As a funeral professional, chances are you’re not thinking about how to reach younger generations — like Millennials and Generation Z — to create their funeral plans. But should you be?
By 2030, Millennials will have the most purchasing power of any generation. That’s only five years away! If your funeral home isn’t marketing to them, you could be missing out on potential business.
But are younger generations even thinking about preplanning their funerals?
Most likely, not yet — but you’ll want to be ready when they are. Change often happens gradually. By understanding current consumer behaviors of Millennials and Gen Zers, you can set your funeral home business up for success in decades to come when it’s time to tap into these younger generations.
Defining the Generations
Each generation is influenced by the society they were raised in, contributing to fundamental differences in how they make purchases and what their priorities are. Understanding those differences is key to helping your business plan for the future. We referenced a research guide from the Library of Congress for the breakdown below. However, we would like to note that the traits shared are generalizations as each person’s life experience is subjective.
Millennials: Born 1981-1996
For a while, discussing Millennial trends was quite popular in the media, making it easy for people to think of this group as those who are currently in or freshly out of college. However, members of the Millennial generation are currently in their 30s and 40s, in the middle of their career and with families.
Gen Z: Born 1997-2012
Meanwhile, members of Gen Z are the ones who are currently in college or fairly new in their careers, spanning ages 16-26 in 2025. This generation has grown up with technology, the internet and social media at their fingertips. Most grew up with a cell phone, possibly even a smartphone.
Millennial & GEn Z Consumer Behavior
Consumer behavior across generations is constantly shifting alongside society, marketing trends and advances in technology. While these behaviors will continue to evolve, you can use these insights to inform your marketing tactics to reach Millennial and Gen Z customers.
Millennial Consumer Behavior
Behavior: Similar to their predecessors (Baby Boomers and Gen X), Millennials value customer service; what that looks like, however, is a little different. They prefer to feel connected with businesses over social media, and it’s important they feel the business is authentic in their online presence.
Funeral Home Solution: Highlight your employees and celebrate culture on your social media, showcasing your values and letting people’s personalities shine through.
Not sure where to get started with your funeral home’s social media strategy? We shared successful social media strategies in this previous blog post.
Behavior: As a result of growing up during the Great Recession of 2008, Millennials tend to be more minimalistic than other generations and are more likely to spend their money on experiences than material goods. They also place an emphasis on health and wellness.
Funeral Home Solution: When marketing toward Millennial customers, consider positioning preplanning as a form of self-care — something that not only improves their quality of life by giving them peace of mind that their final wishes are recorded but also shows care for their loved ones.
BONUS: After they’ve completed their preplanning, encourage your clients to discuss their end-of-life plans with their loved ones. According to Kaiser Family Foundation, only 18% of Americans have done so. It’s no wonder many are unfamiliar with the planning process!
Behavior: How Millennials prefer to pay for purchases varies more than other generations. According to HubSpot’s 2024 Consumer Trends Report, 41% prefer to pay in full, but 34% prefer to pay on a subscription basis and 26% prefer installments.
Funeral Home Solution: Be sure to discuss preneed pricing options so they can find a plan that’s right for their needs. You can find answers to common preneed funding questions in this blog post.
Gen Z Consumer Behavior
Behavior: Having grown up with cell phones and social media, it’s no surprise that Gen Z has a mobile-first mindset. They want their mobile experiences to be convenient with user-friendly interfaces and seamless checkout process.
Funeral Home Solution: In a recent blog post unpacking trends in funeral home operations, we shared that more families are going to be looking for digital solutions to make funeral planning quicker and easier. Gen Z is no different. If you haven’t already, consider adding an online storefront through platforms like eFuneral. With customized solutions for each funeral home, eFuneral can help you capture leads, free up staff time and meet the growing demand for digital convenience.
Behavior: Being more connected to the world around them than any other generation means Gen Zers crave ultra-personalized experiences, and they want businesses to understand them on a deeper level.
Funeral Home Solution: Give Gen Z (and others) opportunities to interact with your funeral home in the form of polls, surveys and responding to comments on social media, whether they’re on your own posts, the posts of potential customers or those of other businesses. For more ideas, check out this post from Sprout Social.
Behavior: Gen Z is the most racially diverse generation so far with less than 50% identifying as white.
Funeral Home Solution: Look into the main demographics in your funeral home’s service area and research funeral practices or rituals for cultures not currently represented in your offerings. Consider ways you could expand your services to be more inclusive and reflective of the populations you’re serving. This could be a good opportunity to crowdsource ideas from your community — let their experiences inform any changes you make.
Homesteaders can help you get started with our Día de Muertos digital toolkit if your community serves a significant Hispanic population.
Other Trends to Note
Some trends transcend generational differences between Millennials and Gen Z. Here’s a few worth keeping in mind.
Consumers Are Looking and Shopping Online
Across generations, 59% of consumers prefer to do independent product research before talking to a person (HubSpot 2024 Consumer Trends Report). That means, by the time someone is talking to you, they’re already somewhat educated. Focus instead on asking questions to assess what they already know and to personalize their experience with you to their needs.
Social Media Is #1 for Product Discovery
Consumers are increasingly looking to social media to find new products and services — in Gen Z, Millennials and Gen X. While Gen Z and Millennials may not be looking to plan their funerals just yet, your funeral home can set the groundwork for attracting those customers when the time comes by meeting them where they are: online!
Start building your online presence and generating reviews now to set yourself up for future success. As we shared in a recent blog post, roughly 92% of consumers trust online reviews to assist in determining whether to do business with a company. Not sure where or how to start generating reviews? Elevia is specifically designed to leverage the strong relationships your funeral home has with the families you serve to improve your ranking and reviews on Google.
Younger Generations Believe in the Importance of Funerals
In a 2024 survey by the National Funeral Director’s Association (NFDA), 68% of Gen Z respondents strongly agreed it is important to commemorate the life of a loved one with a funeral or memorial service, compared to only 44% of Baby Boomers. While some news sources have predicted Millennials and Gen Z may move away from traditional funerals, NFDA’s study told a different story, with one funeral director saying, “younger generations… are even more likely than Baby Boomers to think of funeral directors as important, valuable, experts in relevant products and services and trustworthy.”
For more insights into how to connect with consumers across generations, check out this previous blog post. What other trends do you foresee for the funeral profession? Let us know in the comments below.
