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Chapter 2/6
Law Firm Clients
3 min read
Now that you have a clear picture of who you want to serve, you can delve deeper into the journey they will take before, during, and after they work with your firm. Documenting your ideal client’s journey will help you develop your marketing strategy and service model to ensure you are appropriately addressing your client’s needs.
While the journey may vary for each client persona, most clients follow a similar path:
Awareness: the client’s journey begins when they first see a legal problem on the horizon.
Evaluation: the client identifies potential solutions.
Conversion: the client selects a solution.
Onboarding: the client begins to work with your firm.
Service: the firm provides legal services.
Loyalty: the raving client brags about the firm’s services and happily provides a positive review, and refers others to the firm.
For each stage of this journey, determine where your clients get their information, what they’re looking for, and how you can deliver. What are the client’s goals at each stage of the process? How can your firm go above and beyond expectations and exceed their goals?
Document each stage of the client journey so you can visualize each milestone and touchpoint. Identify the goals you want to meet and know what tools and technology you will need to achieve those goals. After you’ve created a client journey, get feedback and test it out on yourself. Identify any pain points or obstacles you encounter so you can fix them or make adjustments along the way.
Client has a potential legal issue and starts researching to learn more about the problem and how to resolve it. Do you have an article that explains your practice area and could give visitors an overview and explanation of their legal issue?
Client decides she may need an attorney and starts researching attorneys in her area. Do you have information to help her understand the process and what to expect?
Client discovers your website and starts reading about you, your firm, and how you could help her with her issue.
How do you want them to feel when visitors go to your website? What do you want to convey? Is your website responsive and easy to navigate?Client reaches out to contact or meet with you. Is your contact information easy to find? Better yet, do you have an online form clients can fill out? Will someone answer or respond to their inquiry quickly if they call your office?
You meet with the client and start working together on her matter. This is where you can start giving personalized attention to your clients, being proactive with them and where you can begin creating client loyalty to you and your firm.
Throughout the representation, you connect with your client to see if your services exceed their expectations. You collect a review from your client and remind them to consider you in the future.
The client experience journey generally starts the same for most clients and will vary after signing with you, depending on their matter and needs. After you develop your client experience journey, try taking it yourself. Try to identify any gaps in the client experience and anticipate potential problems. Documenting your client’s journey also helps you focus your law firm’s perspective, making you more client-centered.
Go Deeper: Podcast Episode #338
Reframing Your Client Experience, with Spencer Keys
Listen to EpisodeDownload the Full Guide
With this guide, you’ll identify your ideal law firm client, perfect your intake and onboarding, master client communication, wow clients, and capture feedback.
