Tribute Technology Releases Landmark Obituary Study: Traffic, Engagement, and Industry Threats

New research shows organic obituary traffic surging, aggregators taking sessions and revenue, and Tribute-powered pages winning top Google rankings

WAUNAKEE, Wis., Oct. 7, 2025 — Tribute Technology announced the publication of Benchmarking the Modern Obituary: Traffic, Engagement, and Industry Threats, an analysis of more than one billion obituary sessions. The report shows how online obituaries fuel funeral home growth, where traffic originates, and how third-party aggregators divert audiences and purchases away from local firms.  

“Obituaries are the entry point to the modern funeral home,” said Craig Greenseid, CEO of Tribute Technology. “This study gives owners the data to protect that entry point, so families, condolences, brand awareness, and commerce stay with the firm that served them.”  

Obituaries are the top driver of funeral home website traffic, attracting more than 3.5 billion visits annually, with obituary pages drawing five times more visits than all other pages. Sixty percent of visitors are women over age 50, most within 25 miles of the funeral home, aligning with the primary pre-need decision-maker demographic.  

When it comes to obituaries, the study shows speed and substance matter. Obituaries posted within two days of death drive 30 percent more visits and engagements, while those with 500 or more words generate twice as many. 

The study confirms that 75 percent of obituary visits come from organic search or social sharing and underscores SEO-first design, especially on obituaries. This helps ensure families find their funeral home directly rather than an aggregator sites, which divert traffic and dollars. Funeral homes lose up to 260 sessions per obituary, reducing revenue, guestbook entries, and brand equity.  

“Funeral homes want confidence that families will find obituaries on their own website, not an aggregator, and that once they land on that obituary, it drives the engagements, such as condolence messages or traffic to the other pages on the funeral home website.” said Andy Bourke, Chief Digital Officer at Tribute Technology. “Our platform is engineered to rank well, and we are always improving it. That keeps the conversation where it belongs and strengthens long-term family relationships.”  

The study also notes that while AI assistants such as ChatGPT are growing, Google Search dominates with 150 billion monthly visits compared to ChatGPT’s 4 billion. Tribute Technology uses proven SEO structures and schema to ensure obituaries remain visible across both traditional and AI-driven search.  

Finally, the report details the decline of print obituaries and growth of digital memorialization. Digital postings now account for 65 percent of death notices. Tribute Technology is expanding digital distribution through partnerships like Tribute Spotlights with Chptr, which brings obituaries to local television audiences.  

Benchmarking the Modern Obituary is available from Tribute Technology. For details and product updates, visit the Tribute Technology News page.  

About Tribute Technology:  Tribute Technology is a leading provider of software and services for funeral homes, cemeteries, and crematories, helping professionals serve families through best-in-class websites, management tools, and digital memorialization solutions. The company is headquartered in Waunakee, Wisconsin.  

Photo Caption:  Tribute Technology’s new report, Benchmarking the Modern Obituary, analyzes over one billion obituary sessions—revealing how obituaries drive funeral home growth, where online traffic originates, and how aggregators siphon away audiences and sales. With obituaries generating more than 3.5 billion visits annually, this study helps funeral homes protect their most valuable digital entry point.

Americans Embrace Digital Funeral Planning While Still Seeking Professional Guidance, New NFDA Consumer Awareness and Preferences Study Reveals 

Brookfield, Wis. – The National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA), the world’s leading and largest funeral service association, has released its 2025 Consumer Awareness & Preferences Study, revealing significant shifts in how Americans approach death and funeral planning. The comprehensive research shows consumers are increasingly embracing digital solutions while simultaneously demonstrating growing reliance on funeral directors’ expertise. 

The research continues NFDA’s ongoing effort since 2012 to track evolving consumer attitudes and help funeral service professionals better serve families. 

Key findings include: 

● Digital adoption surges: Nearly 30% of families now complete all funeral arrangements online, while 40% of consumers have used the services of a funeral home they found on Facebook—nearly doubling from 21% in 2023. 

● Professional expertise increasingly valued: 44.4% would feel not very confident or not at all confident planning a funeral without a funeral director’s help—up 7.1% since 2024, despite growing digital adoption. Additionally, of those consumers who planned a funeral online, nearly 48% still needed the assistance of a funeral director and more than 15% felt the online planning process was either impersonal and lacked the level of compassionate service they would have received had they planned with a funeral director. 

● Religion remains central: 75.7% consider religious components very important or somewhat important in funeral services, while nearly 64% would arrange livestreaming for distant relatives. 

