The entry point: How CFCS uses streaming to build community and grow pre-need

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Archdiocese of Denver Catholic Funeral and Cemetery Services

Key Results

  • 1-2 warm pre-need leads per week from streaming
  • ~20% of those leads convert to a pre-planning conversation
  • 25% of online guests are local to the community CFCS serves

 

Most funeral homes think of streaming as a service they offer families. Catholic Funeral and Cemetery Services (CFCS) thinks about it differently.

For Deacon Marc Nestorick, Outreach Manager at CFCS, streaming is the entry point to something larger: a community of people who have experienced CFCS's care firsthand, stay connected through regular outreach, attend events, and when the time comes, return for their own arrangements.

CFCS has served the Greater Archdiocese of Denver for over 130 years. With three funeral homes and two cemeteries, their mission is to help families fill the void of loss with faith, hope, and community. OneRoom is part of how they fulfil that mission beyond the chapel walls.

The mindset shift

While some funeral homes offer streaming only when families ask for it, CFCS streams most of their services, and that difference in approach changes everything. Where sporadic streaming reaches a handful of people, consistent streaming builds a steady flow of community contacts, week after week, at no extra cost.

Streaming reaches people at a moment when they are naturally reflective. They are experiencing loss. They are thinking about the people they love and their own futures.

For CFCS, every person who registers to watch a service is a community member they have not yet met.

"People need to look at it not just as a service to the families, but also as an extensive marketing tool for the funeral home. To make people part of our community, to contact them." Deacon Marc Nestorick, Outreach Manager, CFCS

 

The system

What makes CFCS's approach work is not any single tactic. It is a layered system where each part feeds the next.

Streaming as the entry point

Every service streamed through OneRoom requires guests to register before they watch. That registration captures their contact details, including location. Around 25% of online guests are local to the CFCS community. That guest list goes to two places: the family who arranged the service, and the CFCS database.

 

The database

Everyone who registers goes into the database, not just those who express interest in pre-planning. CFCS adds 50 to 60 new contacts a week this way. Over time, this has added to a community database that is now more than 15,000 people.

Marc is clear that he cannot always trace a direct line from a streaming registration to a funeral arrangement two years later. But the relationship starts here.

 

The newsletter

Every person in the database receives a weekly newsletter with open rates sitting at 48%.

The newsletter keeps CFCS in front of its community consistently, sharing services, events, and support. It is how Marc moves people toward the next stage.

 

Pre-need leads: how they are generated

Within the OneRoom viewer, a banner sits below the service giving guests the option to learn more about pre-planning. It is there for those who want it, visible without distracting from the service itself.

Guests who feel ready to learn more about pre-planning their own arrangements can click to request a guide. That click creates a lead that comes directly to Marc. The guest has self-selected at a moment when the topic feels relevant to them.

"When individuals watch a service and experience the reality of loss, they often realise the importance of pre-planning their own arrangements. OneRoom allows guests to choose to say 'hey, I'm interested in pre-planning.' That provides us with the avenue to follow up with them and help them."

Deacon Marc Nestorick, CFCS

 

The follow-up process

What makes CFCS's conversion rate work is not just that the leads come in warm. It is the deliberate process behind how they are handled.

 

The follow-up process at CFCS

1. Check the CRM first. Before assigning the lead, Marc checks whether the person is already in the system. That shapes how the FSA approaches the conversation.

2. Wait 24 to 48 hours. Streaming leads are not followed up immediately. Giving people time and space after the service is part of what makes the follow-up feel respectful rather than intrusive.

3. Assign geographically. Local-looking leads go to an FSA for sales follow-up. Out-of-state contacts are added to the database but skip the sales queue.

4. Open with context. The FSA acknowledges exactly why they are calling:

"I understand you were watching [name]'s service recently. You asked us to reach out, so I just wanted to check in. Is there anything I can help you with, or any questions I can answer?”

5. Answer their questions first. Pre-planning does not come up unless the guest opens the door.

6. One low-pressure question. After their questions are answered, the FSA asks:

"Unless there's any other questions, would you be interested in having a conversation at all about doing your own pre-planning?"

Conversion timelines vary. Some people are ready to sign at the first meeting. Others need three, four, or five meetings before they commit. The variable is not willingness, it is readiness. Marc's observation is that if someone has not taken action within four to five weeks of first engaging, the likelihood drops sharply regardless of how many conversations have happened.

CFCS currently sees around one to two pre-need leads per week from streaming, with approximately 20% converting.

"We're getting probably about twenty percent fruitful, which is incredible. There is one hundred percent return on investment. We're not spending anything extra."

Deacon Marc Nestorick, CFCS

 

Events as the conversion engine

Everyone in the database gets invited to events through the weekly newsletter. Marc uses a simple four-tier framework: Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action. Every event is classified by where it sits in that framework before it is scheduled.

A Father's Day fun run is pure awareness. It puts the cemetery in front of people, nothing more. A structured information evening sits closer to action. Marc deliberately balances the calendar to make sure there is a mix that moves people through over time.

For events further down the funnel, he runs a time-limited incentive: attendees who sign a funeral or cemetery plan within 60 days receive a $200 gift card. The incentive keeps momentum going through the meeting process.

 

The result

"We have seen a significant increase in pre-planning and the use of our services over the last two to three years, coinciding with our streaming, social media, and other activities. I believe streaming has a huge impact."

Deacon Marc Nestorick, CFCS

CFCS's approach is not a single campaign or feature. It is a compounding system where streaming opens the door, the database holds the relationship, the newsletter maintains it, and events and follow-up convert it.

Each layer makes the next one more effective.

What this takes

Marc is an educator by background, not a marketer. He keeps his framework deliberately simple. His advice for any home trying to build something similar:

"Don't get discouraged because a lead doesn't work out when they call. If they are part of your database where you're reaching out to them regularly, they may come back in six months, a year, a year and a half later. It's not a lost cause."

Deacon Marc Nestorick, CFCS

The infrastructure does not need to be complex from the start. The minimum that makes this work:

• Someone responsible for following up leads within 24 to 48 hours of receiving them

• A way to record contacts who register to watch, not just those who request pre-planning information

• A regular touchpoint with the database, even a simple monthly email

• At least one community event per quarter to invite the database to

The system CFCS has built came from years of consistency, not a single decision. Start with the parts you have, and build from there.

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