The Lawmatics Blog

If your intake process isn’t systemized, odds are you’re losing potential clients to competitors. In 2020 alone, lawyers using intake technology earned nearly 40% more revenue per lawyer compared to firms not using these technologies. And though you can only do so much to influence a prospect’s hiring decision, fine-tuning your intake process with the help of powerful automation tools can significantly increase your close rate while saving more time. In our latest webinar, Lawmatics CEO and co-founder Matt Spiegel teamed up with Jordan Ostroff of LegalEase Marketing to share breakthrough methods of converting more prospects into paying clients that any attorney can implement right away.Some of the key highlights include:

1 Use reporting to identify and maximize your marketing

Actively tracking the performance of your marketing efforts enables you to pinpoint which calls to action, content, and marketing emails are generating the most consultations and close rates, reducing overhead on client acquisition. Furthermore, A/B testing will help you identify your most effective:

• Ad copy & creative
• Ad channels
• Ad placements
• Referral sources

2 Create a frictionless web page that generates results

Strategically design your website or landing pages with all of the key engagement elements that you can in turn track  — from your headline, design, and special offer. Even the smallest adjustment can result in a dramatic increase in traffic and conversion.

3 Pre-sell your firm with automated marketing

From social proof to awards and recognitions, sending automated marketing emails (or texts) prior to the consultation can substantially improve the likelihood of a client acquisition. Once a potential client signs up for a consultation, a triggered email confirmation helps to reduce the risk of no-shows or confusion.

4 Pre-screen your clients

Screening your clients with a thorough and automatically delivered digital intake form can spare your firm the hassle of scheduling a consultation with an unqualified or unfit prospect. From geographical area to finances, getting the information you need upfront equates to less hours spent on consultations that don’t yield retained clients.

5 Selling doesn’t stop post-hire

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking the selling stops once onboarding begins. Continue to deliver messages to reinforce your client’s choice to hire you throughout the entire lifecycle of your relationship, particularly post matter resolution.

Webinar slide deck

To be successful, estate planning law firms must have a comprehensive marketing strategy. We'll dive into marketing tips that will help you attract new clients and grow your estate planning business. We will begin by addressing estate planning and then discuss the skills required to work in this area. After that, we will dive into a variety of digital marketing tips that you can use to attract more clients. These tips include social media, SEO, email chains, and many others. Finally, we'll provide a few words about Lawmatics – an online marketing platform designed specifically for lawyers.As an estate planner, getting in front of as many potential clients as possible is key to a successful practice. But how do you do that? This blog post will discuss tips and tricks for marketing your estate planning law firm. We will begin by addressing estate planning and then discuss how to market your firm using social media, SEO, and email chains. We will also discuss the benefits of using Lawmatics services to help grow your practice!The rising number of individuals aged has contributed to the increasing demand for estate plan services. Is your estate planning practice effective at attracting more clients? A successful estate planning campaign should incorporate all relevant marketing methods. The best plan for lawyers beginning their clients' development should be based on a clear plan to leverage their knowledge to gain clients.

Overview of estate planning law

Estate planning is a process that helps individuals and families protect their assets while also ensuring that their wishes are carried out after death. It can encompass various activities, including estate tax planning, drafting wills and trusts, and creating estate administration plans.A solid estate plan should take into account everything you own. To get you in the proper frame of mind, consider the many forms of property that make up your estate:

• Real estate and property (e.g., houses, land)
• Personal property (e.g., cars, artwork, jewelry)
• Bank accounts
• Retirement assets, stocks, and securities
• Life insurance policies

Many individuals overlook all of the aspects that go into a finished estate plan. Estate planning entails more than simply putting your last will and testament in motion. You'll help families anticipate as many circumstances as possible.

Skills required to be a good estate planning lawyer

Estate planning law is a specialization within the legal field that deals with estate-related tasks such as estate tax planning, drafting wills and trusts, and creating estate administration plans. As an estate planning lawyer, you must comprehensively understand these areas to provide sound advice to your clients. In addition, you must also be able to communicate with your clients and understand their needs effectively.

You think ahead

Estate planning lawyers must think long-term because they often work with clients for many years. During this time, estate planners are responsible for helping their clients safeguard their assets and ensure their wishes are fulfilled after they die.

You like to help people

Some estate planning lawyers work with families through generations. When one client passes away, estate planners may be enlisted by any surviving family members, which means decades of service. Your client relies on you to safeguard their family assets. They entrust you to craft the plan that aligns with local and federal laws, manages taxes, and passes most of the wealth to the beneficiaries upon death.

