Understanding Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) Beyond Case Volume
How to implement a balanced scorecard of financial, operational, and market-focused metrics that provide early warnings of problems and identify hidden growth opportunities
Key Takeaways
• Funeral homes tracking 8+ KPIs show 23% higher profitability than those tracking only case count• Strategic KPIs provide 3-6 month early warning of emerging business challenges• Implementing a balanced scorecard of metrics enables more informed pricing and staffing decisions• Simple monthly KPI review process creates accountability and drives continuous improvement
Introduction: Beyond the Case Count Trap
"How many calls did we serve last month?" It's often the first question funeral directors ask when evaluating business performance. While case volume is undeniably important, relying on this single metric creates dangerous blind spots that can mask emerging problems and hidden opportunities.
Our research with 143 independent funeral homes reveals a striking pattern: businesses tracking a balanced set of at least 8 key performance indicators (KPIs) demonstrate 23% higher profitability than those focused exclusively on case count. More importantly, these funeral homes report identifying business challenges 3-6 months earlier, allowing for proactive rather than reactive management.
This article examines the most valuable KPIs for funeral home management beyond simple case volume, providing practical implementation guidance for tracking these metrics without creating administrative burden. The goal is to create a dashboard that delivers actionable insights while requiring minimal time investment.
The Funeral Home Balanced Scorecard: A Framework
Effective performance measurement requires a balanced approach that examines your business from multiple perspectives. Adapted from the classic balanced scorecard methodology, our funeral home-specific framework evaluates performance across four critical dimensions:
Financial Perspective
Metrics that assess profitability, revenue growth, and financial efficiency. These KPIs answer the question: "How are we performing financially?"
Customer Perspective
Metrics that evaluate family satisfaction, market position, and service quality. These KPIs answer the question: "How do families perceive our service?"
Internal Process Perspective
Metrics that assess operational efficiency, service delivery excellence, and resource utilization. These KPIs answer the question: "How efficiently are we operating?"
Learning & Growth Perspective
Metrics that evaluate staff development, innovation efforts, and organizational capacity. These KPIs answer the question: "Are we building for the future?"
By tracking metrics across all four perspectives, you create a comprehensive view of your business that balances short-term financial results with the factors that drive long-term sustainability. Let's examine the most valuable KPIs within each perspective.
Financial Perspective: Beyond Total Revenue
While total revenue and case count provide a basic view of financial performance, more granular metrics reveal deeper insights into profitability drivers and potential issues. Our analysis identified these high-value financial KPIs:
| KPI | Formula | Benchmark Range | Warning Signs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average Revenue Per Case | Total revenue ÷ Total case count | $6,800-$8,500 (varies by market) |
|
| Service Mix Percentage | Number of each service type ÷ Total cases | Cremation: 45-65% (regional variance) Traditional: 30-50% Direct: 5-15% |
|
| Gross Margin Percentage | (Revenue - Direct costs) ÷ Revenue × 100 | 65-75% |
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| Merchandise Selection Rate | Number of families selecting specific merchandise ÷ Eligible cases | Premium caskets: 20-30% of eligible Keepsakes: 25-40% of cremations Urns: 75-85% of cremations |
|
| Accounts Receivable Ratio | Total AR ÷ Average monthly revenue | 0.8-1.2 (under 30 days equivalent) |
|
Financial KPI Implementation Tips
Simple Financial Tracking System
- •Export monthly data from your accounting system into a simple spreadsheet template with pre-built formulas
- •Track service mix by creating case categories in your funeral management software to enable quick filtering
- •Set up conditional formatting in your spreadsheet to highlight metrics falling outside benchmark ranges
- •Create simple line graphs for each metric to easily visualize trends over 12-month periods
- •Schedule a 30-minute monthly review meeting with key staff to discuss financial metric trends
Customer Perspective: Measuring Family Satisfaction
Understanding how families perceive your services provides critical insight into future case volume and reputation trends. While some of these metrics require dedicated tracking systems, the effort yields valuable early warning of reputation issues or emerging opportunities:
Net Promoter Score
Formula: % Promoters - % Detractors
Benchmark: 65-80 (funeral profession average: 58)
Measurement Method: Post-service survey asking "On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend our funeral home to others?"
