The Future of Deathcare: Key Takeaways from the Chicago Summit 2025
Last weekend, we attended our first Future of DeathCare Summit in Chicago, and the experience delivered. The event brought together funeral directors, cemetery operators, and deathcare innovators for hard-hitting sessions on ethics, data privacy, and the industry's digital transformation.
Being in the room with industry professionals gave us clarity we couldn't get anywhere else. Funeral homes are struggling with fragmented digital systems, trust and reputational issues, and a massive gap between families' expectations of Amazon-level service and the reality of fax machines.
Some key takeaways
Innovation & Technology: Why Now Matters
The funeral industry was built for an older generation. Yet, today’s consumers (the ones actually managing loss) spend an average of 540 hours navigating death-related logistics and bring radically different expectations. COVID accelerated this shift, normalizing digital interaction in even the most intimate moments. Now, over 40% of families expect livestreaming as part of a service.
Professionals know they lag behind other sectors in innovation, but the tide is turning. Livestreams, online planning tools, and digital obituaries are quickly becoming baseline expectations, not add-ons. Meanwhile, a wave of tech-forward entrants is pushing the industry toward modernization.
Here’s the tension: much of the current model still exists out of tradition, not consumer need. That matters because our communities are increasingly scattered, but funeral home options remain geographically fixed. This mismatch creates a growing opportunity and an urgent need for digital solutions that meet families where they are and how they actually buy.
Collaboration: The Fragmentation Problem
The average family interacts with a dozen different vendors after a death. Twelve! Yet there’s shockingly little collaboration among connected sectors such as hospice, nursing care, insurance, and funeral services.
Newer entrants (independent celebrants, green disposition providers - think human composting and water cremation) are leading the charge on integration. They recognize that collaboration, not competition, expands what’s possible for families. The potential for smarter coordination and thoughtful consolidation is enormous. When we connect the dots across industries, everyone benefits, and consumers finally get the seamless experience they deserve.
The Future Of Deathcare Summit, CHI, October 2025.
Education & Communication: Fundamental to Better Business
A striking reality:
76% of funeral professionals say they offer education to families, yet only 37% of consumers recall receiving it. Important information is getting lost. We live and breathe this world daily, but for most people we need to treat every loss as their first.
Communication isn’t about big gestures; it’s built in the small moments.
When a customer uses the terms coffin and casket interchangeably, we know what they mean. The point isn’t to correct, it’s to connect. Effective communication means stepping out of industry jargon and listening beyond the literal words.
People don’t choose options they don’t know exist.
Education isn’t a nice-to-have; it’s fundamental to doing business well. And the fear that teaching consumers will send them to competitors? Misplaced. When families understand their options, everyone benefits.
Today’s consumers expect personalization, but that only happens through education and active listening. If someone reaches out about pricing, the onus is on the business to explain what that price includes and why it matters. Knowledge builds trust, and trust drives every meaningful decision.
Transparency: Beyond Pricing, Owning the Narrative
When families ask about pricing, they’re really asking for clarity and trust. A price tag doesn’t tell them what they’re paying for, or why it matters. Every quote is a chance to educate, not upsell.
If the death care industry doesn’t tell our story, families will fill in the gaps with the limited and often negative information they have, and those assumptions rarely work in our favor.
Reputation isn’t built on cost or quality alone but how you explain your services with care. Businesses that take the time to demystify costs, processes, and options don’t just earn customers they earn credibility. Transparency isn’t a marketing tactic; it’s the new baseline for trust in deathcare.
Conclusion
The biggest takeaway? We need to meet customers where they are. Building strategic partnerships with forward-thinking funeral homes and deathcare providers will be essential to getting our solution into the hands of grieving families when it matters most.