Six tests, fifteen minutes
A life events website has six jobs. Each has a short test you can run yourself, on your own phone, in daylight, holding it the way an older visitor would.
The first three are the path from a family's phone to a person who can help. If any of those three fails, fix it before anything else on the site.
1. Reach a person in one tap
Test: open the site on a phone, on a page that is not the home page. Without scrolling, is there a number you can tap? Tap it. Does it dial?
Pass: a tappable number in the header of every page, with the hours or the out-of-hours arrangement written beside it in words.
Fail: the number is in the footer, or only on the contact page, or it is an image, or nothing says what happens at night.
Fix: a call button in the header on every page and after each main section, and one sentence saying who answers out of hours.
2. Publish the price list as a current page
Test: find your prices from the home page in two clicks. Is it a page or a PDF? Check three figures against what you are charging today. Read it on the phone without zooming.
Pass: a structured page in the layout your regulator sets out, current, readable on a phone, and editable by your own staff.
Fail: a PDF, a photograph of a printed card, a page you cannot edit yourself, or figures that no longer match.
Fix: rebuild the price list as a page with each item as a field. UK funeral directors should build to the CMA's standardised price list and additional options list requirements, US funeral homes to the FTC Funeral Rule's price list obligations, and everyone should confirm the current detail with their regulator or trade body rather than assume. Then set a reminder to check it whenever a supplier price moves.
3. Say what to do first
Test: from the home page, find out what to do when someone dies at home. Time it.
Pass: a "when someone dies" page inside fifteen seconds, in numbered steps, split by where the death happened, with the number at the top.
Fail: no such page, or it is three paragraphs of reassurance with no steps.
Fix: write the page from the questions you actually get asked on the phone. Include whether there is any urgency, who to call first, and what to have to hand.
4. Read comfortably for an older visitor
Test: hold the phone at arm's length in daylight. Can you read the body text without squinting? Is any text sitting on top of a photograph? Does anything move on its own?
Pass: large type, strong contrast, generous spacing, still images, no pop-ups.
Fail: light grey body text, thin fonts, sliders, a chat bubble that opens by itself, a cookie banner covering the number.
Fix: raise the base type size, raise the contrast, remove animation, and make sure no overlay can cover the phone number.
5. Let planning-ahead work be booked
Test: try to book a pre-need, will writing or memorial design consultation. Can you choose home, office or video? Does the confirmation say who will be in touch?
Pass: a booking route on the planning-ahead page, with location options and a plain confirmation.
Fail: a general contact form, or a phone number only.
Fix: a scheduler such as Calendly or Acuity, with a separate appointment type for each conversation, embedded on the relevant page and nowhere near the bereavement route.
6. Show what backs you
Test: find your trade body membership, your qualifications, and where they apply your regulatory position and your insurance. Find a real photograph of your premises and your team.
Pass: all of it inside a minute, on an about or team page, with a summary line on every page.
Fail: "trusted for generations" with nothing behind it, or stock photography.
Fix: state memberships and registrations plainly. Will writers and estate planners should be specific, because will writing is regulated differently from one country to another and clients look for professional body status and professional indemnity cover. Memorial masons should state their registration for fixing memorials. Then replace every stock image with a real one.
Scoring
Six of six: the site is doing its work. Add service line pages next.
Four or five: fix the failures. No rebuild needed.
Three or fewer, with any of tests 1 to 3 failing: families are leaving the site to call someone else, and the fixes are days of work rather than a project.
Where this sits
This is the launch checklist for every funeral and life events website we build, and the first fifteen minutes of a diagnosis on an existing one. The detail differs by trade, which is why there are separate pages for funeral directors, celebrants, memorial masons and will writers.