Doesn’t the Engagement Come Before the Marriage?

July 23, 2020

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Without spending any time to analyze and overthink it, the concept of “customer retention” seems to be at odds with, and in direct contradiction to, the core of what most believe constitutes a company engaged in the “Legal Services” business. Put the lure of a steady revenue stream aside for a moment, and think: from a defense perspective, isn’t the purpose of legal representation to help get clients out of whatever legal troubles they’ve gotten themselves into; and once done, isn’t it hoped that the now-cleared client would purposefully avoid getting themselves back into legal hot water – and if successful, why would they need to retain your legal services firm? Furthermore, from a prosecutorial point of view, does anyone genuinely wish to repeatedly sue the same defendant?

Top 3 Customer Retention & Engagement Mistakes Made By The Legal Services Industry

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We recognize that these examples are limited to just the criminal prosecution & defense sector, which constitutes but a small percentage of the much larger and broad-in-range “Legal Services Universe.” Consequently, the majority of legal services advertisements we see during daytime TV broadcasts and deployed in other forms of mass media throughout the Philadelphia & New Jersey region are myopic and heavily skewed toward the criminal aspects. “Were you wrongfully terminated from your job?” “Were you the victim of a slip and fall, or vehicular assault, and therefore entitled to compensation?” “Are you owed money from a settlement, but unable to collect?” These examples are incredibly narrow in scope, yet are some of the most commonly used themes within the Legal Services Digital Marketing world. As such, it’s little wonder that most potential clients of legal services agencies do not think of your agency as their “go-to” for all the other types of legal-related services you might offer – and they might desperately need.

All too often, these now-former clients have no idea who they should contact or which direction to turn when in need of additional legal services. The primary blame – if blame must be assigned – as to why so many remain on the “former clients” list permanently, rather than the more desirable “current clients” roster – is yours. Your business’s inability to retain customers for repeat business opportunities is most likely directly attributable to a failure in engaging customers. Don’t take this insinuation personally; most companies in seemingly every business or industry fail to maximize their customer retention opportunities due to a lack of customer engagement, in part or whole. For today, let’s remain focused on you and your individual Legal Services business; are you deficient within the customer engagement process, and as a result, struggling with customer retention? There is a laundry list of the mistakes we see made by Legal Services businesses, but felt it best to start with the Top 3 Customer Retention & Engagement Mistakes made by the Legal Services Industry.

Are Your Services Required Once Again? Just because the individual situation for which the client initially retained your firm is no longer active does not mean that they will not require additional legal services related to other aspects of their personal or professional life. You may not be needed “today,” but using regular engagement methods like email marketing & social media marketing keeps your business at the forefront of their minds. When “tomorrow” comes, they will come to your agency first – and last!

A Busy Signal? Really? There are more channels of communication available for you to reach out to former (and new) clients than ever; so why don’t these prospective revenue streams also have numerous methods of getting in contact with you? Your business needs to provide multiple avenues for these potential clients to reach you, and are more in line with today’s use of technology: Multiple email addresses for unique situations; social media platforms that are “manned” should a reply be warranted; a “live chat” option linked to your website, and corresponding mobile app should you be out of the office; these are but a few of the many client communication tools at your disposal.

Do You measure the Answers to “How Did We Do?” The only way to determine the effectiveness of any digital marketing strategy or campaign is through the use of metrics analysis. Maximizing valuable digital tools like Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay-Per-Click (PPC) management services, or AdWords campaigns make it easier to measure specific performance factors related to your marketing efforts. Measuring is the key to determining which work well and which don’t work so well.

Bear in mind as you take your next forward steps that Customer Retention starts with Customer Engagement – if you fail to engage, you might also fail to retain. Not sure if your Legal Services’ digital marketing is engaging and retaining your customers, or how to optimize these for your business? Contact 1SEO’s experts for a free digital marketing assessment today!

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