Olsen Funeral Services – The future of Funeral Providers in Central Alberta

4 thoughts on “Olsen Funeral Services – The future of Funeral Providers in Central Alberta”

1. 1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see?
   My initial impression is that, the site provide a funeral arrangement services. Your site title which is Olsen Funeral Services make it clear that what your site is about. You make it pretty clear that what is the services that you offer which is Immediate need, Pre-Arrangement and also the Book of Memories.  The site looks formal and professional in it’s business. One thing that i wanted talk about is the background picture you used, which it is like a forest with waterfalls. I am not sure if the picture is taken originally from the location, but the background picture does not really fit with your site title. Without the title, i would think of the site is about tourism which i can go relax at such a beautiful place in the picture. For my little suggestion, you can still keep the background picture but you can make the title more noticeable. Make sure visitors will read the title before going to look for other information in your site.
   2) Think of something you want to find on this website. Now try to find it. Did you find what you were looking for? Was anything confusing?
   If money isn’t the problem, the first thing i want to find is the location. You have make a very clear indication of the location, which we can actually know what the location by clicking the link you provided under your site title or i can scroll down and see the map. I would like to see some screenshots of the location, so that i can have some initial impression on the location. You can have some screenshots of the location displayed on your site as well, which i do not found it.
   If money is the concern, I would like to make an inquiry about what kind of package you provide and the fees. Under Immediate Need, I can fill in the detail about the funeral planning and wait for your response. For me, i would like to know the price, so i will be looking for a phone number to contact you or i will be looking forward to make an appointment with you about the pricing. I suggest that you can actually put a button to make an appointment with you at the home page, so people who interested could press the button and fill in some basic information about the time and date prefer for the appointment and their contact detail so that you confirm with them about the confirmation later with email or direct phone call.
    
   3) Would you be encouraged to call us if there was a death in your family? Can you tell us why (or why not)?
   If it is my first time facing this kind of thing and i do not have any experience on it, yes, i would contact you to ask for inquiry or appointment. If i have experienced it and this is not the first time, i would contact my previous funeral services, unless I am not happy with the previous funeral service then i will contact you. I might also contact you to compare the services you offer with other funeral service provider. 
   4) Go to search engine of your choice and find one other company that offers a similar service. Compare the two companies. Which on do you prefer? Why?
   
   I found Stark Funeral services website. After i seen your site and then i visited start funeral service website, i would prefer your service, because your site provides more information and looks more professional on it. Your site also state it clear that what kind of services you offer, like i mentioned immediate needs, pre arrangement and also the book of memories. Stark funeral website did not make it clear about these services, i have to read carefully in their menu to see which category is related to what i look for. 
   Another thing your site gain benefit from them is that you provide the help and guidance that provide a lot of useful information for the visitors of your site. Especially for people who are new to this kind of thing, they will need more information to help them understand what they need to do and why they should do it.
   5) Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have.
   Overall, your website looks professional and it’s very informative. It is also user friendly that I can actually look for things that i wanted to look for. It is very clear and straightforward. I would suggest to make people more clear about how is the process of the funeral, which i think is very important, you can have a simple step by step instruction telling what the customer should first do first and the following. Make it like 5 steps which it will make things look more understandable and simple. Everyone who look for funeral services might be the first time or it might be long time ago, so the first thing they wanted to know is what are the steps they should do? is it complicated? do i need to prepare a lots of things? So, if you provide a step by step instruction, it gain advantage for your website because people find that you will arrange things properly for them and they just have to follow the steps you provided. Such as for immediate need, they should first fill in the form and submit and do the following. A slideshow of displaying the steps with a short description of instructions would be a very clear and interesting solution. Customers will only need to click through the few slides and they will know what they should do first. It would be a very good information for me to know what are the steps i should take to arrange a funeral when i am new to this.
    
   I hope my feedback could be useful for you and all the best to you.

2. 1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see?
    
   Beautiful photo. Quiet. Calming.
    
   The navigation bar is different than I’ve ever seen. Easy to follow.
    
   The colors throughout are calm and soothing. Even though you are using cool colors, the overall feel is warm.
    
   A couple of thoughts:
    

   The name disappears a bit because of the coloring. Have you tried using a translucent filler around it, the same way as it is done for the address? I don’t know if it will work better or not and thought I’d mention the possibility.
   Where the photo is below “Warmest Welcome,” have you thought about having a video instead of a photo?

    
   2) Think of something you want to find on this website. Now try to find it. Did you find what you were looking for? Was anything confusing?
    
   I went looking for pricing. I presume that will be included on the pages re. merchandise, when they are complete. Even if not specific pricing—a range, since funerals can be extremely expensive.
    
   It also wasn’t easy to find the products and services, maybe because “The Olsen Difference” is such a general way of saying here are our products and services.
    
   3) Would you be encouraged to call us if there was a death in your family? Can you tell us why (or why not)?
    
   Yes. I think more so after looking that the “About Us” page, which confirms that this is a husband and wife team. Family. Family is especially important when death occurs.
    
   There is something else though. My usual assumption is that if funeral services do not mention a specific religion, that it serves Christians. There is nothing that I noticed that says otherwise.
    
   Being Jewish, that is something that caught my attention.
    
   4) Go to search engine of your choice and find one other company that offers a similar service. Compare the two companies. Which on do you prefer? Why?
    
   I went to the first appropriate site listed in Google: https://www.beddingfieldfuneralservice.com/index.htm.
    