Warning Signs:
- Score falling below 60
- Decline of 10+ points over 3 months
- Increasing percentage of detractors (0-6 scores)
Online Review Metrics
Formula: Average star rating, new review count, response rate
Benchmark: 4.7+ average rating, 100% response rate
Measurement Method: Monthly tracking of Google, Facebook, and profession-specific review platforms
Warning Signs:
- Any negative reviews without response
- Average rating falling below 4.5
- Declining review volume despite stable case count
Market Share Percentage
Formula: Your case count ÷ Total deaths in service area
Benchmark: Stable or increasing (highly market-dependent)
Measurement Method: Quarterly calculation using county death statistics
Warning Signs:
- Declining market share for 2+ consecutive quarters
- Growth rate below overall market death rate increase
- Significant loss in specific service categories
Referral Source Distribution
Formula: % of cases from each referral source
Benchmark: Diversified mix with no single source exceeding 30%
Measurement Method: Track referral source in arrangement conference
Warning Signs:
- Declining referrals from a previously reliable source
- Over-reliance on a single referral channel
- Low website/online referral percentage (under 15%)
Customer KPI Implementation Tips
Practical Measurement Approaches
- •Implement a simple 2-3 question survey sent via email or text after service (with appropriate timing sensitivity)
- •Set up Google Alerts for your funeral home name to monitor online mentions and reviews
- •Add a "How did you hear about us?" field to your arrangement forms and train staff to ask consistently
- •Request quarterly death statistics from your county health department to calculate market share
- •Assign a specific staff member to monitor and respond to all online reviews within 24 hours
Internal Process Perspective: Operational Excellence Metrics
Operational efficiency directly impacts both profitability and service quality. These metrics help identify internal bottlenecks, resource utilization issues, and opportunities for process improvement:
| KPI | Formula | Benchmark Range | Warning Signs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Staff Productivity Ratio | Annual case count ÷ FTE employees | 90-110 cases per FTE |
|
| Facility Utilization Rate | Actual service hours ÷ Available service hours | 40-60% (varies by market) |
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| Overtime Percentage | Overtime hours ÷ Regular hours × 100 | 5-10% |
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| Service Cycle Time | Average days from first call to service completion | 3-5 days for traditional 7-10 days for cremation with service |
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| Administrative Time Per Case | Total administrative hours ÷ Total cases | 3-5 hours per case |
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Process KPI Implementation Tips
Efficient Data Collection Methods
- •Use your payroll system to track overtime percentage and staff hours by department
- •Create a simple scheduling system that records actual service hours to calculate facility utilization
- •Record key dates in your case management software to auto-calculate cycle times
- •Conduct a time study for one week each quarter to establish administrative time benchmarks
- •Create a simple operational dashboard with these five metrics for monthly review
Learning & Growth Perspective: Building Future Capacity
The learning and growth perspective focuses on your funeral home's ability to adapt, innovate, and develop staff capabilities for future success. While these metrics are often overlooked, they provide crucial insight into long-term sustainability:
Staff Retention Rate
Formula: (Total staff - staff departures) ÷ Total staff × 100
Benchmark: 85%+ annual retention
Measurement Method: Annual calculation with exit interview documentation
Warning Signs:
- Falling below 80% annual retention
- Loss of key personnel in critical roles
- Multiple departures citing similar reasons
Continuing Education Hours
Formula: Total CE hours ÷ Number of licensed staff
Benchmark: 16-24 hours per staff member annually (beyond minimum requirements)
Measurement Method: Track continuing education completion in staff records
Warning Signs:
- Majority of staff only completing minimum requirements
- Limited variety in education topics/providers
- Declining investment in staff development
Work-Life Balance Metric
Formula: On-call hours per staff member per month
Benchmark: Maximum 48 hours per week (averaged monthly)
Measurement Method: Track on-call schedules and actual response hours
Warning Signs:
- Consistent on-call hours above benchmark
- Uneven distribution among staff members
- Increasing staff burnout indicators
Innovation Metric
Formula: % of revenue from services introduced in past 24 months
Benchmark: 10-15% of revenue from new service offerings
Measurement Method: Track revenue by service category, flagging new offerings
Warning Signs:
- No new service offerings in 24+ months
- Low family adoption of new offerings
- Minimal revenue impact from innovation
The Measurement Paradox
While these learning and growth metrics are among the most valuable leading indicators of future business success, they are also the least commonly tracked in funeral service. Our research shows that only 12% of funeral homes formally track any metrics in this category—yet businesses that do show significantly higher staff retention, innovation rates, and long-term market share growth. Even basic tracking in this area provides substantial competitive advantage.
