You work tirelessly to win the cases of your clients. They get the outcome they wanted and the judge decides in their favor. Case closed: you’ve been paid and you’re looking for the next case to solve. But are some negative reviews hurting your chance of landing another case? Did you just miss out on the chance for a pleased client to build your case due to no review management?
The jury is in, and reviews are here to stay in 2018. Not only that, but they also provide a great deal of supporting evidence to future potential clients about things like your expertise, the quality of your work, and the cost-to-benefit ratio of your services. So what can you do to make sure your reputation wins more clients as opposed to losing them?
5 Helpful Online Review Management Tips for Lawyers
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Always leverage the reviews your firm currently has online.
Your ratings are very impactful when it comes to future clients who are considering your firm to represent them in court. This is true regardless of the severity of their case. Research from The Research Intelligence Group indicated that upwards of 75% of clients went online at some point to search for the best law firm for their needs. If you are leveraging your reputation on sites like Google, Facebook, Yelp and more, you’re more likely to earn a shot at their business. An abundance of reviews on important sites will improve your shot at regular flow of client work.
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Ask your clients for an online review before completing communication with them.
If you’re not asking for a review from your clients when completing your end of the work for them, you are missing out. More often than not, customers that are satisfied will be happy and carry on, whereas the dissatisfied customers will hop online to share negative feedback. Asking your satisfied customers is a sure-fire way to combat negative feedback. You could do so by:
- Asking them to share their feedback upon “checkout”.
- Create a custom URL that shares all the places they could leave feedback for your firm.
- Sending an SMS text message or customized email to them 1-2 days after completing the transaction with a link to a particular review site or web page URL with all your sites available for reviews.
- Sharing a card during the checkout process that provides access to your Review Us URL on your site.
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Ensure your online presence is valuable, relevant and user-friendly.
The online user experience is crucial when trying to represent your brand well. First and foremost, make sure that your website is easy to navigate and optimized for both desktop and mobile/tablet. If users are reaching your site and cannot navigate easily, they will bounce and find the next firm to consider. In addition to site experience, branding your business as a place to find relevant content will only further increase your likelihood of being an authority for new research and cutting-edge information when potential clients are at the beginning of the “buying funnel”. Regularly update and post new content, perhaps in the form of a blog, to ensure your site meets visitor needs.
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Monitor and respond to reviews of any capacity.
Review engagement is the other half of the battle that goes hand-in-hand with asking for reviews. Engaging with your received reviews shows a great deal of compassion; you demonstrate that you are invested in your clients both during and after doing business with them. What’s more important, engaging with negative reviews can often turn a negative review into either a neutral, or possibly even positive, review after engaging with that customer a bit and offering some additional nurturing to the relationship. Research suggests that roughly 84% of clients will not choose a law firm with a rating below 4.0, and another 20% from the same study accept nothing less than a 5.0-star rating. Therefore, engaging and working with your prior clients will help get you to attain a rating and ensure more business.
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Continue demonstrating exemplary customer service.
Your reputation depends on customer service just as much as the retail industry, believe it or not. Your courtroom skills may be stellar, but a poor office atmosphere could cost you your future. Assure this fact to the lawyers in your firm as well as your office staff: always put the clients’ satisfaction and pleasantry of the environment first. This will help to maintain an even work flow of cases. A recent study from the firm Convergys Corp shows that one single negative review could cost your firm upwards of 30 cases, so due diligence in all areas of the firm environment are integral to pleading your case to the jury.