● Green options gain appeal: More than 61.4% of consumers are interested in exploring “green” funeral and natural burial options. 

● Economic pressures shape choices: 55.4% of respondents earned less than $50,000 annually, compared to 38.5% in 2024, influencing demand for value.

● Pre-planning preferences evolve: While 19.4% have pre-planned and prepaid for arrangements, primarily to guarantee prices and relieve survivors of financial burden, 31.8% prefer a hybrid approach combining online planning with direct funeral director consultation. 

“This research demonstrates that while technology is transforming how families access funeral services, the fundamental value of professional guidance remains irreplaceable,” said Dutch Nie, NFDA Immediate Past-President and Nie Family Funeral Home & Cremation Services owner, CEO/President and funeral director . “Funeral directors are successfully adapting to digital expectations while maintaining their essential role as trusted advisors during families’ most difficult times.” 

The study also reveals that consumers increasingly view funeral directors as valuable experts, with growing recognition of their professional expertise in navigating complex arrangements and providing essential support during grief. 

About the Study 

The 2025 NFDA Consumer Awareness & Preferences Study continues NFDA’s ongoing research tracking consumer attitudes since 2012. The study is designed to help funeral service professionals better understand and serve evolving family needs while maintaining the highest standards of care and professionalism. Conducted in the spring of 2025, 1,126 Americans age 40 and older were surveyed. 

About NFDA 

NFDA is the world’s leading and largest funeral service association, serving 20,000 individual members who represent nearly 11,000 funeral homes in the United States and 49 countries around the world. NFDA is the trusted leader, beacon for ethics and the strongest advocate for the profession. NFDA is the association of choice because it offers funeral professionals comprehensive educational resources, tools to manage successful businesses, guidance to become pillars in their communities and the expertise to foster future generations of funeral professionals. NFDA is headquartered in Brookfield, Wis., and has an office in Washington, D.C. For more information, visit NFDA.org. 

Ethics in Cremation: A Colorado Case Study 

Public Trust and Funeral Service with Faith Haug at the CANA Convention 

WHEELING, IL— Research suggests that the public’s trust in institutions – schools, the government, organizations, and corporations – has fallen more than 20% in the last 50 years. And when bad actors damage that trust and cast doubt on a particular profession, what does recovery look like? Faith Haug, Director for the Mortuary Science Program at Arapahoe Community College in Littleton, takes the stage at the Cremation Association of North America’s 107^th Annual Cremation Innovation Convention to discuss how practitioners, regulators, and the public navigated three recent cases in Colorado and found a path forward.  

From 2015-2023, three pivotal cases exposed significant gaps in regulations of funeral practitioners in Colorado. In her session at the CANA Convention, Faith Haug walks attendees through the events at Sunset Mesa Funeral Home, Bailey-Kent, and Return to Nature to discuss Ethics in Cremation: A Colorado Case Study. Her presentation will trace how these cases directly influenced Colorado’s funeral service laws and Code of Practice, focusing attention on the importance of ethical cremation practices and maintaining public trust.  

“We do things very differently from state to state, so there is not a lot of uniformity in regulation, licensing or even business practices. That leads to challenges,” says Faith. “Many options were presented to satisfy the regulatory agencies and the stakeholders that were invited to the process, and that’s the best you can hope for.” Her presentation will show how regulators, legislators, and industry leaders collaborated to create new protective measures. Concrete examples pulled from these cases illustrate how the public response has shaped consumer expectations and industry standards for cremation services. 

Faith Haug serves as Program Director and Faculty for the Mortuary Science Program at Arapahoe Community College, bringing 20 years as a funeral service professional to her role. As a licensed funeral director and embalmer, she combines practical industry knowledge with academic leadership. Faith is also consulted as subject matter expert for the Colorado Department of Regulatory Affairs. During her CANA Convention session, she’ll draw from this range of experience to examine how public response to multiple high-profile Colorado cases has shaped consumer expectations and industry standards for cremation services for the entire profession. 

Each session at the CANA Convention is designed to place the client families’ experience at the heart of what we do: 

• In the keynote, Joan Fox, President of Inspired Solutions, asks Are You Creating or Killing Customer Loyalty?, and shares why customer satisfaction is an inadequate goal, how company culture and customer loyalty are connected, and what strategies measure customer loyalty to grow your business. 

• Two experts take the stage to share Data-Driven Digital Marketing Fundamentals with advice to build your business. Scott Jensen, Co-owner of FirstCall Marketing, offers Steps to Take to Know If Your Marketing is Working or Not. Then, Zack Moy, Co-founder/CTO of Afterword, guides you through The Efficient Funeral Home: A Data-Driven Look at Technology Implementation.  