Implementing Your KPI Dashboard: A Practical Approach
The greatest challenge in KPI tracking is not deciding what to measure but creating a sustainable process for collection, analysis, and action. Our research with successful funeral homes reveals a consistent implementation approach:
- 1
Start Small and Expand
Begin with just 2-3 metrics from each perspective rather than attempting to track everything at once. Select the metrics most relevant to your current business challenges. As the process becomes habitual, gradually add additional metrics.
- 2
Create a Simple Dashboard
Develop a one-page dashboard that shows current values, trends, and benchmarks for your selected metrics. Use a spreadsheet template that can be easily updated each month, with clear visual indicators for metrics outside target ranges.
Pro Tip: Download our pre-built Funeral Home KPI Dashboard Template that includes formulas, benchmarks, and visualization charts for the 12 most valuable metrics.Download KPI Dashboard Template → - 3
Assign Clear Responsibility
Designate specific staff members responsible for collecting and reporting each metric. This distributed approach prevents the process from becoming overwhelming for any single person. Create clear documentation for how each metric is calculated to ensure consistency if responsibilities change.
- 4
Establish a Regular Review Cadence
Schedule a monthly 45-60 minute meeting with key staff to review the dashboard, discuss trends, and identify necessary actions. The consistency of this meeting is more important than its length—make it a non-negotiable part of your monthly business rhythm.
- 5
Focus on Action, Not Just Reporting
For each metric that falls outside benchmark ranges, develop a specific action plan with clear ownership and timelines. Document these action items and review progress at subsequent meetings. This action orientation transforms KPI tracking from a reporting exercise to a management tool.
Case Study: KPI Transformation Success
To illustrate the impact of comprehensive KPI tracking, consider the experience of Memorial Funeral Home, a mid-sized firm serving 225 families annually:
Case Study: Memorial Funeral Home
Initial Situation:
- •Tracked only case count and total revenue
- •Experiencing declining average revenue per case despite stable case volume
- •No visibility into operational efficiency or family satisfaction
- •Increasing overtime costs with no clear cause
KPI Implementation:
- Created a balanced scorecard with 3 metrics from each perspective (12 total)
- Developed simple data collection processes for each metric
- Established monthly review meeting with management team
- Created action plans for metrics falling outside benchmark ranges
- Gradually expanded tracking to include additional metrics
Discoveries Through KPI Analysis:
- •Service mix shifting to cremation faster than previously understood (revealed by service mix percentage)
- •Online reviews declining in specific service categories (revealed by review monitoring)
- •Staff spending excessive time on administrative tasks (revealed by admin time per case)
- •Customer satisfaction significantly lower for one specific staff member (revealed by NPS tracking)
Actions Taken Based on KPI Insights:
- •Revised cremation service packages to increase personalization options
- •Implemented digital arrangement system to reduce administrative time
- •Provided additional training for staff member with lower satisfaction scores
- •Created systematic follow-up process for all online reviews
Results After One Year:
- •Average revenue per case increased by 9% despite continued cremation growth
- •Administrative time per case reduced by 32%
- •Net Promoter Score improved from 61 to 78
- •Overtime costs reduced by 47% through improved scheduling
- •Overall profitability increased by 14% with minimal case count growth
The owner reported: "We were blind to the real issues affecting our business until we started measuring the right things. The KPI dashboard identified problems we didn't know existed and opportunities we would have otherwise missed. It transformed how we manage every aspect of the business."
Related Articles in This Series
Explore these in-depth articles on funeral home financial planning and management:
Funeral Home Budgeting & Forecasting Guide: Financial Planning for Growth
Master funeral home financial planning with practical budgeting tools, case volume forecasting methods, and KPI tracking systems for sustainable growth.
A Simple Annual Budget Template for Independent Funeral Homes (Downloadable)
Download our customizable Excel template with pre-built formulas and funeral-specific categories that makes annual budgeting straightforward and actionable.
Forecasting Case Volume: Using Historical Data to Predict Staffing Needs
Learn how to create data-driven case volume projections that inform staffing requirements, inventory levels, and financial forecasts with greater accuracy.
Zero-Based Budgeting: A Method for Finding Hidden Cost Savings in Your FH
Learn how to implement a zero-based budgeting approach that requires justification for every expense, often revealing 12-18% in potential cost reductions.
Track Your KPIs Effortlessly with Sacred Grounds
Sacred Grounds includes a built-in KPI dashboard that automatically tracks all the metrics discussed in this article. Monitor trends, receive alerts when metrics fall outside benchmark ranges, and generate reports with one click—all for just $49/month with unlimited users.