Texting on your office line
Families can text
your own numberFamilies can text you
MemorialBooked brings text messaging to funeral homes: two-way texts from your office line, a text back to every call nobody could answer, and reminders and follow-ups that go out on their dates. A family who reached voicemail at 2 a.m. gets a reply right away, and your on-call director sees the thread.Text messaging for funeral homes: two-way texts from your office line, a text back to every missed call, and reminders sent on a schedule.
- Texts come from the number families already know
- Answer from your own phone
Texted back right awayafter any call nobody answered
- Staff share one inbox
- Unanswered calls answered by text
- Follow-ups on schedule
- Visitation reminders
- Texts and emails together
- Opt-outs honored automatically
A family calls at night, the director on call is out on a removal, and the phone goes to voicemail. Many families hang up without a message and scroll to the next name in the search results. Here, a text reaches them right away and your director picks up the thread.
One phone, one director
Every caller hears back
A quick answer from a home they trust.
The call that rang out
- 1Out on a removal. The on-call phone rings in the van while the director is inside a nursing home.
- 2An office-hours greeting. At 2 a.m., the family hears that the office opens at nine.
- 3Calls about times. Relatives ring the office to ask when visitation starts.
- 4Follow-ups from memory. Pre-planning call-backs happen whenever someone remembers to make them.
The family gets an answer
- The unanswered call turns into a text. From the home's line, saying a director will ring them shortly.
- The family can answer it with the details. Their reply shows on the on-call director's phone at once.
- One number for everyone. Families never see a director's personal cell.
- Service reminders go out the day before. With the time, the address and a map link.
- Pre-planning follow-ups keep going until they book. Texts and emails on a schedule, ending once the meeting is set.
- Signature reminders for the family. A link to sign, sent again until done.
- Staff share the thread. Any director can pick up a conversation, see what was said, and reply from their own phone.
Someone is coming back to them
- A text, not silence. Moments after the missed call, they know the home heard them.
- Answers without a phone call. Service times, directions and the address arrive by text, ready to forward to relatives.
- They can write back whenever suits them. Relatives in another time zone answer when they're free, not during office hours.
Inside the inbox
Your staff answer from their phones
Three screens your directors use each day: the conversations, the reminders, and the pre-planning follow-ups.
A family's whole thread sits in Conversations beside their case, texts and emails alike. Assign a thread to a director, leave a note for the next shift, and answer from a phone or the office computer.
Put a visitation or funeral on the calendar, and the family's contacts are texted the evening before: start time, address, map link. Staff get a morning list of the day's services.
Every pre-planning form begins a run of follow-up texts and emails, spaced out over weeks, until a meeting is booked or the couple asks you to stop. Your director sees each step as it goes.
Day and night
Texts while your staff are with families
Arrangement day
A reminder before the arrangement conference
The family has a lot to bring: clothing, photos, the cemetery deed, a list of relatives. The day before the arrangement conference, a text gives them the time, what to bring and a link to sign forms online. They arrive ready, and the meeting starts on time.
- Whenthe afternoon before the meeting, by text.
- Includesthe time, the address and what to bring along.
Text-back
A text after every unanswered call
Calls ring out during services, on removals and in the middle of the night. Each one now gets a text from your home's number right away: a director will call you shortly, and you can reply here. The family knows they reached someone, and they wait for you.
- Daya short note saying a director will call back.
- Nightwording written for a first call after hours.
Pre-planning leads
A Sunday-evening pre-planning form, answered that night
A couple fills in your pre-planning form on a Sunday evening. A text goes back that night, and texts and emails follow over the next weeks until they book a meeting or ask you to stop. Our team runs the ads that bring those forms in.
- Firsta text right after the form arrives.
- Thenfollow-ups on a schedule, stopping once a meeting is booked.
Visitation
Service times, sent the night before
Relatives ring the office all afternoon asking when visitation begins. The evening before, the family receives the time, the address and a map link they can pass along. The office phone gets quieter.
- Sentthe evening ahead of each visitation and funeral.
- Sharedforwarded by the family to everyone who needs it.
Reviews
A thank-you text, then a review
Seven days after the funeral, a text thanks the family for trusting you and asks if they'd share a few words on Google. Our team writes a reply to each review that appears. Families choosing a home later read both.
- Timingchosen with you, after the service.
- Repliesdrafted and posted for you.
Comes standard
- Texts from your existing office number
- Text-back on calls that ring out
- Shared inbox for all staff
- STOP handled automatically
- Reminders before every visitation
- Follow-ups for pre-planning forms
Texting touches every other part
A text thread belongs to a case, so whoever opens the case sees every message. Reminders read from the calendar, and follow-ups read from the pre-planning list. Each part below works with the others on the same monthly plan.
Texting, automation Two-way texts, missed-call text-back, reminders and follow-ups on schedule.
You're hereMore of what you get
- Reports and tracking A tracking number on each ad and listing shows which one brought the call.
- Memorial pages Obituaries posted to your site and shared to the home's Facebook page.
- Found on Google Maps We keep the home's hours, photos and posts current so it appears in local results.
- A new website Built by our team, with your past obituaries moved over and service times kept current.
- Ads Search ads for your town, run by our team. Google and Facebook charge the home for the spend itself, apart from the plan.
- Payments, e-signature Contracts signed on a tablet, deposits paid from a texted link.
- Google reviews After the funeral, families are asked for a Google review; our team answers each one.
Tell us about your nights
We'll ask how your nights work, who carries the on-call phone, and what each text should say. You leave with a monthly price. Month to month, no setup fee.
What funeral directors say
Walter D.Family-owned home 3 → 1vendors to callWe canceled three vendors. The website, obituaries and reviews now sit with one team that picks up the phone.
Carmen P.Cremation provider 1 minuteto the first replyFamilies used to reach voicemail at 2 a.m. These days a text reaches them within the minute, and I read the details over coffee.
Terrence M.Third-generation home 11pre-planning meetings, month oneOur pre-planning list sat untouched for years. The follow-up texts booked eleven meetings in month one.
Gwen H.Two-location home 0paper contractsArrangements used to mean a stack of paper. Families now sign the contract and put down the deposit on their phones.
Anil R.Home and crematory 31 → 104Google reviewsEach family hears from us about a review after the service ends. Our Google reviews went from 31 to just over a hundred in twelve months.
Marisol K.Rural funeral home 2 weeksto a new websiteOur old site went up in 2014. A fortnight after we spoke, a new one was live, with every obituary carried over.
Texting questions answered
Before you start texting
Search a word such as voicemail or consent to jump straight there.
6 questions
Do we keep our own phone number for texting?
Yes. Texts go out from your home's office line, so families see a number they already know.
Who replies if we can't pick up?
Right away, your home's line texts the caller that a director will ring back. Their reply lands on the on-call director's phone, so the call back starts with the details in hand.
Can directors text from their own phones?
Yes. Directors answer on their own phone using the home's number, so their personal cell stays private. Every message stays on the case for whoever is on call next.
Do families need to consent?
Yes, families should agree to texts first, so we add a consent line to your forms at setup. Anyone can reply STOP, and the texts end.
What gets sent automatically, and what stays personal?
Missed-call replies, reminders and follow-ups. Conversations with a grieving family always belong to a director.
Can we text a family about service times and visitation?
Yes. Once the visitation is on the calendar, the family is texted its time and address, plus a map link, the evening before.
Try searching
Questions about texting?
Elise Navarro writes each home's text-back wording and reminder schedule, and replies to email at sales@memorialbooked.com.
Elise NavarroAccount manager
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