• Succession planning and driving enterprise value should always be top of mind, so Jake Johnson, President & CEO of Johnson Consulting, will show how to Exit with Success: Succession Planning and Your Business. 

• In Historic Cemeteries Facing the Future, Regina Harrison, Director of Sales of Mount Auburn Cemetery, shares how to think creatively with options for cremation memorialization—whether you’re managing historic grounds or guiding families through end-of-life choices. 

• Barbara Kemmis, Executive Director of the Cremation Association of North America and Chance Parker, Chief Research Officer of Fortitude Research + Marketing, present the Cremation Practitioner Benchmarking Study of insights into current practice and provides strategies to address future challenges. 

What could be better than what’s happening on the CANA stage? It might be the backdrop! The Convention hotel is the Arizona Biltmore which offers seven relaxing pools, five appealing shops featuring hand-curated pieces, three unique dining experiences, two picturesque golf courses, and one award-winning spa and salon – plus two iconic bars where you can revel in a tequila sunrise. You’re invited to explore, to discover, and to feel inspired by the colors, culture and the captivating energy of the Valley of the Sun. Make your reservation now at canarooms.com. 

To make the most of the resort experience, the CANA Convention schedule is revamped so you can enjoy all that Phoenix has to offer in the cool desert nights and mornings. First is a 9-hole scramble on The Estates Course at the Arizona Biltmore Golf Club with an 8am shotgun start. Not a golfer? Take in the scenery with the Arizona Biltmore History Tour to explore the bold Frank Lloyd Wright-influenced architecture, get the scoop on historic celebrated guests, and view the meticulous restoration. Moving at a different speed? Put relaxation first and take a yoga class or book your appointment at the award-winning Tierra Luna Spa and Sol Garden. Or take advantage of the resort pools open around the clock. 

Understand the importance of ethical cremation practices and maintaining public trust with Faith Haug at CANA’s 107^th Annual Convention this August 6-8, 2025. Special rates are available for teams to learn, grow, and implement strategies together. Plus, the schedule is redesigned to ensure you can explore the Valley of the Sun in the cool mornings and evenings and fully savor the networking and learning in the air-conditioned Convention hall during the heat of the day. Visit cremationassociation.org/CANA25 to learn more and register today! 

About CANA 

Founded in 1913, the Cremation Association of North America (CANA) is an international organization of over 3,700 members, composed of funeral homes, cemeteries, crematories, industry suppliers, and consultants. CANA members believe that cremation is preparation for memorialization. 

Across Borders, Across Traditions: NFDA Unveils Historic Global Study

Report underscores NFDA’s global leadership in funeral service research. 

Brookfield, Wis. – Reinforcing its position as the world’s leading funeral service association, the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) has released the first-ever global study of consumer attitudes toward funerals and funeral professionals. Across Borders, Across Traditions: A Global Study of Funeral Preferences is a landmark research report that offers an unprecedented look at how consumers in 20 countries across six continents view funerals, grief rituals, burial, cremation and the role of the funeral director. The full report is available at no cost to anyone in the funeral service profession at NFDA.org/Research. 

“This is a game-changing moment for funeral service,” said NFDA Chief Marketing officer Stephanie Wagner. “No other organization has undertaken a study of this scale, depth and cultural diversity. As the global conversation about death, grief and remembrance continues to evolve, NFDA is leading the way with innovative research that empowers funeral professionals to adapt, innovate and serve families more meaningfully than ever before.” 

NFDA designed and funded the study with guidance from its Global Advisory Group and support from funeral service leaders worldwide. The findings are based on more than 4,000 consumer surveys conducted across Africa, Asia, Central and South America, Europe and North America. Key insights from the report include:

• The power of funerals is universal – Nearly 96% of respondents found funerals to be healing experiences, regardless of culture or disposition method.
• Burial and cremation both have emotional impact – While cremation rates are rising, more respondents found funerals with burial “very helpful” for healing than those with cremation.
• Consumers need guidance – Nearly half of respondents have never planned a funeral, highlighting the importance of education and support from funeral directors.
• Cultural traditions influence service elements – Flowers, personalized music, photo tributes and personalized eulogies emerged as the most important features of funerals worldwide.
• Sustainability is on the rise – Nearly 70% of consumers are interested in green or eco-friendly funerals, reflecting growing environmental consciousness. 

