The way to get more Google reviews for a funeral home is a system, not luck: ask every family, have the right person ask at the right moment, make leaving the review effortless, and respond to what comes in. Families you served well genuinely want to help you; most just never get a clear, easy ask. Here is the system, step by step.
Why reviews matter more for funeral homes than almost any business
A family choosing a funeral home is making a high-trust decision, fast, usually from a Google search. Your review count, rating, and recency shape both where you appear in the map results and whether the family calls you or the home listed next to you. Reviews are the trust layer of your whole funeral home marketing, and the cheapest one to improve. Directors on Parting Pro see this directly:
“Volume has gone up, and another huge aspect was the Google reviews. You can tell when we started using you guys from the reviews.”
Erica, Owner, The Alpha Society
How to ask families for Google reviews: the six-step system
- Ask every family, after every case. Not just the ones you think went perfectly. Consistency is what builds count and recency, and families who felt cared for respond at surprising rates.
- The right person asks. A review request lands hardest from the director who actually served the family, by name. “It meant a lot serving your family. If you have two minutes, a review helps other families find us” outperforms any anonymous blast.
- Time it to the close of the case. After the service and the paperwork, while the care is fresh, not weeks later. The best trigger is case completion itself.
- Make it one tap. Send the direct review link (or a QR code on a card). Every extra step, finding your page, logging in, loses people.
- Follow up once. Families are busy and grieving; a gentle single reminder is respectful and meaningfully lifts response.
- Respond to every review. A short, warm reply, and a calm, professional one to any critical review. Families read your responses as closely as the reviews.
What NOT to do
- Never offer incentives for Google reviews. Discounts, gift cards, anything of value violates Google’s policies and can get reviews removed or your profile penalized. (Some advice articles suggest it; do not.)
- Never buy or fake reviews. Obvious, but it ends badly and families can tell.
- Do not ask for “a 5-star review.” Ask for an honest review. It reads better, and it is what the policies require.
- Do not batch-blast old case lists. A years-late request reads as marketing, not gratitude.
Automate the ask (this is where the compounding happens)
The system above fails in practice for one reason: everyone is busy and the ask gets skipped. The fix is automation tied to your case workflow. In Parting Pro, review requests can go out automatically when a case is marked complete, or manually when the moment is right, so the ask happens every time without anyone remembering it. Homes using it describe the effect the same way:
“We more than doubled in size since we started, and a lot of it also had to do with how Parting Pro was helping us get more reviews.”
Jason Harrell, Owner, ATX Cremation
Frequently asked questions
How do I ask a family for a Google review?
Personally, from the director who served them, shortly after the case closes: thank them, say an honest review helps other families find you, and send the direct link so it takes one tap.
Is it okay to offer a discount for a review?
No. Incentivizing Google reviews violates Google’s policies and risks removal or penalties. Ask for honest reviews, make it easy, and let the care you gave do the work.
How many reviews does a funeral home need?
More than the homes you compete with locally, with recent ones mattering most. Steady requests after every case beat any one-time push.
Put the ask on autopilot
If you want review requests going out after every completed case without anyone remembering to send them, book a 15-minute demo.
Or read what funeral directors say about Parting Pro in their own words.