Laura Browne is a key member of Golden Charter's research and insight team, researching and surveying the views of customers, funeral directors and the wider world of funerals. She unpacks the latest findings for Malcolm.
Laura Browne is a key member of Golden Charter's research and insight team, researching and surveying the views of customers, funeral directors and the wider world of funerals. She unpacks the latest findings for Malcolm.
Malcolm Flanders [00:00:04] Welcome to the Partnership Podcast. As we heard recently from a funeral director guest, research is increasingly vital to decision making around funerals. We're all keen to understand what families need, and what they think of the service they receive. So today I'll be talking to a key member of Golden Charter's research and insight team, Laura Brown, about our surveying and the other work that we do to get reliable plan holder insights. We'll look at what families appreciate about the work independents and plan providers do, and what the broader funeral environment looks like.
Malcolm Flanders [00:00:48] So, Laura, lovely to see you. How are you?
Laura Brown [00:00:50] Good, thank you.
Malcolm Flanders [00:00:51] Excellent. Now, look, you and I haven't actually met yet. Could you talk briefly about your background, and how it's been to join during the pandemic, and how it's impacted your work?
Laura Brown [00:01:02] Yes, of course. So thank you for asking me to join this day for a chat, Malcolm. You're right, it's certainly been a strange time to join a new business. So I joined Golden Charter now well over a year ago, with the task of setting up the research and insight team. And our core purpose, as a team, is to ensure that the voice of the customer is at the heart of everything that Golden Charter does as a business. And through the use of robust research and insight, we're very much here to support better decision making, and to form strategic direction across the business.
Laura Brown [00:01:40] So, as you say, I'm still actually to meet a lot of my colleagues face to face, including yourself, Malcolm. And coming from a completely different industry before I joined Golden Charter, I previously worked in the drinks industry, I would say that the hardest part for me has definitely been, I think, learning about this quite unique industry. And just being unable, because of the pandemic, being unable to spend much time face to face with our funeral director network, and also with our with our end consumers as well, our customers.
Laura Brown [00:02:17] Having worked in research and insight for most of my career, the pandemic has certainly forced some quite big changes. We're now conducting the vast majority of our research, that would previously have been conducted face to face, we're conducting it virtually. And while there has been some drawbacks in the initial stages of moving to more virtual type research, actually on the whole, it's been amazing how quickly it has become the norm. And there's been huge benefits from some of the changes we've seen, and how we're conducting research. It's actually a far more efficient way of conducting a lot of research.
Malcolm Flanders [00:02:55] I get that. Excellent. Thank you, Laura. And yes, fingers crossed, we'll all get out and about a little bit more in the next few months. So, the big question is how satisfied are plan holders, and what drives that satisfaction?
Laura Brown [00:03:08] Well, it has to be said that our plan holders are incredibly satisfied. We're just in the process just now of rolling out our latest set of results. So, I don't want to give away any spoilers right now, although there will be more to come on that soon. But from our previous wave of customer satisfaction research that was conducted in May of last year, we found that 95% of our customers stated that they were satisfied, and 79% stated that they were highly satisfied. So highly satisfied are those customers that give us a rating of nine or ten, out of ten. These are really high satisfaction levels, and certainly higher than I've seen anywhere previously that I've worked. So it's something that we should we should all be really proud of.
Laura Brown [00:04:00] So in terms of what's driving it, our analysis tells us that the quality of the plan itself, the information that's provided after purchase, and also the quality of that communication after purchasing the plan, are the key drivers of customer satisfaction.
Malcolm Flanders [00:04:17] Right.
Laura Brown [00:04:18] And, I think just on the subject of the customer satisfaction survey, it's important to also say that we don't only use the survey to report how satisfied our customers are, but we also use it as an opportunity to identify areas for improvement, and where we can take action. So we're certainly not resting on our laurels, and we use the survey as an opportunity to listen to customers, and what's important to them, and also what they need from us.
Laura Brown [00:04:48] So, one of the key things we have been hearing from some of our long tenure customers, is that they're not always clear on what their funeral plan covers, because potentially they've taken out some time ago, not fully aware of what's covered in their plan. And we also hear from customers in general, that they're looking for more contact, perhaps in the form of regular statements, and information also for their next of kin.
