Gideon Legal Chatbot Software

Chatbot Software for Law Firms

Technology

Technology, Data Security

Light Speed to Lead: New Gideon Feature Offers In-Chat eSignature

Frictionless intake is the dream for most high-volume personal injury law firms, of whatever stripe.  The main idea is to qualify leads quickly, and convert them to clients as soon as possible thereafter.

But, what if that entire process could happen in a single interaction?  With Gideon’s new signature feature, it can.

We’ve built and just released a proprietary esignature feature that allows qualified leads to sign an engagement agreement without ever leaving our chat window, or your website.  No followup via a separate esignature platform required.  No channel switching necessary.

If you thought you had speed to lead already, we’ll knock your socks off with our instantaneous conversion platform.

Schedule a demo today.

Marketing, Messaging, Technology

The Goldbergs: The Real Trick is to Uncomplicate Your Marketing

A Rube Goldberg Machine is an overly-complicated chain reaction program, kind of like the one in the opening sequence of ‘Back to the Future’.

A lot of law firm marketing programs look just like that: half-formed marketing strategies, untested hypotheses, unknown results.  When it comes to marketing their practices, most law firm owners rely almost exclusively on referral marketing, and just hope that it keeps working.  Literally everything else is left up to chance.

Maybe a Rube Goldberg Machine is the kinder, gentler way to describe it.  But, it’s more like they’re throwing shit against the wall, to see what sticks.

And, you can bet your ass that those overly-complicated marketing programs you’ve designed, aren’t particularly inviting to your potential clients, either – who have to wade through the morass.  Legal consumers, like all consumers in the convenience economy, most highly prize engagement and speed above all else.

So, as 2022 draws to a close, and if your law firm marketing program seems less like a program, and more like a mess, you can still take some small steps to launching something better in 2023.  But, it will require you to be thoughtful about what you’re doing, and to get granular about the processes you build, as you try to place yourself in the shoes of your clients.

It’s possible to generate an effective marketing plan that features helpful automations; you just have to put the time in . . . and put away the duct tape.

(As it turns out, everything is not fixable with duct tape.)

Marketing, Messaging, Technology

Thanksgiving: How to Treat Your Best Referral Sources

Since many law firms rely almost exclusively on referrals to generate business, it’s essential that those law firms tend to the care and feeding of their best referral sources.  But, lots of lawyers tend to take referrals for granted, and just assume that they’ll keep on coming in, even if they don’t do anything to maintain the sources of those referrals.

But, even the healthiest of referral sources can drop out of your program, if you ignore them for too long.  So, here are a few ways to make sure that your best referral sources stay that way.

-First off, (literally) reward them for referring you cases.  Some law firms keep gift cards on hand, to hand over when a referral is made.  Others send an end-of-year flower arrangement, or a collection of candies.  This is probably the most overt way to make sure that your referral sources seem cared for.

-Next, make sure that you stay in touch with your referral sources, in at least a couple ways: First, maintain contact with your best referral sources, so you can talk to them about how your business is going, and tell them about your evolving clients needs.  Second, send them marketing messages on a recurring basis, whether it’s adding them to your enewsletter list or even creating a specific drip campaign for referral sources.  Keeping tabs on your referral sources both in-person and online is really useful for ensuring future business.

-Lastly, you should make an ongoing effort to educate your referral sources about the kinds of clients you’re looking.  Even if your requirements don’t change, it’s useful to keep reminding the people who send you cases, and about the kinds of cases you want.

Staying on top of your referral sources, means that your baseline business revenue should remain stable, as you add new referral sources and marketing channels.

Marketing, Analytics, Messaging, Technology

Image Conscious: Your Text and Audio Content Needs Vibrant Scenery

Reading, at any great length, seems to be a habit left behind in the 20th century.  Most of us treat reading copy like Leopold Bloom abuses newspaper advertising in an outhouse – which is probably where he would have listened to the turn of the century Irish equivalent of podcasts (whatever that would have been).

Ain’t nobody has the attention span to read deeply anymore, which is why video and audio content is so popular.  Of course, video content has a massive advantage – in that it presents images to the world: moving pictures, which still captivate.

But, with text, and with audio – you need to entice your audience.  And, the easiest way to create that enticement is to attach images to your content.  Images, especially on social media services, lead to more view and more clicks.

The good news is that, if you’re blogging, most websites will allow you to upload a ‘featured image’, which you can attach to your blog post, and which will be visible on social media platforms.

Need images?  Check out Unsplash, for royalty free options.  Or, try Canva, to create your own.

After all, the internet is your canvas: make it more beautiful.

Oh, and intriguing.

Remember that a large part of the Mona Lisa’s appeal is that she’s smirking.

Technology, Marketing, Messaging

Slappers Only: Automated Responses Require Some Tact, and At Least Some Personalized Followup

Back in college, I used to play this great game for Nintendo 64, called ‘Goldeneye’.  It was a James Bond game, and the object was to shoot people with a variety of guns.

Until it wasn’t.  The game had a delightful feature, called ‘Slappers Only!’.  Basically, nobody had weapons.  So, everybody went around just slapping the shit out of each other.  That was awesome if you were the slapper, not so much if you were the slappee.

And, I kind of feel like I’m the slappee on social media services when I get automated messages from new connections.  You know, I’m just minding my own business on LinkedIn, I connect with someone new who has invited me to make our online business friendship official – and, immediately, I receive a breathless message about how their business could REVOLUTIONIZE MY WHOLE FUCKING LIFE, in all caps, of course.

So, if I shook your hand at a networking event, you wouldn’t yell this at me, right – which begs the question: What effect does this tactic have online, other than to make me hate you?

The moral of the story, of course, is: if you’re going to use automated messages, just access some chill.  Use that to warm up a new connection, rather than flying them on a rocket ship ride to the sun.

Also, after you send that very introspective and relaxed introductory email, maybe followup with a more personalized one later.

Or, just do that instead.