A report by Ruler Analytics sampled 100 million data points across 14 industries and highlighted some interesting points including conversion rates for law firms. In this blog post, we look at some of the statistics found in their report and discuss ways law firms can generate higher-quality conversions through their search engine optimisation (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.
So, what did the report uncover about law firm conversion rates and what is of interest to the legal sector?
The report identified that the average overall law firm and legal industry conversion rate is 3.4%, this compares to 4.6% for the professional services industry and just 1.8% for B2B E-commerce.
As mentioned in Ruler's report, these statistics make sense. If you think, for example, many of the users landing on your website might not be ready to purchase your services. They could be researching how long a divorce takes, and costs before initiating their divorce, or researching ways to sell a business before they decide to sell.
The services law firms offer require many factors to be considered, and the selling process might last weeks, months or years. That’s why multiple touchpoints are incredibly important for law firms and where tactics such as paid advertising and social media come in.
If your law firm conversion rate is well below 3.4%, keep reading on for our top tips on getting high-quality leads to convert.
The report then breaks the conversion rate down into form fills and calls. The average form-fill rate for the legal industry is 1.8% and 1.6% for calls.
Website forms are a convenient way for potential clients to submit their details. For law firms, you might see many enquiries coming through out of hours, so by having a form that users can fill out, they will still feel as though their query is being heard. That said, consumers are still using the telephone significantly, and users who are calling up expect their queries to be listened to. If your offices don’t have the capacity to answer the phone, ensure you are enabling the help of a telephone answering service so no calls are going unanswered, and make sure those answering the phone have adequate customer training to deal with sensitive matters and cues.
Overall, the report found that the split between form fills and calls for the legal industry is similar - 52% form fills and 48% calls which suggest both methods of communication need to be considered in your marketing whether it’s through the website, paid advertising campaigns, social media or blog posts. Your call to action on all campaigns should be clear and easy to access so potential clients can get in contact with your firm at any time, in the most convenient way for them to convert them.
It's clear that online communication plays a vital role in securing new business for your firm. But how can your firm increase its conversion rate? And how can you track these conversion rates to find out what is working? Read the section below to find out.
You can access the full report from Ruler Analytics here.
What can my law firm do to increase high-quality conversions?
Add a form high up on your website
As previously mentioned, forms are a key way for clients to get in contact with your firm outside of hours. We always recommend that our clients put their forms high up, on the right-hand side of your website (if the design allows it). This could be on a services page or a blog post, so they are easy to access and it’s clear what you want the reader to do next. This can therefore help to increase the conversion rate as clients don’t have to do too much work.
In one of our recent blog posts, Managing Director David Gilroy discusses four key features for law firm websites. Unsurprisingly, open forms high up the page on your website is one of the recommended features.
Add live chat to your website
Live chat is another great way to stay in contact with your clients and offers them a positive user experience. If a client is approaching you, it’s likely to be a difficult, stressful or upsetting time for them. In this case, quick replies to help resolve the issue are going to be top of their list giving them some peace of mind. Live chat means that clients can get in contact with a real person when they most need it which is going to lead to higher conversions.
Ensure your firm answers the phone in a timely manner
One way to develop a positive relationship with a client is by giving them the information that they want when they want it. So, if a client calls your firm, someone needs to answer the phone promptly. As previously mentioned, the person answering the phone should be trained in giving a sympathetic and helpful response to ensure the client feels positively towards your firm and they are going to be more likely to convert.
Utilise social media
Social media is not only a valuable source of traffic for businesses, but it gives your firm another touch point with potential clients and another way for them to contact a real human. And social media tracking tools give you some insight into the demographics of the interactions with your posts so you can better implement strategies to target these users. Social media helps to educate, build awareness of your brand and develop trust with potential clients which can lead to higher conversions.
Implement a PPC campaign
Paid advertising is a great way to target users when they aren’t fully sure what they are looking for. Research has shown that it takes a client an average of eight touch points before they convert into a sale, and paid advertising campaigns are a great way of improving the awareness of your firm to potential clients who are searching for something similar. Paid advertising has lots of benefits, and by tracking your success you can retarget clients who have previously engaged with your content which can lead to higher quality conversions.
Optimise content for SEO
By utilising informational content, like blog posts and FAQs your firm can help to increase brand awareness and answer searchers' questions. This will keep your firm’s brand in the searcher's mind when they are later on in the conversion process. This helps to optimise your pages for Google and other search engines, but can ultimately lead to higher quality conversions as users are searching for the information covered on your website.
We’d also recommend ensuring you are answering common questions in your content to drive more traffic to your website, this will also make it less likely that a searcher will need to look elsewhere for their questions, making them more likely to convert.
You know clients are converting, but you’re not sure where. How can I better track my conversions?
Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
GA4 is something your law firm should be setting up, if it hasn’t already done so. GA4 is Google’s new analytics tracking tool, replacing Universal Analytics (UA) which is being sunset in July 2023.
GA4 will allow your firm to track the behaviour and demographics of website users as well as conversions when goals are set up, By using GA4 in conjunction with other analytics platforms, such as social media tracking, email marketing and multi-attribution tools, your firm can get the full picture in what’s working and what isn’t, so you can invest more of your marketing budget into tactics that are converting, therefore leading to higher quality conversions.
Multi-touch attribution tools
Multi-touch attribution tools are a good way to track your customer’s whole journey, not just the final source which converted the client. This makes it easier for your firm to prove what marketing channels are working, and what the client’s journey is. For example, your client might read a blog post on 10 steps for getting a divorce, leave your website, come back to find out how long a divorce takes on one of your service pages after searching this query into Google and your ad showing up, before coming back days, weeks or months later to fill in a form. This journey shows that your website SEO, a paid advertising campaign and the user experience of your website has converted the journey, meaning you could invest more money into each of these factors, rather than just relying on what you currently have on your website.
Ready to start tracking your law firm’s digital marketing?
Our team of experts have years of experience in measuring the success of marketing campaigns for law firms. Whether it’s an SEO or PPC campaign, or you want to track your firm’s overall ROI, we’ve got the tools to help your firm do just that.
If you want to find out more about the tools we have available for you, contact us on 0117 325 0200 or sales@conscious.co.uk.