How to Send Planning Center Invites to Families
February 3, 2021
By Chris Gomez, Director of Product Marketing
As a funeral professional, you’re likely incredibly busy serving families and keeping up with multiple cases at a time. That’s why organization is incredibly important! But have you ever relied on email and text exchanges, post-it notes, physical checklists, and phone calls and felt overwhelmed by the upkeep?
Making arrangements with families is a time-sensitive process, and we know you want to ensure that every detail is perfect. Passare’s Planning Center is an online platform to help you work with families on arrangements, anytime, anywhere, from any internet-connected device. The only thing you have to do is invite a family to collaborate!
Sending Planning Center Invitations
So, you’ve decided you want to invite a family to the Planning Center, but how should you send the invitation? From within Passare, you can send invitations by email or text. Another option is to send the family a link to your website to get started.
The Text Invite
After speaking with countless funeral homes, we recommend text as the best option for you to connect with your families. We’re in the smartphone era, and with 275 million people owning a smartphone in the U.S., it is the quickest, most convenient way to reach families. (Fun fact: Last month was the first month EVER that text invites surpassed email invites!)
Text messages are designed and intended to be immediately opened and read, even from people you may not recognize. At a time when a family may be receiving dozens of emails, your email invitation could get lost in the mix or flagged as spam. On the flipside, the family would also be receiving dozens of text messages and reading each one.
The Email Invite
The next best option is to send an email invite from within Passare. You may be tempted to think that email is the option you should rely on, but you should look at how many unopened emails you have in your inbox right now. If you’re lucky, it might be 10-20. For others, that number is in the hundreds or thousands. Now check your text messages. Notice anything different? You should.
The Website Link
Finally, you can invite families to use the Planning Center via a self-started case link, which can be posted on your website or printed on a card that you hand to the family. This is a great option if you have part-time staff who don’t have access to Passare. You can also use this option in addition to the email and text options above.
So, if you want your families to see and use the Planning Center, send the text invitation or invite families via email and then add a link on your website. Hopefully these tips will help you work more efficiently with families!
Next time, I’ll discuss the top 3 BEST Planning Center tips that you can use to get the most out of the platform.
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Read all the articles in this series!
Collaborating with Dispersed Families
Collaborating when Families Don’t Want to Come in Right Away
Collaborating when Families Want Custom Experiences
How Families (and YOU!) Benefit from Using the Planning Center
How to Position the Planning Center to Families
When to Invite Families to the Planning Center
How to Send Planning Center Invites to Families
The Top 3 Best Planning Center Tips for Online Collaboration
