There is a common misconception among law firms that amid this flurry of technology startups in the legal industry producing all sorts of software that once your firm integrates it, there will be a considerable influx in traffic to your firm’s website! Spoiler alert! It likely won’t happen!
Over the last 10 years we’ve had great delight working with software companies, be them legal industry specific or not and we cannot give you one example of one single product that in of itself has driven traffic!
What’s the Problem?
Traffic generation to your website or any marketing touchpoint typically derives from a few places. But before we get to them, in the context of legal consumer-facing technology, typically the objectives are one of the following:
- Getting a potential client to your firm’s shortest sales cycle path
- Getting a potential client to try out a product or service
- Getting a potential client to engage with your cheaper priced product quickly.
How these may apply is let’s say your law firm is an Australian family law firm and running Settify. Settify would probably best fit objective 1, because it’s essentially leading a potential through a marketing funnel (among other things). Why this approach works is typically the case once you have a degree of buy-in from a potential client, in other words, they’re now engaged in a process delivered by your firm, there will be less of an inclination to keep shopping for another family law firm. Notwithstanding this, importantly the potential client is getting something back in return, in this case, an initial automated advice. If you’re aware of Robert Cialdini’s work in relation to influence, you would be aware of the importance of reciprocation.
Objective 2 is less used by law firms, largely because there is less consumer-facing technology in the market that has a try before you buy. That said, there are examples, very large legal document automation companies that are not law firms but sell directly to consumers and a number of those work the client through a series of questions, then offer the completed document for a fee. But in a traditional sense, it’s not the try before you buy.
Objective 3 is an emerging marketing practice by law firms when they essentially do offer a comprehensive suite of legal services, but in company with them, or off to the side, they offer automated documents. In the context of say an estate planning firm, the value proposition for the latter being that you can either pay our lawyers to work with you on your estate plan or alternatively choose our lawyer supervised DIY service for a considerably cheaper cost.
So What About the Traffic?
Traffic to your law firm’s website typically comes from a few places, strong law firm SEO focus, Ads, old school marketing (print and billboards) or social. If your law firm hasn’t one or more of these cranked, then in our experience no matter how good the technology, getting eyes on your product will be a challenge.
What Does Our Law Firm Do About It?
Probably the first step is to acknowledge that your suite of automated documents, your lead generation platform or whatever the case may be won’t drive traffic unless you’re on top of one or more of the above.
Secondly, particularly with products that are becoming commonplace, try and customise the experience. For example, if you visit 25 law firms that run Settify, it aesthetically is similar. In association with your design and dev team it can easily be customised to suit your brand. We do this at Fast Firms.
Also, consider ways that you’re able to create a CTA (call to action) with your socials and Ads that your firm may be running. If your law firm is running online estate planning through an automated solution, targeting a demographic, for example, that are searching overseas trips, then trying variations of CTAs, like, “Heading Overseas? Update Your Will in Minutes” or geo-targeting people at airports etc. Sure it may sound farcical, but its an example of thinking of different ways of driving traffic to your software that likely won’t be in the mind of your competitors and while this is only an example, the practice works phenomenally well for insurance companies targeting travellers in airports who often have time on their side to engage. Obviously what you’re trying to avoid is integrating technology, turning the lights on and no-one arrives.
How Can Fast Firms Help?
We’ve got great working relationships with many of the leading legal software companies and work collaboratively with them. By all means, if you are interested in an automated solution, contact the software company directly or alternatively, contact us and we can assist in your decision making, potentially through the experiences of such software by us and our clients.