It’s that time of year when the NFDA releases their annual Cremation and Burial Report. According to the report, cremation is still popular and only going to keep growing — which shouldn’t come as a surprise.

Let’s breakdown the Cremation and Burial Report’s major findings that your funeral home should know.

Cremation and Burial Report Findings

Cremation is continuing to outdo traditional burials. According to the report, they predict the 2019 cremation rate will be 54.8% and burial 39%. By 2040, they predict cremation will increase substantially to 78.4% and burial all the way down to 15.7%.

Non-burial cremation options also are gaining popularity. After the cremation, 42% of cremated remains go to the family, 32.5% get inurned at the cemetery, 16% get scattered, and 8.1% get inurned in a columbarium.

Clearly, the numbers show that cremation isn’t going away. But, why is cremation becoming so popular?

Why Cremation Is on the Rise

There are many factors that contribute to the rise in cremation. To name a few major reasons, there’s lower cost, lower environmental impact, people not being as religious, people not being tied down to a specific location, and people having different funeral preferences now. Ultimately, cremation gives families more opportunities to create personalized funeral experiences.

How Your Funeral Home Can Adapt

What should your funeral home do with the report’s findings? If you don’t already, you may want to consider offering cremation services in the near future. Cremation rates are only going to keep increasing, so your funeral home needs to adapt to your families’ needs.

If you don’t offer cremation services and your competitor down the road does, you’re missing out on potential client families. Per the report, licensed crematories in the U.S. increased by 8.9% in the last two years and about one-third of U.S. funeral homes have their own crematory or plan to build one in the next five years.

Even if you already offer cremation, there are several things you can do to expand your services. Like we mentioned earlier, non-burial cremation options are increasing, as well. So, one way your funeral home can accommodate this change is by creating an ash scattering garden.

You also can make it clear to client families that they can — and are encouraged to — have a visitation and funeral service when choosing cremation. Create an informational brochure to go over at the arrangement conference that covers the basics of your funeral service options.

And, once you’ve created or updated your cremation services, don’t forget to create a marketing strategy for promoting it to your community! Not sure where to start? Our SEO and social media marketing packages can help!

Click here to download the 2019 NFDA Cremation and Burial Report.