January 1998
The Director - Features
Generational Experience Shapes Consumers' Attitudes and Behaviors
In 1997, Batesville Casket Co. and Burke Marketing Research conducted a national phone study, talking with more than 800 people, age 40 and older, about funeral service. Generational Experience Shapes Consumers' Attutudes and Behaviors reveals the results of the study, which was created to obtain a deeper knowledge of today's consumers' attitudes and beliefs towards funerals and funeral products. The survey also was conducted to identify what funeral service professionals could do to improve consumer satisfaction.
Analyzing consumers from a generational perspective, the study grouped the participants into three different age clusters—the GI generation consumers, who were born between 1901 and 1924; the silent generation consumers, who were born between 1925 and 1942; and the baby boom generation, who were born between 1943 and 1956.
The article, which was written by Joe Weigel, the marketing director for Batesville, Batesville, IN, explains the different needs of each age group and advises funeral directors on how to better serve each group.
