Inspirational speaker, Tony Robbins, once said, “Every problem is a gift-without problems, we would not grow.” Here at ASD, we believe ardently in this philosophy. It is the reason why, if we ever see you at a convention and you give us kind feedback, we will still always ask, what can we do to better serve you better? The key to ASD helping funeral homes communicate has always been in the answers we receive to this question. Our commitment to constantly evolving and refining our answering service has been absolutely vital to our company’s success.
In recent years, we have found that anticipating the needs of funeral directors have led us to creating innovative solutions we otherwise never would have discovered. The challenge for us has always been getting the word out to our clients that these solutions now exist. We know that funeral directors are pulled in a thousand different directions and finding time to explore our answering service’s latest updates may not be at the top of your to-do list. This is why we always endeavor to use every medium at our disposal, including our blog, monthly newsletter, social media and video page, to share details on our latest innovations that are helping funeral homes communicate more effectively.
Here are 7 recent enhancements to ASD’s services you might have missed.
1. MobileFH® Texting – Verify your number to meet new FCC standards so you can conveniently text with families using your funeral home business number.
Staying connected with the families you serve shouldn’t be complicated or impersonal. With more people relying on texting as their preferred method of communication, funeral homes now have a powerful opportunity to meet families where they are — on their phones. That’s where ASD’s MobileFH® Texting makes a real difference. Building on the success of our MobileFH® Calling solution, MobileFH Texting lets your staff send and receive text messages using your funeral homes main number — keeping personal numbers private and secure. Now both calls and texts can happen seamlessly through one trusted line.
ASD first introduced our MobileFH® Texting back in 2019. However, despite more than 67% of our clients using our MobileFH Calling feature, our statistics reveal that less than 10% currently utilize MobileFH® Texting. So many funeral professionals are missing out on an opportunity to enhance customer service with families with improving their funeral home’s communication processes. If you haven’t taken advantage of this powerful ASD solution, we implore you take steps today to get set up for MobileFH® Texting and discover how effortless and secure family communication can be.
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If you have any questions about setting up MobileFH® Texting for your funeral home, please reach out to our Customer Service team at solutions@myasd.com and someone will be in touch with you shortly to help you get started.
2. Call Forwarding Check – Confirm your phone lines are properly call forwarded using our app
Earlier this year, ASD ASD released an enhanced version of ASD Mobile introducing our new Call Forwarding Check feature to the app. This feature allows you to manually verify your phone lines are properly call forwarded using our app. If your funeral home has designated office hours, you can also use Call Forwarding Check to have ASD automatically check your call forwarding on a regular basis and notify you proactively if the lines are not forwarded by a certain time. The app update allows you to set up your own preferences and use ASD Mobile to control how and when you are notified of Call Forwarding Check alerts.
3. Solicitor Shield® – Take control of how your calls are screened by ASD
In 2024, ASD released an updated version of ASD Mobile that introduced new Solicitor Shield® Call Blocking tools, which allow you to specify how ASD should screen calls from specific numbers, streamlining communication processes while ensuring only designated contacts are able to connect during critical times. Introduced in 2010, Solicitor Shield® has been a trusted tool for ensuring spam calls are effectively filtered by ASD. With our latest updates, funeral homes now have even greater control over how unwanted calls are managed by our answering service.
4. FuneralSync™ – Explore our newest integration partners
ASD’s FuneralSync™ program has been around for more a decade, allowing funeral directors to conveniently integrate multiple software programs with ASD’s system to reduce data entry tasks. Over the past couple of months, new partners have joined the program, giving funeral homes the ability to integrate even more of their systems with ASD. By making our API available to all technology companies who serve the funeral profession, ASD has opened the door to greater connectivity and innovation for the funeral service community.
Below are three of our latest partners to join the FuneralSync™ Program:
Cadence: Cadence is a trusted aftercare solution for funeral homes across North America, providing secure estate tools, identity theft protection, personalized executor guidance, and compassionate grief support. With Cadence’s comprehensive offerings, families gain peace of mind on their post-loss journey, while funeral professionals are empowered to strengthen their services and grow their business.
OutCompete Marketing: Outcompete Marketing is a family-owned, full-service agency specializing in tailored marketing solutions for independent funeral homes, cremation services, and cemeteries. With over 75 years of combined experience in the death care profession, they offer custom website development, digital advertising, SEO, social media management, and community outreach strategies designed to help funeral businesses stand out in a competitive market
Afterword: Afterword is a comprehensive, cloud-based platform designed to help funeral directors manage every aspect of their operations—from case management and document automation to online arrangements and payment processing. It enables funeral homes to offer families a seamless, personalized planning experience both online and in-person, while streamlining internal workflows and enhancing revenue opportunities.
These new collaborations streamline operations for funeral directors, saving them valuable time and minimizing the risk of errors from duplicate data entry. As more tech companies take advantage of our open API, FuneralSync™ continues to evolve into a powerful, centralized hub for funeral home management, helping directors focus more on serving families and less on administrative tasks.
5. ReAlert™- Receive a reminder alert for outstanding messages when you’re on-call
6. Message Transcriptions – Review a written transcription of every call handled by ASD
Introduced in 2023, ASD’s Automatic Message Transcriptions offering our clients a seamless and efficient way to access and review their messages online or via our mobile app. While it is helpful to be able to read the full conversations of calls, the most powerful component of our message transcriptions lies in its searching capabilities. Using our Deep Archive, you can swiftly locate specific information related to a particular case by scanning the entire conversation text during the search process. This enhanced searching capability ensures that you and your team can efficiently access and retrieve relevant details from conversations with ease.
In addition to transcribing every incoming call, ASD will also now be transcribing calls after they are patched to the on-call director, giving you a a full record of your own conversations. This will also apply to any calls that are placed using our mobile app. In addition to helping funeral homes monitor their communication, this solution can also save funeral home teams a great deal of time by offering effortless message retrieval.
7. Web Form WatchDog™- Receive immediate notification when an urgent form is submitted on the funeral home website.
As the oldest feature on this list, Web Form WatchDog™ has become a trusted tool for helping funeral homes communicate more efficiently with their website visitors. Still, only 17% of our client base is currently using this solution, which means that many funeral homes are missing out an opportunity to protect their firms sensitive web communication. Winner of the 2018 NFDA Innovation Award, Web Form WatchDog™ sends the on-call funeral director an alert when an urgent need is communicated through the funeral home website’s Contact Us form.
If you would like to learn more information about our latest solutions and how ASD is helping funeral homes communicate more effectively, reach out to our Customer Service team at 800-868-9950 ext. 5 or email solutions@myasd.com.
Related Reading
Simplify Your Life as an On-Call Funeral Director: 6 Must-Watch ASD Videos
Achieving a Balanced Funeral Director Lifestyle: 5 Ways ASD Can Help
The Power of Innovation: 12 Lesser-Known Solutions for Funeral Homes by ASD