In addition to the report, NFDA created a complimentary action plan to help funeral professionals apply the survey’s findings in their day-to-day work and better serve today’s diverse and discerning families. 

“This study cements NFDA’s role as the global thought leader in funeral service,” said Wagner. “We’re proud to offer funeral professionals the insights they need to meet this moment with confidence, compassion and cultural awareness.” 

Download Across Borders, Across Traditions: A Global Study of Funeral Preferences, along with other pivotal NFDA research, such as a first-of-its-kind look at funeral preferences in the United States by generation, at NFDA.org/Research. 

NFDA is the world’s leading and largest funeral service association, serving 20,000 individual members who represent nearly 11,000 funeral homes in the United States and more than 40 countries around the world. NFDA is the trusted leader, beacon for ethics and the strongest advocate for the profession. NFDA is the association of choice because it offers funeral professionals comprehensive educational resources, tools to manage successful businesses, guidance to become pillars in their communities and the expertise to foster future generations of funeral professionals. NFDA is headquartered in Brookfield, Wis., and has an office in Washington, D.C. For more information, visit NFDA.org. 

Batesville Named One of America’s Most Trustworthy Companies for Second Year in Newsweek Study

BATESVILLE, Ind., April 10, 2025 – Batesville, a leading provider of high-quality burial and cremation products and innovative technology solutions to deathcare professionals across North America, earned its second spot in Newsweek’s list of Most Trustworthy Companies in America for 2025. This prestigious award is presented by Newsweek and Statista Inc., the world-leading statistics portal and industry ranking provider. Batesville achieved a top twenty ranking in the Consumer Goods category, alongside a variety of global brand leaders, moving up five positions from its first appearance in 2024.

“Trust is essential in building successful relationships – with our employees, with the deathcare professionals we are privileged to serve, and with families who purchase Batesville products to honor their loved ones,” said Chris Trainor, CEO of Batesville. “We are incredibly proud to be recognized as one of the Most Trustworthy Companies in America for the second year in a row.”

Newsweek’s Most Trustworthy Companies in America list is based on an independent study that measures trust across three pillars: consumer, investor and employee trust. All public and private companies headquartered in the U.S. with over $500 million in annual revenue were eligible for consideration. The list is built on an innovative methodology that includes survey input from approximately 25,000 U.S. residents, a review of more than 97,000 evaluations and analysis of 304,000 online mentions. The 700 companies with the highest scores have been recognized as the Most Trustworthy Companies in America for 2025.

Headquartered in southeastern Indiana, Batesville is proud to be an American manufacturer that has served funeral homes and families in the U.S. and Canada for nearly 120 years.

From its origin as a manufacturer of high-quality caskets, the company has continued to adapt and expand its capabilities to meet the needs of funeral consumers. Today, Batesville offers a comprehensive portfolio of burial and cremation products, innovative technology solutions for funeral homes, cemeteries and crematories, profit-enhancing merchandising tools, and an unparalleled collection of personalization and memorialization offerings. 

The company leverages research with its customers and end-consumers to create unique and compelling products that are aligned with the functional needs and personal preferences of today’s families. Over the last year, Batesville has introduced a distinguished line of military-inspired caskets to honor veterans, expanded its collection of Dimensions^® oversize caskets, added more than 150 new cremation urns, jewelry and keepsake items, including an exclusive line of ceramic urns by Rookwood^® Pottery, and delivered major technology enhancements for funeral homes, cemeteries and crematories. One of the most compelling is the new Family Choices^® physical and digital merchandising solution, which uses advanced technology and modern components to provide a better product selection experience for grieving families.

Batesville operates four award-winning manufacturing facilities in North America and has a high-velocity distribution system with over 90 regional and local service centers, allowing the company to deliver outstanding customer service. Batesville employs more than 3,000 dedicated and hard-working associates who are guided by five core values:  

• Individual Worth and Integrity
• Excellence in Execution
• Continuous Learning and Improvement
• Courage
• Customer Focus and Partnership

To learn more, visit Most Trustworthy Companies in America 2025 – Newsweek Rankings.

ABOUT BATESVILLE SERVICES, LLC

Batesville (www.Batesville.com) is a recognized leader in the deathcare industry in North America, offering a comprehensive portfolio of burial and cremation products, innovative technology solutions and an unparalleled array of personalization and memorialization offerings. For more than a century, Batesville has supported deathcare professionals in helping families honor the lives of those they love.^® A history of manufacturing excellence, product innovation, superior customer service, and reliable delivery helped Batesville become – and remain – a market leader.