It’s 10:23 pm as Stephanie finally plops down on her couch after spending the last 16 hours working, driving her two kids to and from school and activities, making dinner, cleaning up, helping with homework, and getting the kids off to bed. All she wants to do is finish the episode of The Great British Baking Show that she fell asleep on last night, but instead, she has to search for a lawyer to help her recoup her losses from a recent car accident. She finds one that looks promising, but she just can’t bring herself to pick up the phone. She’d call tomorrow.
Oh — the next website she finds has a button to chat with a lawyer online. She is able to set up a consultation in just a matter of minutes, without ever having to actually speak to another human. She’s already one step ahead in the process, making her more likely to choose this lawyer to represent her.
“Stephanie” may not be a real person — but there are certainly plenty of people like her that are out there every day, looking for legal representation for anything from family law issues to personal injury cases. And it’s possible that having a live chat feature on your law firm’s website could be the factor that determines whether a potential client chooses you or your competitor. Here, we review why adding live chat to your website is a smart move to bring in more leads.
Everyone has different preferences for their preferred method of communication. Some people want to jump on the phone and talk things through. Others like to thoughtfully plan out what they want to say in an email. Live chat functionality on your site just offers one more way for potential clients to get in touch with the attorneys at your firm. For many people, live chat is the best of both worlds: it makes it easy for them to contact you even if they can’t (or don’t wish to) talk on the phone and enables them to get an answer to their question more quickly than through email. Which brings us to our next point…
One reason that some people are reluctant to fill out a contact form is that they want to hear an answer to their question now — they don’t want to send off a bunch of emails to various lawyers, wondering if and when they will get a response. Live chat also has a lower barrier of entry, as there is no need for someone to immediately provide their personal information in order to get their questions answered.
Do you have a really great blog on your website that gets a lot of traffic? How many people have actually contacted you because of that blog? If you had live chat on your website, a small notification would pop up on that blog — and every other page of your site — prompting the user to start a chat. This gentle nudge helps to maximize engagement. What’s more, some live chat platforms integrate with websites like Lawyers.com and Avvo.com, giving people the opportunity to start a chat, no matter where they find you online.
Making live chat into an effective lead generation method involves more than just pasting a code on your website. For one, there are a plethora of platforms to choose from, and some are more effective for lawyers than others. You can find out more about the most effective ways to implement live chat on your website through our whitepaper, Top 3 Ways to Get Live Chat for Legal Services.
Let’s face it: tackling live chat as part of your law firm’s digital marketing strategy, along with everything else on your plate, can feel nigh impossible. Working with experts to redesign your website or manage your PPC campaigns gives you more time to focus on your area of expertise. Reach out to us today (via our live chat, if you’d like) to learn more.
About the Author:
Sabrina Lopez is the Managing Editor at 1SEO whose passion for grammar is surpassed only by her love for her avian companions. When she is not chasing her tiny human offspring around her home, she may be found basking in the purple glow of her PC or watching a fantasy flick with her husband.
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