Bernadette Bennett, Moneypenny
By Legal Futures Associate Moneypenny
For any legal business that wants to ensure a positive experience online, live chat is an effective way to give customers the human touch and delivering the answers they need in real time. It’s also a clever way to make even the least dynamic websites up to the job, without a costly overhaul.
Here, Bernadette Bennett, head of the legal sector at leading outsourced communication business Moneypenny, explains how live chat can help legal firms create a better connection between customer and brand and shares data from Moneypenny’s latest Digital CX study.
Bernadette says: “Our recent study of 250 UK businesses found that the vast majority (86%) understand how crucial it is to be found online, as they appear first in the Google search results for their brand name. But many of them aren’t doing enough to make the experience positive once people land on their site.
“For legal firms we found that poor navigation, a lack of contact options, poor customer friendliness and an inability to differentiate products and services, are just some of the ills that need addressing. This is where live chat can help.”
Here are six legal website challenges live chat can address:
- Poor navigation
If your website’s bounce rate suggests it’s difficult to navigate, live chat can help your visitors find the information they need. Proactive live chat pop-ups on key product or service pages can be used to signpost visitors to further relevant information – perhaps the frequently asked questions page or a useful blog. It can also help to answer questions they may have in real time (and before they get frustrated because they can’t find what they’re looking for) and capture their details to book a call, appointment, or quote.
- Customer friendliness
A lack of customer friendliness on a legal website can alienate potential clients and make it even less likely they’ll turn into business. The ability to talk to a law firm via live chat can tackle this head on – meaning that even the least customer friendly website starts to have a more accessible touch. Having a real person on the other side of the chat sees better performance than bots or automated conversation systems. Empathy is crucial in all aspects of customer care and especially for legal firms who are often helping clients during stressful and emotional times. Our Digital CX study revealed that almost two thirds of legal websites don’t rate highly for customer friendliness, making it clear it’s an area requiring improvement.
- Brand image
Legal firms increasingly understand the need to bring their brands to life as it’s a way to stand out from the competition. Live chat can help to give a legal website a brand voice and a means of engagement – proactively showing visitors that their business matters, starting conversations, adding value and answering questions. Our Digital CX study revealed that two thirds of law firms aren’t doing enough to present a strong brand image online.
- Adding extra information
If updating a website is too costly or time consuming, live chat can help to add additional information. A well-timed pop-up on a key page can be used to convey special prices, additional key service information and even limited time deals. It can also steer web visitors to frequently asked questions – another great lead-helping resource to add to a website.
- Understanding
Legal products and services can sometimes be difficult to understand for the layperson. Having the live chat function available on key service pages can help to stimulate questions. When people know it’s possible to have their questions answered in real time, there and then, it improves the customer experience and can expedite the move from visitor to enquirer.
- Easy to contact
One of the learnings identified in our recent Digital CX study was that legal businesses could do more to improve how contactable they are – over half of the firms (56%) studied ranked average or less for contactability.
While this can be addressed by displaying telephone numbers more clearly and offering web contact forms, it can also be tackled with live chat. Whether it’s placed strategically on key pages to drive conversions, used proactively to show you’re available to help on the home page, or merely another option on the ‘contact us’ page – live chat is vital to make your legal firm more accessible, 24/7.
Our research also highlighted the need for legal firms to articulate their services and their differences more clearly – making it easy to get in touch could be a very welcome and positive way to differentiate – especially as only 10% of legal websites feature the tool, even though legal clients expect it[1].
- Lead capture
Instead of leaving visitor’s online first impressions to chance, live chat can help you to stimulate conversation and capture leads more quickly. In fact, live chat can aid website conversion by 40%.
Offering a final piece of advice, Bernadette said: “So, if legal firms are investing in SEO, they should also be investing in the website itself to ensure it helps to triage enquiries, convert enquiries into leads and reflects the brand. Redevelopment of your legal website may be cost prohibitive, but live chat is very cost effective and a fast way to make your website work harder for your business.”
To find out more about the Digital CX report visit: https://www.moneypenny.com/uk/resources/news/youre-website-is-your-shopfront-are-you-ready-for-liftoff/
To find out more about live chat, organise a free trial or set live chat up on your website visit https://www.moneypenny.com/uk/legal-answering-services/
