We are in the Digital Age. Gone are the days where clients would walk up to the law office to enquire about the services. These days, clients can access the internet to research social media reviews, media coverage, or competitive information. The balance of power has now shifted to the clients’ side.
Leading law firms worldwide are engaged in a multi-pronged approach to align with clients of the digital age. These forward-thinking law firms invest in mining data, upgrading technology, upskilling their workforce, and reimagining the traditional law firm in a digital form to improve customer service, experience, and outcome.
In the following guide, we’ll explain what today’s law firm clients look for and how becoming a digital law firm can make clients happy.
What do Today’s Law Firm Clients Want?
When clients visit your law firm for the first time, they often do not come for the happiest reasons. They could be in a challenging or unpleasant situation. Thus, when they walk into your office, they want assurance, expert advice, convenience, efficiency, and effectiveness. They want an experience that will put them at ease.
Additionally, law firms should be aware of the gaps between client expectations and lawyer perceptions. In the 2018 Legal Trend Report, only 24% of lawyers thought their clients wanted to be updated weekly, compared to 42% of clients who want to be updated on legal matters every week. This mismatch in expectations could significantly reduce the quality of the client’s experience.
How, then, can your law firm make your clients happy? Your law firm needs to adapt and evolve to become a digital law firm to meet today’s digital age clients’ demands. By supporting your clients on their journey, starting from online searches to scheduling meeting appointments, you can make their experiences pleasant. Let’s see how we can do this, shall we?
How A Digital Law Firm Makes Clients Happy
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Start Being Searchable Online
When a client faces a legal issue, the first thing they do is go online to research whom they can go to for help and what their legal issue entails. Here is where you must ensure that potential clients can find your law firm online.
First, ensure that you have a website and list your law firm on search engines like Google. It makes it easier for potential clients to find you.
Next, you can also create content by writing insightful articles on your law firm’s website so that potential clients will find relevant and useful information that can help them understand their legal issues. You can hire a digital agency or a professional writer to help you develop articles for your site.
Having a website also helps make potential clients feel welcomed. After reading about their legal issue, they would naturally explore other information such as your law firm’s lawyers, practice areas, and years of experience. Be sure to build a way for your client to directly contact your law firm via your website, email, or social media channels, as that would be their next course of action. The next thing you must ensure is that you respond to their messages and invite them to meet as soon as possible.
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Improve Speed of Response
Speed counts a great deal. As your potential client is likely to research a few law firms before choosing to engage with one, it is imperative to be responsive to stand out from the competition.
In the 2019 Legal Trends Report, 64% of clients stated that the law firms that they have contacted never responded. It is a clear area of improvement for many law firms. Failure to respond promptly may risk the loss of business and result in an overall poor client experience.
If you want to improve your response speed, you need to equip your team with the right systems and processes. Start by setting up KPIs for the service team to respond on time, and be sure to give them the proper training to improve your client’s experience. Next, equip your team with the right legal tech to enhance team collaboration and improve communication within the firm. The right legal tech should enable your team to contact the respective lawyers and schedule appointments to meet clients. Using CoreMatter’s powerful team collaboration module, for example, allows your team to be connected and updated with all client or matter developments. Coupled with the nimble Memo module, your team members can capture notes about prospective clients, schedule action items, and set appointments on calendaring systems such as Microsoft Outlook and Google Calendar.
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Prioritize Simplicity and Empathy
A client-first approach puts clients at ease. For this reason, law firms should prioritize simplicity and empathy when communicating with clients. Whether in an email or a phone conversation with the client, all communications should strive to be clear, simple, easy to understand, and warm.
Suppose law firms take that extra effort to guide clients through the process through a simple and easy to understand explanation. In that case, it becomes a remarkable customer experience because then the client will find it easy to know how to navigate their legal issue. It also helps put them at ease and builds rapport between lawyer and client.
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Explain Your Pricing System
Be transparent about your pricing system and ensure that your client understands its value based on your law firm’s expertise, knowledge, and service. Clearly price your services and billable hours, or explore a pricing solution that suits your client. As most law firms go by billable hours, it can be challenging to track the service’s time. CoreMatter’s Multiple Timers module allows your fee earners to capture their time most efficiently by noting them down on their respective calendars. This level of accuracy and efficiency provides clients with high accountability and transparency.
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Use Technology to Manage Your Client and Matters
In the old days, law firms rely heavily on the filing system to manage Client and Matters. Old filing systems do not suit the digital age clients because they slow down the process and are expensive to operate.
What then is the right technology to solve the filing system issue? Focus on finding a technology that your team can use quickly.
Consider CoreMatter’s Cloud Legal Practice Management and Accounting & Billing System to keep your cases better organized so that you can focus more on your clients while making internal processes and communication more efficient. It is an app that makes it convenient for your team to get matter approval, disbursement vouchers, handle departmental accounting, speed up invoicing, increase collaboration, and productivity on a secure platform. It also gives you a bird’s eye view of your law firm’s performance on your mobile device. At a fee of only USD29.99 per user/ month, CoreMatter’s price and service are an excellent solution for law firms who want to go digital fast without a large investment. Its in-built features also help law firms to improve the overall client experience and keep clients happy.
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