If you found yourself searching for law firm website tips, you understand the value a strong website has on your clients impression of your law firm. Client decision making is a process. Your clients all need the same ingredients to make their decision. When your website provides these ingredients, clients proceed to the next step. When they’re missing, clients raise objections or they walk away.
Your clients use this unspoken decision-making process to determine whether your firm is a good fit for them (or not). Work with them and you’ll attract the kind of high-quality clients your firm deserves. Ignore these ingredients and you’ll repel them.
Let’s take a look at the top 7 law firm website tips that will create a steady stream of prospective clients.
Tip #1: Targeting clients precisely
If you’re a savvy attorney, you’re targeting clients who meet three simple criteria.
- They want your services.
- They’re able to pay for your services.
- They’re willing to pay for your services.
Simple, right? Any client who fails to meet these criteria should be disqualified (i.e., removed from consideration as a possible client). Finding answers to these questions requires research – sitting down with clients, surveying clients, running split tests, etc.
How does your website fit in? Your website lays out the information that gets clients to qualify or disqualify themselves (i.e., real estate is our only practice area).
Tip #2: Amplifying your client’s problems
Your clients have problems. Many of them prefer to ignore these problems, to put them off until completely necessary. When they finally arrive on your doorstep, these clients expect you to create miracles on their behalf. Sometimes you can, and sometimes you can’t.
When it comes to your client’s problems, your website should do several things well.
- Explain their problem fully.
- Grab their attention immediately (i.e., 90% of fathers lose custody of their kids when they make this mistake)
- Outline the emotional weight, suffering and loss associated with their problem.
- Amplify the consequences of the problem (denial, for most clients, is a self-protective measure that needs to be addressed)
- State the outcomes clearly if they do something vs. do nothing.
Here’s why this is crucial.
- Problems create stress and anxiety
- Hiring you gives them a solution and begins to relieve that stress and anxiety
You’ll want to lead with your client’s biggest problems.
The problem/solution paradigm isn’t the only method, but it is one that gets clients to see their problems as you do; a serious issue that requires their immediate attention.
Tip #3: Make the solution easy
Do you provide cognitive fluency? Not sure what that is? You’re in good company. Cognitive fluency is defined as:
“Cognitive fluency is the ease with which we process information to generate an understanding of what that information means. This ease or difficulty refers not only to the experience of a task or instruction itself, but the feeling people associate with that task.”
Here’s what this means.
| Easy | Hard |
| Three blind mice, Three blind mice See how they run.See how they run! They all ran after The farmer’s wife, She cut off their tails With a carving knife, Did you ever see Such a sight in your life As three blind mice? | A trio of sightless rodents,A trio of sightless rodents, Observe how they perambulate, Observe how they perambulate; They all pursued the agriculturalist’s spouse, Who severed their caudal appendages with a carving utensil. Have you previously observed such a phenomenon in your existence As a trio of sightless rodents? |
The “easy” version of our three blind mice story worked well because it increased cognitive fluency. It made the story easy to read, so it took less effort, mental energy and processing power. This applies to visual, written and auditory content.
Communicating with simplicity, clarity and preciseness means your website easier to process.
Tip #4: Answer client objections
It’s common for firms to run from their client’s objections. Questions like “How much does this cost” or “What’s your hourly rate” seem to be avoided by firms until it’s absolutely necessary. Many firms do their very best to avoid client objections until they’re able to get them in for an in-person meeting.
They hope they’ll be able to “close” them anyway. Most of the time, these clients move on, preferring to work with a firm that faces their objections head-on.
Why does this happen?
Objections are the inevitable part of business development and marketing that gets worse if you run. We all make objections to protect ourselves. Objections keep us safe. They protect us from making a mistake (and the embarrassment that follows). When we decide anything, we do our best to justify that decision in our heads. Objections are part of the justification process. We want to be sure we’re making the right choice.
Your clients are no different.
Your clients may have objections about your trustworthiness, pricing or the timing of the engagement. They may be disinterested but unwilling to tell you. But these objections, whatever the case, need to be addressed fully. Contrary to popular belief, objections aren’t the enemy.
Tip #5: Online reviews borrow trust
Reviews answer the question of trustworthiness. Online reviews from both happy and unhappy clients painted an accurate picture of the relative trustworthiness of your firm. These reviews have a significant impact on your firm’s sales and revenue.
Northwestern University’s Spiegel Research Center analyzed 57,000 reviews from anonymous consumers and 65,000 reviews from verified buyers of more than 13,500 unique products in diverse categories. Their findings mentioned reviews could increase conversion rates by 270%!
Imagine that! A 270% lift in the number of clients signing up with your law firm.
Tip #6: Risk reversals remove buyer’s remorse
Josh Kaufman, author of the book, The Personal MBA, describes a risk reversal this way:
“Risk Reversal is a strategy that transfers some (or all) of the risk of a transaction from the buyer to the seller. The seller agrees to make things right in advance if the purchaser doesn’t end up satisfied. Risk Reversal is a great way to eliminate some Barriers to Purchase.
This strategy may be feel uncomfortable to the seller as well, because no one wants to lose. The difference is that a seller can spread that risk among many customers. The customer can’t do the same.
By eliminating the risk of purchase, you’ll close more sales and eventually make more money than what you’ll lose if some customers take advantage of your generosity.”
Pretty self-explanatory, right? To be fair, this is much more difficult in the legal industry but it can be done. This can be done in a variety of ways:
- Promises: Our clients have 24/7 access to an associate who’s working on your case
- Warranties: 10 years 100,000 mile warranty
- Guarantees: We’ll return your call within 30 min. or we’ll pay you $500
- Free consultation: We’ll provide you with a free consultation if you’re able to…
I’ll cover this in more detail in future posts.
Tip #7: Uniqueness shows clients you’re the only firm for them
A strong value proposition meets four distinct criteria in your client’s mind:
- I want what this law firm is offering
- I can’t get this specific offering (or combination of offerings) anywhere else
- I’m able to understand their message
- I truly believe you and your law firm are trustworthy.
If your value proposition doesn’t meet all four criteria, you don’t have a strong value proposition. It takes a significant amount of time to come up with something truly unique. The good news is this: a strong value proposition is created; it’s not inherent.
Here are some examples in other industries:
- M&Ms: Melts in your mouth, not in your hand.
- Dominos Pizza: You get a fresh, hot pizza in 30 minutes or it’s free.
- FedEx: When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight
These are classic examples. These businesses drew a line in the sand; they decided to stand for something significant. Something that meets all four of the criteria I’ve laid out above.
These law firm website tips will attract clients
Provide clients with the resources they need, and it’s easy for them to say “yes.” Ignore these details and you inadvertently repel clients, pushing them away from your firm.
By using the law firm website tips, you’ll find that more clients are attracted to your firm, value proposition and quality of service you provide.
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