   Although it uses a nice photo. It isn’t as large nor as inviting as yours that makes want to stay on the page and visit for a while. The coloring is more neutral and is not as inviting as yours either.
    
   Their site is complete. They do show their caskets and prices with quite a wide range, which is a help.
    
   And the entire site just doesn’t feel as warm and welcoming as yours. So, if I had to choose solely based upon websites, I’m going to come up to visit you in Canada.
    
   5) Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have.
    
   Since the photo, which I love, is of the outdoors, it is unclear initially whether or not you also are a cemetery. After looking, I don’t see anything, so I guess you do not.
    
   However, if you are affiliated with any cemeteries, it might be helpful to mention that.
    

3. 1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see?
   The background was the first thing I noticed when I visited the site and I was immediately distracted by it.

   The header isn’t easily readable – it blends with the background. Perhaps a using simpler background will help make the header stand out and also eliminate the distraction.

   I couldn’t find much information about the site on the homepage although I do know that this site offers funeral services because of its name.

   The layout of the page looks too busy. I felt like there was just too many links to click on so that I wasn’t sure which page should I visit first.

   It could be just me but the colors and wood background/texture makes me think of doors, fences and paint jobs rather than funeral services.

   2) Think of something you want to find on this website. Now try to find it. Did you find what you were looking for? Was anything confusing?

   I want to know the services offered by the site.

   I see an “Our Services” section on the homepage but there isn’t any service listed under it.

   So I looked around a bit more and tried using the Search box under the “Our Services” section and noticed that the results has a line that says “The listings below represent the services entrusted to our care.” Ok… now I’m guessing that “Our Services” pertained to the funeral services and not the site’s services. This is really confusing.

   The navigation links are just too many and upon clicking them, it turns out that they are drop down menus with more links.

   Now I see that under “The Olsen Difference”, there is an “Our Services” link. So this is the link I am looking for!

   The Services page and it’s subpages did help me understand the services offered by the site but I wish they could be found easily.

   3) Would you be encouraged to call us if there was a death in your family? Can you tell us why (or why not)?

   No because finding information in the site is very difficult. The services you offer seem great but it is just too tasking to browse around (especially since death in the family can be really stressful).

   4) Go to search engine of your choice and find one other company that offers a similar service. Compare the two companies. Which on do you prefer? Why?

   After making a search for “funeral services”, I landed at https://www.thornridgefuneralhome.com

   Their site is a lot more easier to navigate around and information was easier to find. Their website is a lot better but I could not find a list of the services they offer so this is a big plus for Olsen funeral services.

   In terms of the site, I prefer Thornridge funeral services but in terms of the services offered, I’ll go with Olsen funeral homes because its a lot more clearer and I think the explanations were better.

   5) Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have.

   I find the scrollbars in the “Our Warmest Welcome” section at the homepage unnecessary. Since it is a welcome message, I think it would be better if the entire text can be easily read by the user without having to scroll down.

   About the “Our Services” section at the homepage: I think what’s confusing here is that the entire section does not look grouped together because of its background. Maybe it would be better if the background was continuous.

   Also, under the “The Olsen Difference” link, “Funeral Services” has “Current Services” and “Past Services” options similar to the “Our Services” section at the homepage. I’m wondering whether “Our Services” (at the homepage) should be “Funeral Services” instead.

   The site’s navigation is very confusing. There is just too many links to click on with more links in its submenu. Main pages such as “About us” or “Services” aren’t easy to find; although, I did see “Contact Us” present in almost all the submenus which makes it too repeatative. I think it would be better if you just use a single “Contact Us” link or button on the site’s pages instead of including it in all submenus.

   The layout could also be improved especially for the homepage – it doesn’t feel balanced. The homepage doens’t tell much about the site or its services.

   All in all, I think Olsen funeral services offers good service but the site can put off visitors because of its difficult and confusing navigation. If these issues can be resolved, it would definitely big a plus in getting more people to browse your site.

4. 1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see?
   My first impression when I view the homepage is a friendly, welcoming experience. The website looks professionally made and appears that it will be easy to navigate. The website also loaded very quickly, which surprised me with the background image that they have.
   2) Think of something you want to find on this website. Now try to find it. Did you find what you were looking for? Was anything confusing?
   Every website is trying to sell a product and/or service. My first thought was: how much is Olsen Funeral Services going to charge? I couldn’t really find any information on their pricing. I even checked in the FAQ that they have. They talk about all the different costs involved in a funeral, but failed to actually list any prices. They also say that they are able to keep their prices relatively lower, but again, there seems to be no prices listed anywhere so that people can easily find out how much something they want might cost.
   3) Would you be encouraged to call us if there was a death in your family? Can you tell us why (or why not)?
   When a company doesn’t list their prices on their very own website, it encourages people to not get involved with the company. I personally would call Olsen Funeral Services and made sure I know what they were going to charge before doing business with them.
   4) Go to search engine of your choice and find one other company that offers a similar service. Compare the two companies. Which on do you prefer? Why?
   Another company that I found was Ready Funeral, https://www.readyfuneral.com/. Ready Funeral’s website has a fairly simple layout. It might be easier for senior citizens to navigate. They also appear to have more experience, by being in the business for longer. I would still choose Olsen Funeral Services though because of the friendly and welcoming impression that I get from them. Their website feels more insightful and they focus more on helping people than Ready Funeral does.
   5) Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have.
   This is a very well constructed website, and I enjoyed taking the time to look at it and giving what I could for feedback.

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