Gideon Legal Chatbot Software

Chatbot Software for Law Firms

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Marketing, Messaging

How to Talk to Legal Consumers Now, Underview: The Relationship of Legal Consumers to the Legal Industry

In our recent series about educating legal consumers for conversion, we reviewed the importance of being transparent with clients about fees (including the total cost of representation), clearly elucidating expertise (including in niche practice areas) and educating clients about the legal process.

But’s it’s also useful to talk about why these three aspects of client conversion are at the forefront of modern law firm marketing.  What a lot of attorneys tend to overlook or ignore is the massive experience and education gaps between lawyers and consumers as respects the legal industry.  Many consumers only utilize a lawyer once in their lifetimes.  It is the rare legal consumer (perhaps a small business owner) who is a serial user of law firm services.  There are, of course, a bunch of people who will never hire a lawyer, or will only hire a lawyer to create a will or buy a house, for example.  Given that reality, it’s not a surprise that legal consumers are looking for guidance, primarily, when they reach out to a law firm.  And, they’re seeking that guidance, at what may be the most stressful period of their lives.  The lawyer those potential clients choose will be a helpful resource, who can provide answers, as well as curing the chaos in what, again, is probably the most painful segment of that person’s entire life.  It’s important that practicing attorneys always keep that in mind.

Add to the general lack of knowledge about the legal process the fact that most legal consumers know very little idea about law firm pricing.  And, given that legal services are shockingly expensive, in comparison to almost everything else consumers pay for, that sticker shock has to be alleviated by some level of price certainty.  In point of fact, it’s very difficult to get someone to pay for legal services if their main comparison for pricing consumer services is a Disney+ subscription that costs less than $100 per year.  Making the argument that a legal consumer, especially an unrefined one, should pay more than 3 or 4 times that for a single hour of an attorney’s time, is a difficult and continuing sell.  Even on subscription services, law firms aren’t cheap.  Truly, then, every conversation a lawyer has with a client is a sales conversation.  How can you convince your potential client that these fees are actually and consistently reasonable?  How do you convince your clients that they’re still receiving value, when they get the bill . . . and, after a contentious meeting . . . and, when something does not goes as planned . . .  Fortunately, lawyers are good at making arguments: they just need to get better at making these sorts of arguments.

In the end, a law firm’s primary responsibility for lead conversion and client retention is the same: consumer education is paramount.  And so, it’s time for law firms to focus on what they can teach their potential clients, and so set the tone for the entire attorney-client relationship to come.

Marketing, Messaging

How to Talk to Legal Consumers Now, Part 3: The Legal Process

In this three-part series, we’ll discuss how lawyers should talk to today’s legal consumers across three primary areas of interest: money, expertise and the legal process.  These are the categories in which legal consumers have the most urgent questions.  And, it’s imperative for law firms to increase their chances to convert leads to clients by addressing each of these broad topics in ways that place the law firm in the most favorable light possible.  In part 1, we addressed how lawyers should talk to potential clients about money.  In part 2, we covered the methods by which attorneys should express their expertise to leads.  In this last part of our series, we’ll relay how lawyers are best positioned to cover legal process considerations with potential clients.

As we went over in Part 2 of this series, law firms have traditionally been excellent at displaying the expertise of the firm, as well as the expertise level of specific attorneys within the firm, including for niche practice areas — even if that tends to break down when one exits the law firm website, where the vast majority of that information exists.  But, even so: attorneys are becoming more aggressive about using social media to promote themselves, even if law firms at large have not necessarily caught on so well.  However, having expertise, on its own, delivers only limited value.  Attorneys have to also convince their clients that they can be their guide through the legal process.  In sum, lawyers can’t just be good at what they do: they also have to communicate to leads and clients what it is that they do, in a way that a lay person would understand.

Legal consumers, as it turns, don’t just want a good attorney.  They also want a good attorney who can explain the legal process to them.  Legal consumers don’t just want to know the destination; they require evidence of the steps it takes to get there.  They’re like FitBit addicts.  Nevertheless, attorneys are very reluctant to provide their leads with information about the legal process, because they’ve been conditioned for years to avoid giving consumers more than just a taste of how the sausage is made, and because they are concerned over legal ethics.  However, neither eventuality is insurmountable.

In terms of ethical obligations when speaking to leads (you can talk about pretty much anything you want, anytime you want, with existing clients), it’s all about keeping those leads apprised of the current status of the relationship; so, yes: this is very much like the early days of Facebook.  Just make sure you have potential clients click through or sign onto disclaimers before you speak with them about the legal process generally  — not their specific cases, or case hypotheticals.  Then, when the rubber meets the road, sign them up via an engagement agreement, or move on, and send a nonengagement agreement, to confirm that no attorney-client relationship commenced.  And, really, that’s what this is all about: making sure that the potential clients is consistently aware that there is no attorney-client relationship, and that that acknowledgment can be documented.

