One of Core Legal’s co-founders – David Mort of IRN Research – has produced a short practical guide giving tips on how to run a low-cost but effective client feedback survey. Amongst other things, the guide includes examples of questions to ask and tips on how to generate business leads and PR from surveys. For a free copy of the guide, contact info@corelegal.net. Here is a summary:
At the simplest level, client satisfaction surveys are important measures of how well you are serving your client base. They can highlight strengths and weaknesses, identify areas where change and improvements are needed, and enable law firms to benchmark their performance over time. Conducting regular client satisfaction surveys or an “end of matter” questionnaire are effective ways to reinforce client relations and should be part of the regular client contact that is important for improving a firm’s client retention rates.
However, client surveys can be so much more than just an indicator of client satisfaction. A client survey is an opportunity to make sure your clients are aware of all your services, and to discover whether any of your other services would be of interest to them.
The people using your law firm can be champions of your service and can help to increase awareness of your brand, reputation, and potentially generate more business. So, use any non-confidential information from client surveys for your marketing and PR. Put good client feedback on your website, in your brochures, and advertisements, and any other marketing and PR that you use.
Client Satisfaction Surveys – Some Dos and Don’ts
| Dos | Don’ts |
| Ideally survey 100% of clients but, if not possible, select a representative sample covering each practice area, client type. | Select particular clients and ignore those who may have had a bad result, or other problem. Don’t be subjective. |
| Take care in preparing the survey questions – don’t just ask about satisfaction with current services but explore interest in other services. Test out the questions before embarking on the full survey. | Try and undertake surveys internally if you cannot commit resources and time to it. Concentrate on what you do best and outsource to a research specialist. |
| Communicate the details of the survey and key results to all staff internally – it is a reminder that marketing matters and good client relationships are important | Pick out the results that confirm what you want to hear and ignore the rest. |
| Act on any issues raised regarding a specific matter immediately. | Leave the survey results to gather dust. |
| If you have the in-house expertise to run the survey and analyse results, make sure you allocate enough resources and time to complete the job. | Just present the cold facts from the survey – offer an analysis and recommendations for action. |
| Use any non-confidential positive client feedback to spread the word about your services. For example, on your website, other websites, PR material etc. |
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