Overview of Converting Prospects Into Clients for Attorneys

Converting prospects into clients is a multi-factor process.
Here are some of the key elements:

● Volume of incoming leads: You can only convert as many clients as you have leads for (typically, you will have far fewer clients than leads). Conversely, if you have too many prospects, your overall conversion rate might fall because you can't handle following up on all of the potential business.

●Quality and presentation of prospects: There's significant variation in the quality and the types of leads out there. A call directly to your office based on another attorney's recommendation would typically have high quality and a desirable format. Someone who emails you without reading your website and copies several other law offices would be less of a prospect.

● Refinement of intake process: Your firm's intake process has a major influence on your ability to obtain new clients. Many firms find it useful to use a standard "sales funnel" model to understand processes and establish policies

●Corollary persuasive elements: There are many other factors someone might consider when deciding to retain you as their attorney. These factors include the quality of your website, your firm's reputation, any so-called closing techniques you've incorporated into your intake process, and the extent to which you're able to set client expectations correctly.

Keep in mind that the term "conversion rate" can
mean a number of things. In this article, we'll use it to describe getting new
clients from leads.

Different Types of Law Firm Leads

To expand on a previous point, there are many different
types of leads for law firms. Most firms use a variety of lead generation and
purchasing methods, so things can get complicated. Let's look at some of the
most popular examples:

●Pay per click: Paying advertisers when people click on links to your website

●Pay per lead: Paying for lead-generating behavior, such as calls, chats, or contact information

●Pay per call: A specific type of pay per lead that only sends calls

●SEO: Getting your website to a higher rank on search engines so people can find you more easily

●Referrals: Developing a reputation with peers and clients to generate business

●Directories: Getting leads via attorney directories (typically requires premium memberships to be effective)

Some of these require payment, while others just need effort and dedication. Some give you control over the amount of incoming leads, while others require you to build up your platform over long periods of time. Finally, each technique will have a different
per-prospect conversion rate.

Understanding Why Conversion Rates Differ

There are two main ways you can change your conversion rates, which correspond to the two main aspects of client conversion. The firs is to get prospects from different sources, and the second is to improve your
intake processes.

Assuming that you handle all of the incoming leads for your law office through the same process, that leaves you with only one variable: the source of your leads.

If you want to increase your client acquisition rates, a
relatively straightforward way is to improve the sources of your prospects.
Shifting your efforts and your budget towards better (i.e. more likely to
convert) leads should show you an increase in new clients.

Where Buying Calls Fits in a Basic Strategy

When you're talking about lead quality and high conversion
rates, it's hard not to mention the pay-per-call system. Pay per call tends to
convert at excellent rates for law firms. There are two downsides: It costs
more per interaction and it does not do much (at least not directly) for your
website's performance.

Let's look at that last downside for a moment. With good SEO
and quality pay-per-click landing pages, your website should become a low-cost
generator of high-quality leads. That's one reason why, even though
pay-per-call has high conversion rates and very little maintenance, it makes
sense to diversify your law firm's marketing strategy.

Prioritizing Conversion Rate — Is It Worth It for Law Firms?

Conversion rate is simply one of many law firm performance indicators Setting it as the top priority might be a good idea, depending on your situation, but this one statistic should not be the only concern in your business development
strategy.

So, where does conversion rate rank in your list of
concerns? Here are some other KPIs to help you put it in context:

●Client growth rate (number of new clients over time)

●Total website traffic

●Cost of client acquisition (total client acquisition expenditure divided by the number of new clients)

●Average new case value (potentially estimated)

●Ratio of billable to non-billable hours

Each of these metrics has something to say about how you
attract and handle your firm's business prospects. Considering all of the
relevant factors should help you build sustainable success.

Start With Getting Quality Leads

How many calls should you buy per month? What's a good client acquisition cost? Success is in the details when it comes to attorney
marketing strategies. Please feel free to contact us at Legal Locator — we would be happy to answer your questions and
get you started immediately with some of the services that you need.