Avalon celebrates strong year amid customer support transformation

Funeral plan provider Avalon revealed it is celebrating “one of its most successful years to date” following “significant investment” in transforming the support customers receive.

With the sale of funeral plans rising significantly in 2021, the Wilmslow-based firm adapted its offering and level of remote support – an action which led to them being crowned Best Funeral Plan Provider in the 2021 Personal Finance Awards.

Responding to the need for social distancing, the firm said its first major change was the migration from an in-home, face-to-face channel to meeting customers on Zoom.

This recognition of customer’s changing need has led to video appointments becoming the company’s largest UK channel, allowing for more of its team to benefit from flexible working whilst also delivering the quality of service it’s renowned for.

Another milestone, which it said was developed in response to customer’s “desires for simpler, less traditional funeral plans”, was the launch of the Avalon Celebration Plan, which is designed to allow customers to choose a funeral that “celebrates their life in a way that is truly unique to them, and comes with a personalised, less costly service”.

Susan Stevenson, CEO at Avalon, said: “The past two years has, as for most people and organisations, been completely driven by the pandemic. We are very proud to have migrated our ‘in the home face to face channel’ to now meet customer needs via Zoom – as the average age of our customers are in the late 60s, it’s a sign of the changing times that video appointments are now our largest UK channel.

“We recognise that this year’s transformation could not have been possible without an excellent support team and that’s why we continue to welcome passionate and empathic people to our team.”