Bernadette Bennett, Moneypenny
By Legal Futures Associate Moneypenny
Although law firms are familiar with the old adage the customer is king – new research from customer experience (CX) specialists Insight 6 reveals that customer experience in the sector still has room for improvement.
Here, Bernadette Bennett, head of the legal sector at leading outsourced communication provider Moneypenny, highlights the top five areas for legal firms to improve customer experience.
1.People buy from people
While Insight 6’s research found that legal enquiries were handled by friendly, amiable and professional people – 78% were not told the name of the company representative they were talking to. When calls were put through to an expert for more information, 40% didn’t give their name either.
TIP: Offering a name is part of establishing a real and personal connection. Revisit your call handling practices and ensure that attention to detail is applied to every stage, including the very first greeting.
2. See it through
A staggering 43% of the telephone messages left with legal practices were never followed up. Plus, when experts offered to send further to the prospective client – as many of as 38% didn’t follow through on their promises. Unreturned calls and poor follow-up practices cost business – not just in terms of lost revenue but also reputation.
TIP: Make sure that enquirers – whether over the phone or online – feel valued. Put measures in place so that enquiries and leads, irrespective of where they originate, are always handled swiftly and professionally. There are numerous software tools to aid lead management, plus outsourced outbound calling support can relieve the burden of lead follow up. Also, ask yourself why leads are falling through the net. Understanding the reasons why will help identify improvements.
3. Make your shop window transact
Although the Insight 6 report praised legal firms’ websites for being informative and comprehensive – replies to enquiries need considerable work. Only 42% of online enquiries were followed up within two hours and 37% didn’t receive a reply at all. Consistent enquiry handling is key.
TIP: Test all of your ‘get in touch’ forms on your website and your general enquiries email. Do they work as they should, are they passing enquiries to the right place and how can you improve follow-up?
4. Show you value enquiries
The report highlighted that a significant number of follow-up emails weren’t personalised (47%) and less than half (37%) actually provided information that responded to the enquirer’s needs, plus spelling mistakes and poor grammar were all too present.
TIP: Potential clients want to feel their needs have been heard and understood. Follow-up activity only has value if it provides the information required – so be sure that those handling leads are capturing the right information. Also, remember that poor attention to detail is not a quality you would want in a legal services provider.
5. More of the same
Although the report showed that only 16% of legal firms were using live chat – this channel brought out the best in the sector. Web chats were well-written, free of spelling mistakes and empathetic – plus, promised follow-up information was delivered every time.
TIP: The firms using webchat understand its value and have put the right processes in place to ensure it supports the customer journey and aids lead conversion. For firms concerned they don’t they have the time or people-power to make web chat work consistently – consider an outsourced service. Our live chat can capture leads 247 and upload them straight into your CRM.
Bernadette Bennett concluded: “While we all know there are some brilliant examples of exceptional above and beyond customer care in the legal sector, this report highlights there is still room for improvement. The demands of the last two years have certainly impacted client care and resource has been stretched, but it’s important now to look ahead, put remedial steps in place and ensure that the customer really does feel like they are king.”
To see where the legal sector excelled and needs improvement, download the full report here: https://www.moneypenny.com/uk/resources/blog/turning-good-to-great-cx-for-professional-services/
Moneypenny handles more than 2 million legal calls and live chats each year for more than 1,000 legal firms in the UK, including 60 of the Top 200, thanks to its dedicated team of 60 legal PAs.
Established in 2000, Moneypenny is the world’s market leader for telephone answering, live chat, outsourced switchboard and customer contact solutions. In total, more than 13,000 businesses across the UK benefit from Moneypenny’s mix of extraordinary people and ground-breaking technology.
For more information about Moneypenny’s work with the legal sector, click here.
