Andy Cullwick, head of marketing at First4Lawyers, offers four key principles that should direct your marketing strategy in the personal injury legal services market
Law firms have a long way to go and getting your website right is central to attracting potential clients, but it’s not just the technical side. Your content strategy, which extends far beyond your website, plays an equally important part. There are four key principles that should be applied:
We recently wrote about how law firms are having to put more work into getting work, and having to be savvier to meet the increasingly sophisticated shopping habits of consumers. With consumers now shopping for services online, in the same way they used to shop for goods, first impressions count more than ever. Research shows that a positive experience when first contacting a provider was often an influential factor for consumers when choosing a law firm—and how long do you have to create that great first impression and positive experience? Seven seconds. Some research suggests that a tenth of a second is all it takes to start determining trustworthiness, a key principle for attracting potential clients.
Ignore your website at your peril. The recent Legal Services Consumer Panel (LSCP) tracker survey conveyed a clear message: law firms need to improve the basic information they include on their sites, how cases are progressed, broad timescales and who is doing the work. Make sure you give them the information they need to be comfortable that you know what you’re doing as well as what they’re facing.
The research also found that when it came to quality indicators, consumers were keen on being given more information on staff experience including their time in service, time with the firm, key areas of expertise and CVs to help them assess service quality upfront.
A popular phrase in the world of customer experience is ‘frictionless interactions’—meaning you make it as easy as possible for consumers to contact you. An article on US website Smart Lawyer put it last year: “For starters, it means that a phone number on your website’s landing page just isn’t going to cut it anymore. Even an email form won’t do the trick. Consumers want lightweight modes of communication. Frictionless interactions. Why do you think more people prefer ordering a ride from Uber with a few clicks over calling a taxi company? If your firm is onboarding new clients by phone, then you are missing out.”
This does not mean that you need to rush to invest in artificial intelligence or other expensive, cutting-edge technology, it just means making it straightforward for clients, allowing them to arrange meetings through your website or Facebook page, for example, or being able to offer online document signing.
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