For more than a decade, the NFDA Consumer Awareness and Preferences Survey has served as one of the most important research tools in funeral service and gives us a window into the minds of the families funeral professionals serve. Ed Defort, who oversees all NFDA publications, began conducting this survey in 2012. Together, we unpacked key findings and what they mean for the profession going forward.
If you’re a subscriber to The Director and a weekly reader of the Memorial Business Journal you know that Ed likes to present information in straightforward way that motivates readers to take action. When he created this survey at NFDA it was with a simple premise in mind: if you want to know what consumers want, ask them. What began as a way to generate original content for The Director magazine has grown into a 14-year research pool that gives the profession a genuine crystal ball. I like how Ed puts it, “if you had known in 1999 that the cremation rate would exceed 60% within 25 years, would you have done anything differently?” He has a point with that question!
In recent years the piece of data that I always zero in on is the percentage of consumers who completed all of their funeral arrangements online. This has grown from 25% in 2022 to a high of 37% in 2024, settling at 29% in 2025. Ed attributes that 2024 spike to a younger-skewing survey group that year. But here’s what’s most telling: even among those who arranged everything online, nearly half still wanted the assistance of a funeral director at some point in the process.
We discussed that this isn’t a sign that online arrangements are falling short. It’s a sign that the personal interaction a funeral director offers cannot simply be replicated by a website. Families may start online, but they are still craving human connection. The opportunity for funeral homes is to make sure that connection is easy to access at every point in the digital journey. In 2012, 27% of consumers chose a funeral home because of a prior relationship. By 2025, that number had fallen to 16%. Price, meanwhile, rose from 10% to 18% as the leading selection factor. We know that communities are more transient, families are more price-conscious, and the generational loyalty that once anchored this profession is eroding.
There’s an encouraging flip side to this: funeral homes that are actively engaging their communities are building a different kind of loyalty. Forty percent of survey respondents in 2025 said they would consider attending an end-of-life education event if one were offered in their community. That number has been remarkably consistent year over year. The families are willing to show up. The question is whether funeral homes are showing up first.
One of the most important statements Ed made was about hospice. He said the days of funeral directors and hospice staying in their separate lanes are over and that lane has merged. The funeral homes that understand this, that invest in community relationships, that show up as trusted partners in the full continuum of end-of-life care, are the ones that will build the kind of loyalty that no price point can compete with.
After 14 years of data, Ed’s single most important observation remains the same: consumer education. Consumers don’t know what they don’t know and some of what they think they know is simply wrong. Funeral homes have a responsibility and an opportunity to fill that gap, through their websites, their community events, their hospice partnerships, and the stories they choose to tell. If you’re not telling your story, someone else will.
Along those same lines of storytelling, I couldn’t let our interview end without asking Ed about his board position with A Channel of Peace (www.achannelofpeace.org) and their newest movie Hail Mary. A Channel of Peace is a nonprofit film production and education company founded by actor Daniel Roebuck and his wife Tammy. They are dedicated to creating faith-filled, family-oriented entertainment. Their connection grew out of Daniel’s film Getting Grace, a story centered on a funeral director portrayed as a genuine, compassionate human being which screened to a standing-room crowd of over 550 at the NFDA convention in 2017.
Their latest film, Hail Mary, is now available for streaming on Angel Studios and is currently showing at independent theaters nationwide. It’s a story about second chances and redemption. It’s the kind of film you can sit down and watch with every generation of your family. No spoilers from me! Check out www.angelstudios.com to watch Hail Mary.
Ed’s involvement with A Channel of Peace is, in many ways, an extension of the same message he brings to funeral service: if you’re not telling your story, someone else will. Great storytelling whether on film or in your community has the power to change how people think, feel, and connect.
Join us for the next Johnson Consulting Conversations on Tuesday, April 15th at 2:00 PM ET featuring our Senior Business Consultant Jim Lamar. Jim will share insights from his tenure at Greenlawn Funeral Homes and Cemeteries, including his work building relationships with hospice providers, as well as his role as Vice President of the California Funeral Directors Association and what they’re doing to grow membership and engagement.
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