Most lawyers would not be confused with effective salespersons.  And, many lawyers think of the term ‘selling’ as an ugly one.  This is not entirely surprising, though, for a profession that has only been allowed to sell to the public for a little less than 50 years.  And, lawyers still adhere to the old tenet that you don’t give away too much, that you leave them wanting more, while every modern sales mechanism, especially content marketing via social media, is about sharing more and more discreet information about what businesses do.  The real fear for most lawyers, however, is likely those DIY client — the ones, they fear, who will represent themselves.  But, that’s probably an unrealistic fear, too.  If the attorney relays all of the complexities about what they do, a potential client is not going to say: ‘Awesome.  I’m just gonna go to law school now, and will let you know how all this went in five years.’  The far more likely scenario is that, if you do a thorough job explaining the legal process to your potential client, you will have cemented your expertise, and made it more likely that that potential client will ultimately choose you.  Plus, if you make what you do sound really difficult (which it is) your potential client is far less likely to try it on their own.  And, in any event, most legal consumers who actually reach out to a lawyer are substantially motivated to hire an attorney, and don’t manage their legal problem on their own.  They want help: the question is how willing you are to provide that help, and how soon.

Marketing, Messaging, Technology

What Everybody’s Chatting About – How Chatbots Are Revolutionizing Law Firm Intake | Part 4: How to Build a Chatbot for Maximum Client Engagement

In this 6-part series, we’ll address how chatbots are changing the game for law firm intake.  This is part 4, where we’ll discuss how to build a chatbot for maximum client engagement. In part 1, we defined what a chatbot is. In part 2, we covered common chatbot features. In part 3, we addressed why chatbots are so essential for modern law firm intake.

At this point, you’re riding the chatbot train.  You’re down with the conceit.  You understand why the tool is so essential for legal consumers and why it’s so effective for law firms.  Now, you’ve got to build one that actually works in the law firm environment.

Now, hopefully, you’re working with a provider that will help you to build out a chatbot specific to your practice niche(s).  Ask for templates — if they’ve worked with enough law firms, your preferred vendor should have some available.  And, if you don’t want to use what they’ll provide, you’ll at least have an example from which to work.

The nuts and bolts of design are pretty important, so stay tuned:

-Don’t ask for contact information right away.  Consumers don’t want to be made to feel like marketing collateral.  Don’t jump right in, and skip dinner.  Make an introduction.  Allow the consumer to tell you/the bot something about their situation first.  Then, collect contact information later.

-Ask qualifying questions.  What specific practice area is the lead interested in?  What specific characteristics of a claim can the lead confirm?  Does the potential case conform to your jurisdictional limitations?  Is the lead interested in talking to a specific attorney, or in visiting a specific office location?  Drill down into the most basic questions.

-Because the idea is to qualify your potential clients, you’ll want to develop a classification structure to undergird the conversation that will take place.  If the lead is located in Georgia and you’re licensed in Alaska, this might not be a fit.  What is the severity of the case?  Is this an emergency situation?  Set up labels to create classifications in order to route leads to the correct staffperson or attorney in the appropriate timeframe.

-Even if you don’t lead with an ask for contact information, you should capture it at some point later in the conversation.  After all, you’ll need it to get back to your lead later, or to send a notification following the chat conversation.  At least grab an email address.

-In the case of a homepage chatbot, your conversational structure should be brief, and should not exceed 7-10 questions.  Acquire the basic information.  Offer your lead a chance to type in their own version of events.  And lastly, create a call to action.  Consumers complain that lawyers don’t tell them what to do next, or what will happen next.  So, have your lead schedule an appointment via the chatbot, or let your lead know that you will reach out soon.

Chatbots can create lengthy question sets, and dive down deep into branching dialogs.  And, in some cases those use cases will be essential for your process.  A chatbot on a specific attorney’s page may have a different set of questions and length than a homepage chatbot.  Similarly, a chatbot on a practice area page, or at a directory profile, may look and feel different.  If you ultimately decide to run your full intake form through a chatbot, that may be a secondary or follow-up conversation, and one that represents a highly involved interaction — which nonetheless allows you to take advantage of intake features to qualify lead or client responses.

. . .

Now you know how to build a chatbot for maximum engagement.  We’ll focus next time on how to collect and manage data via a chatbot.  Stay tuned, right here.

