The research subject focuses on Reynolds Funeral Services. A private limited
organisation positioned in the funeral care industry, with offices situated in Bognor
Regis, Chichester and Littlehampton. Reynolds provide a service taking care of the
formalities associated with funeral arrangements and offer the option for prepaid
funeral plans.
To date, the organisation has encountered the overarching problem regarding a lack of
engagement from the Boomer generation (those aged between 51-70 years) concerning
funeral plan sign ups. The issue is important as primary research evidenced a decrease
in funeral plan sales of 15.2% (Reynolds, 2023) since year ended 2020, consequently
leading to a decrease in revenue for this sector. Secondary data supported the wider
industry decrease in plan sales by highlighting a ‘8.9 million decrease from 29.3 million
protection plans being taken out in 2014, to 20.4 million plans being taken out in 2021
within the United Kingdom’ (Butler, 2022) expressing the necessary investigation
towards the barriers preventing individuals from purchasing a plan.
Interviews with Reynolds customers outlined ‘ineffective marketing strategies’ as the
root cause for lack of engagement. The primary problem for incentivising the target
demographic transpired to be advertising failing to address misconceptions such as
customers being ‘too young’ to take up a funeral plan. Understanding and identifying
barriers for customer behaviours serves as a key component in market penetration.
Addressing these limitations means Reynolds are able to influence customer
perceptions and enlighten them to the advantages preplanning encompasses, increasing
the probability for escalated sales.