Funeral home review requests should invite an honest account of the service without making a family feel that praise is expected. Use neutral wording, keep the request optional, and separate it from help the family still needs. Decide how the invitation will work before handing the task to staff or a marketing supplier.
This guide is for funeral home owners and managers in Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, and other U.S. states. The federal rule points below are distinguished from Steward's recommended operating practices. Check the chosen platform's current policies and the firm's communication requirements before using a request template.
Keep funeral home review requests separate from care
Choose a contact point that respects the family's preferences and does not interrupt an arrangement meeting, a service, or an unresolved practical task. A request should be easy to decline or ignore. As an operating policy, use one optional invitation and avoid repeated reminders to a family that has not responded.
Do not make help with paperwork, a promised update, or a return of belongings depend on a review. Staff could introduce the invitation with a simple explanation that feedback is optional. They should then return to the family's actual question rather than asking for a rating while someone is waiting for assistance.
Know the federal boundary on incentives
The FTC's Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule guidance says businesses must not offer incentives conditioned, expressly or implicitly, on a review expressing a particular sentiment. Paying for a five-star review violates Section 465.4 even if the reviewer discloses the incentive. A funeral home should not offer a discount, gift, or other benefit in exchange for praise.
The same FTC guidance says the rule does not specifically prohibit asking only customers thought to be happy, but that practice could violate the FTC Act. It also distinguishes sentiment-neutral incentives from incentives for praise; neutral incentives are not automatically prohibited by that rule, but disclosure obligations and platform policies still matter.
For a small funeral home, a straightforward recommended policy is to offer no review incentives at all. That is a management choice, not a claim that every incentive is federally banned. Ask the firm's adviser to review any proposal involving compensation, testimonials, or a third-party reputation service before adopting it.
Invite feedback without sorting people by likely rating
Set a consistent invitation process based on actual service experience and communication preferences, rather than staff predictions of who will praise the firm. Do not use a satisfaction question to send happy respondents to a public review page while directing everyone else into a private channel. Keep private feedback available to everyone.
Respect a request for no further contact. If a practical matter remains unresolved, address it on its merits without asking the family to trade a revised review for action. Staff can document the service issue internally and follow the firm's complaint process while keeping the review invitation separate.
Give staff a short, neutral template
Sample wording to adapt: “If you would like to share your experience of our service, you are welcome to leave an honest review. There is no obligation. You can also contact our team directly with questions or feedback.” Add the correct link only after confirming the firm's profile and the platform's rules.
Do not write the family's review for them or suggest experiences they have not described. Avoid sample praise for people to paste into a review box. Staff training should focus on explaining the optional invitation, recognizing a decline, and helping with a broken link without taking over the person's account or choice of words.
Check what a reputation supplier actually does
Before appointing a supplier, ask to see the entire process: recipient selection, invitation wording, reminders, routing, moderation, and reports. Make it clear that the supplier cannot purchase praise or invent customer experiences. A promise of a particular star rating is not a substitute for explaining the work.
Review a fictional test case from start to finish, including a dissatisfied customer and someone who declines contact. Assign one manager to check the process periodically. Judge whether the firm is inviting honest feedback and responding to service issues; do not turn the number of positive reviews into a quota for staff serving families.
Step by step
Put it to work this week
Recommended steps for a respectful, neutral invitation process.
Review the whole invitation
Check wording, timing, recipient selection, reminders, and the destination link with a fictional test.
- Who does it
- Manager
- When
- This week
Write staff boundaries
Make the request optional, prohibit rewards for praise, and state how a decline or complaint is handled.
- Who does it
- Owner
- When
- This week
Inspect supplier settings
Confirm any reputation service uses the approved process and does not redirect people based on expected rating.
- Who does it
- Office manager
- When
- This week
Questions professionals ask
- Can a funeral home offer a discount for a five-star review?
No. The FTC guidance says an incentive conditioned on a positive review violates Section 465.4, even with disclosure. Steward recommends a simpler no-incentive policy for review requests; that recommendation should not be confused with a blanket federal ban on every sentiment-neutral incentive.
- When should a funeral home request a review?
Choose an optional contact point consistent with the family's communication preferences and your firm's policy. Avoid interrupting a service or making the request part of a task the family needs completed. There is no recommended universal number of days in this workflow; considerate timing depends on the circumstances.
- Should staff write a review for a family to approve?
Steward recommends that the person describe their own experience in their own words. Staff can explain where the review link goes and help identify a technical problem, but should not supply praise, invent details, or pressure the person to choose a rating.
Sources and references
These references support the guidance in this article. Each entry names the source and the date we checked it. Open the links for more detail, and confirm current requirements, availability, or costs with the relevant organization before relying on them.
- FTC — Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule: Questions and Answers · checked
The rule does not contain a specific prohibition against such conduct. But this practice could violate the FTC Act.