Laura Brown [00:05:16] So these are all things that we're listening to, and that we're currently looking at and considering as a business. So we're certainly taking on board what we hear from our customers.
Malcolm Flanders [00:05:25] That's great. Really helpful. Thanks, Laura. Okay. So I know we're able to segment results in lots of interesting ways, including looking solely at plan holders who've taken out plans through their independent funeral directors, rather than directly through Golden Charter. So does this kind of segmenting tell us much?
Laura Brown [00:05:45] Yes, that's right, we certainly can do that. And it does. So what we saw in our May results, was that when we looked at that high satisfaction score that I mentioned earlier, so the customers who give us a nine or ten rating out of ten, we see that that's actually at its highest for those customers who have purchased through their independent local funeral director, versus through other channels.
Laura Brown [00:06:11] We also hear from customers, they tell us that having that choice of a local funeral director is the most important factor when they're purchasing a plan. And satisfaction with the funeral director, and with communication from the funeral director, are both extremely high. We also hear from customers that the funeral director makes the whole process of the planned purchase extremely easy for the customer, which is great to hear.
Malcolm Flanders [00:06:38] Wow. That will be really interesting to our independent funeral directors. Thank you Laura. Okay, so going broader than the satisfaction surveys, we do a lot of other research. Can you talk about the main themes from that, and about what families want more broadly?
Laura Brown [00:06:52] Yes, we certainly do quite a lot of additional research beyond just the satisfaction surveys. I mean, there are certainly some key themes that we're seeing in our consumer research, that have big implications really, for our funeral director network. During the pandemic, we saw smaller, simpler, and cheaper funerals becoming the norm, really down to the restrictions that were in place at that point in time. But what we're seeing is that this trend to go smaller, spend a little bit less, and with less fuss could be continuing.
Laura Brown [00:07:29] So, we're actually currently in the middle of a new piece of research, to allow us to understand more about what's happening, specifically in relation to direct cremation, and the motivations that are behind that. We see key competitors in that space, so specifically Pure Cremations, and Simplicity Cremations, that they're both, although I would say Pure Cremations in particular, they're both, however, spending significant amounts of money on media. So they're marketing not only their own brands, but also educating consumers on direct cremation products and price points. So this research that we're doing will be of huge benefit, to both Golden Charter, and our funeral director network, in understanding more about what's going on in that space.
Laura Brown [00:08:17] We're also starting to see a bit of a shift from the more formal, traditional funeral, that we all know, to one where there is more celebration, and also more personalisation going on. And demand for more choice, and personal touches, will only increase in the coming years. And we see that consumers will want to get a lot more involved in the planning, and of its detail, as well, from some of the trends that we're seeing.
Laura Brown [00:08:43] I think positively for our industry, Covid has helped to normalise death, and it's encouraged people to talk about it much more openly than they did previously. So, evidence really suggests that consumers are starting to think ahead more, and really considering their later life plans, more so than they did previously. So as a result of all of that, more financial planning is expected, to ensure that personal affairs and loved ones are taken care of.
Malcolm Flanders [00:09:13] Yeah, sure.
Laura Brown [00:09:15] Another key theme probably worth mentioning, sorry, Malcolm, there's a few here...
Malcolm Flanders [00:09:19] No, this is all good stuff, keep going!
Laura Brown [00:09:22] Another key one, I think, that has emerged as a result of Covid, is comfort and expectations, in relation to digital. So there's been a huge shift that we've seen here, and during the last year we've seen adults, who previously had very limited digital skills, we've seen them very much embrace online shopping, digital banking, video calling friends and family. And all of that's happened out of necessity, because there was no other option when we were in a period of lockdown. But what the evidence suggests is that those individuals are unlikely now to go back to their previous habits, know that they are feeling really comfortable. So consumers are increasingly happy, and comfortable, to interact online, providing they know that there is a human option that is available, if it's required.