Marketing, Messaging

99 Problems, But a Niche Ain’t One: Why Niche Practice Works So Well for Law Firms

It’s really hard to sell everything, unless you’re Walmart.  And, when you’re Walmart, your whole thesis is that you sell everything cheaper than everyone else.  Of course, that’s not a particularly great way to run a law firm.  As a lawyer, you want to differentiate yourself based on your practice areas and expertise.

It’s difficult to try to sell multiple practice areas, though — especially when they’re not easy to knit together into one narrative.  Let’s say you practice divorce, criminal law and worker’s compensation.  What’s the defining thread among all those things?  And, how do you construct a website that doesn’t look like shepherd’s pie?  It’s hard to be pithy and to the point, in an environment with impatient consumers who require that, when it takes you some time to explain what to do.

The remedy, which is utterly frightening for many lawyers, is to sell one thing.  The standard operating procedure for law firms, is to take as many shots at selling as many things as possible, because that’s the best way to increase your chances of actually getting conversions.  That strategy might work in the NFL Draft; but, it doesn’t work for a law firm.  That’s in large part because law firms are almost always built on referral marketing.  And, for referral marketing, you need a compelling pitch.  Your referral sources can’t say ‘You should check out my friend’s law firm.  They’re awesome.  They do literally everything.’  It’s far more compelling to have someone say, ‘Oh, you need to go see my friend Sheena.  She’s the best divorce lawyer I know.’

It turns out that scarcity is the play.  And, you can also extend that notion to leverage areas where there is a coverage gap.  Instead of setting up just another family law firm, try something you like that no one else has tried yet.  Invent a new practice area out of a specific unmet marketplace need, and exploit it.  This is moneyball for legal.  The reason most lawyers (especially those starting practices) don’t do this is because they’re super scared of the initial build.  Yes, it does take a while longer to grow a niche practice in which you do one thing differently; but, if you can master that brand/branding, and you’re the only person who does it, then you’ll eventually start to rake in the cash — especially if it’s a national practice area.  Yes, the snuggie is stupid, but if you’re the one dude who started making snuggies, then you probably did alright for yourself.  See also: Thneeds.

Creating and investing in a niche practice takes courage.  However, the reward for long-term thinking is often what the award for long-term thinking usually is.  Consider your benefits about to be reaped.

Marketing

Inside Out: Why You Need to Seek Referrals from Non-Lawyers, Too

Psssttt . . . I’ve got something I need to tell you: You don’t have to network only with other lawyers.  I know this is a problem for a lot of you, which is why I bring it up.  I just want to help.  And, I get it: it’s so much easier to just talk with other lawyers.  They feel your pain.  They speak your language — Latin.  But, relying on referrals from other lawyers is the most dangerous game.

Why?  Good question.  It’s because other lawyers have the ‘nuclear option’: They can nullify any referral they would have sent you by taking it for themselves.  Think about it: If you’re relying on, say, plumbers for referrals, they’re not going to be like, ‘Hey, I’m just going to go ahead and probate this estate myself.’  They need a lawyer to refer a legal case to.  But, for lawyers, almost regardless of specialization, they can snatch any case back.  A patent lawyer could take a probate case if she needed to, or wanted to.

What that means is that you can do everything right, in terms of finding the right referral partners, with the right complementary practice areas, and do everything you can, also, to smooth the referral process, and to send bulk candies to your lawyer referral sources afterwards — and yet, all that does not guarantee that the attorney you want to receive referrals from is going to actually send you those referrals.  If they’ve hit a revenue trough, maybe they keep that case, in order to stem the tide without having to dip into a line of credit or ease their short-term concern.  Maybe they end up liking that particular practice area, or view it as more viable than they previously thought, and the whole thing starts to snowball, and they hire an associate to handle the personal injury cases they used to send your way.  The point is: they can, the plumber can’t.

So, as an attorney practicing in a competitive environment (that’s you), it’s imperative that you (pl.) diversify your referral network, in order to decrease an overhanging reliance on attorney-to-attorney referrals.  Go forth, then, and meet non-attorney referral sources.  Just like there are complementary practice areas, there are complementary business types out there for you to receive referrals from and to send referrals to.  So, do the legwork to find out where those opportunities lie.  If you need to conduct some preliminary research on the topics, MeetUp.com is a great way to find business-specific interest groups (as well as personal interest groups), that you may never have heard of, or even thought about, before.

Get out of your comfort zone, and you shall be rewarded.

. . . Like, literally, with more money, stemming from further assured referral avenues.