.
Media, PA—ASD – Answering Service for Directors recently launched a new feature to help facilitate communication between funeral professionals and at-need families. When handling a new first call from a family member, ASD will now offer to send the caller a text message from the funeral home that includes the next steps families can expect in the funeral planning process. This new solution, known as the NEXT STEP Text™, will allow funeral homes to position themselves as a resource to families from their very first call.
Building a connection with families begins at the first moment of contact. Frequently, family members will have many questions and concerns on their mind while they are waiting for a return call. ASD created its NEXT STEP Text™ solution to provide families with a valuable resource they can focus on while waiting to speak to a funeral director. The text can be customized to include a link to any page on the funeral home website.
“The time that occurs between ASD handling a death call and the on-call funeral director returning their call may be of a short duration, but a lot can happen in those few minutes. Having the ability to immediately send a text message with valuable information to that family demonstrates a higher level of customer care,” says ASD Vice President and Family-Member Owner, Kevin Czachor. “The great thing about our NEXT STEP Text™ is funeral directors don’t have do a thing on their end. It is built into our telephone systems and completely effortless for the funeral home. ASD is the only answering service in operation that has the training and technology in place to be able to offer this service.”
In addition to immediately providing families with helpful information, the NEXT STEP Text™ also opens a new channel of communication for the funeral home. By initiating contact via text, this feature reinforces the funeral home’s commitment to customer service by giving families multiple ways to interact with the firm. In addition, ASD’s complementary MobileFH Texting® feature makes it possible for funeral professionals to send and receive text messages on their cell phone using the funeral home’s main phone number. This means that any replies from the family to the NEXT STEP Text™will be logged within the ASD Mobile app and sent directly to the on-call funeral director.
ASD is providing its NEXT STEP Text™ feature at no cost to help funeral professionals better serve families and their communities. The company is also in the process of developing several complementary features to its new NEXT STEP Text™ solution. ASD aims to work closely with funeral homes who are interested in this service to help them to create a text message strategy that works for their firm. There are numerous ways this technology can be utilized such as texting the funeral home’s GPL to callers who need prices or sending a link to the FAQ page when family members have general questions. In the future, ASD also hopes to develop a solution for texting the funeral home’s preneed literature to callers who express an interest in prearrangements.
About ASD
ASD – Answering Service for Directors has created a new class of answering service for the funeral profession. Family owned and operated since 1972, ASD blends state-of-the-art technology with an extensive, 6-month training program focusing on compassionate care. The company’s custom-built communication systems and sophisticated mobile tools were designed solely to meet the needs of funeral professionals. By offering funeral directors unmatched protection for their calls, ASD has redefined the role of an answering service for funeral homes. For more information, visit www.myASD.com or call 1-800-868-9950.