Laura Brown [00:10:11] So what we're seeing is the introduction of new, digital focussed, and DIY type funeral, and funeral plan companies. So, the likes of Tyde, which launched earlier this year. Tyde is the UK's first online only funeral booking platform, and we hear that they have plans to move into the funeral plan space in future, which is interesting. And linked to all of that increasing digital comfort we're seeing, is the growing trend to shop around, with price comparison sites playing an increasing role.
Laura Brown [00:10:45] And one final trend to mention here, is that of sustainability. We've certainly seen a big shift from this being something that was previously probably more of a government issue, to one where we actually now all have a role to play, including individual businesses. So we see that consumers are now very much making decisions about the brands that they want to associate themselves with, based on those brands', or companies', green credentials. So this is something that, as a business, we, Golden Charter, need to be thinking about. And we also need to be working with funeral directors, to help to think about what it means from a funeral director perspective.
Malcolm Flanders [00:11:27] Wow, there is a lot going on, isn't there, at the moment?
Laura Brown [00:11:31] There certainly is.
Malcolm Flanders [00:11:32] Goodness me. Just one thing that occurred to me, while you were answering that last question, how frequently do we reach out to consumers, in terms of key themes? Is it quarterly? Is it half yearly?
Laura Brown [00:11:45] I would say some of those themes are coming through from a variety of different pieces of research. So we're doing different pieces of research at different points in time, but we have been doing, for the last couple of years now, an annual look at trends. So we've called it the 'Seven Levers' piece of work, where we're identifying those big levers that are really coming through, looking at what's happening in the outside world, that's having an influence on our industry and consumers.
Malcolm Flanders [00:12:13] Excellent. Thank you. Okay, finally, now's your chance for a plug. We track the satisfaction of funeral directors who work with us, too, and I know we've moved to doing that by phone. I guess a lot of our listeners can expect the phone call then?
Laura Brown [00:12:26] Yes, that's right. They're likely to receive a phone call. Last year, we did a bit of a review of the satisfaction survey, really just looking at how well it was working, and any improvements that we could make. And at that point, how we were previously running the survey, as a lot of funeral directors will be aware, is that we sent out email invitations. But, as part of the review process that we conducted, we reached out to funeral directors, and we gained some feedback. And the feedback we gained from them was that they felt more comfortable, but also that they were more engaged, with a telephone approach. So that was the rationale behind the change. And it certainly seems to be working, with participation levels now far higher than they were previously, and that's very much ensuring that our results are really robust. So that's been great, it's been working really well.
Laura Brown [00:13:18] We conduct the survey twice a year. So once in April/May time, and then once again in October/November time. And each time we contact 200 funeral directors, and we'll never contact the same funeral director more than once in a full year. And in terms of how we conduct that research, we use an independent research agency called CJM, who a lot funeral directors will have had contact with. So they conduct the research on our behalf, and all results are completely anonymous, so that funeral directors can be extremely open, and honest, in the feedback that they give.
Laura Brown [00:14:01] And similary to the customer satisfaction survey, we really do use the results from that survey, to inform business decisions, and to take actions where appropriate. So I would say to all the funeral directors listening out there, that we really do appreciate the time that funeral directors take to participate in the survey. And we certainly do listen to all of the feedback we're getting.
Malcolm Flanders [00:14:26] Great. Well, there's a plug for all our funeral director listeners. There will be a survey coming out to you at some stage of the year, please do respond. Yeah. Okay, look, Laura, that was brilliant. A wonderful insight into the world of research and customer insight at the same time. So really appreciate your time. Thank you.
Laura Brown [00:14:43] No problem. Thank you.
Malcolm Flanders [00:14:50] Thanks for listening to the Partnership podcast. You can ask your business manager about research, insight and Nexis reports to learn more about what we discussed today with Laura. Our full back catalogue of more than 30 episodes is available at goldencharter.buzzsprout.com. We're on a range of podcast apps. We ended 2021 with an FCA regulation mini series, so please do take a look. You can also contact me if you have anything to contribute, or ask, at malcolm.flanders@goldencharter.co.uk. Thanks again, and I'll talk to you next time on the Partnership Podcast.