You like dealing with financial, trust, and taxation issues

You must also communicate with your clients about their financial situation and estate planning goals. Many estate planners need to track a client’s assets, liabilities, and estate taxes.

Why implement a marketing strategy for estate planning attorneys?

Estate planning attorneys face a competitive marketplace that makes attracting clients difficult. An effective marketing program that attracts new business clients will be essential for achieving the company's objectives and growth.

Beating out the old guard

It can be challenging to break into markets with an "old guard." Established players in a market often have a decisive advantage, and it can be hard to dislodge them. This is especially true in estate planning, where many attorneys have been practicing for years. Young attorneys must be prepared to work hard and develop creative marketing strategies to attract new business.

Competing against do-it-yourself (DIY) options

Many individuals may be tempted to take on writing their will themselves to avoid paying for a lawyer's services. After all, many online resources, like LegalZoom, RocketLawyer, and other DIY kits, are available to help people create a comprehensive estate plan without legal assistance.

Competing with financial industry

The financial industry has been increasingly targeting estate planning to expand services. As a result, estate planners must continuously adapt their marketing strategies to stay ahead of the competition. There are many estate planning law firms, but how do you make yours stand out from the rest?However, we know that estate planning is a complex process that requires the expertise of a qualified lawyer.

Foundations of marketing best practices

A well-crafted marketing strategy can help you attract new clients, expand your client base, and grow your estate planning law firm.

Track your leads with call tracking

Call tracking is a valuable tool that estate planning law firms can use to track the success of their marketing campaigns. By monitoring the number of calls generated by a campaign, your estate planning law firm can measure the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.Use a call-tracking service that offers local or toll-free number options, call recording, and detailed reporting.

Use a CRM to manage relationships

A CRM, or customer relationship management system, is a valuable tool that estate planning law firms can use to manage their qualified leads and clients.A CRM can support your estate planning law firm's marketing efforts by helping you keep track of all the essential details about your clients. With detailed information about each client's assets, liabilities, and estate, your estate planning law firm can more effectively market to them. Additionally, a CRM can help you track the progress of your estate planning services, so you can more effectively measure the success of your marketing campaigns.You can attract and retain clients more effectively by using a CRM to support your estate planning law firm's marketing efforts.

Nurture leads with email campaigns

One of the most effective ways to keep potential estate planning clients in mind is through email nurture campaigns. An email nurture campaign involves sending targeted emails to potential clients to persuade them to become clients. Creating a simple birthday email campaign can delight and remind your potential clients.Each of the three foundations of marketing efforts - call-tracking, CRM, and email nurture - is necessary for estate planning law firms to succeed in attracting new clients.

5 Channels to market your estate planning firm

Estate planning law firms have a unique opportunity to market their services in various ways. Networking, Google My Business, Content Marketing, Social Media, and Paid Advertising are five effective methods that estate planning law firms can use to reach more clients and grow their business.Estate planning law firms should create a marketing plan that encompasses all of these strategies based on your goals, budget, and target audience.

1Referrals, online directories, & local involvement

Start your marketing strategy by leaning on and growing your network. You can't just sit and wait for clients to come to you. You need to be proactive and generate leads by getting the word out about your law firm.

Referrals and networking

Start your marketing efforts by tapping into your network and community.One of the best ways to market your estate planning firm is to receive referrals from other professionals. Financial advisers, accountants, insurance agents, and other attorneys are all potential sources of referrals for estate planning law firms.

Get involved in local events

Attending and sponsoring local events allows estate planning law firms to gain exposure and build relationships with the community. Consider sponsoring a Fun Run or 5k that donates to cancer research, a local choir, theater, or museum, or buy a little league's baseball shirts.You show that you care and are committed to the community. Sponsoring local events is also a great way to get links to your law firm website.When another website links to your estate planning law firm's website, it is called a backlink. This strongly indicates to Google that your website is an authority on the topic and should be ranked. Backlinks are essential to SEO, and estate planning law firms should take advantage of them to improve their website's ranking.

Online directories

One of the most effective ways to market your estate planning firm is by listing your firm in online directories. Online directories are websites that allow businesses to list their contact information, products, and services. Listing your estate planning firm's online directories can help you reach more clients and grow your business.Some standard legal online directories you should consider are:

• Avvo
• Nolo
• Justia
• Lawyers.com and Lawyer.com (yes, they are different)
• HG.org
• Martindale-Hubbell

2Google my business

While, in a sense, Google My Business (GMB) is an online directory, it is also the best way to get in front of your community. It allows you to control your estate planning law firm's appearance in search results and Google Maps.The best part about using Google My Business is that it is a free business listing.

Claim & fill out your GMB profile

Claiming your GMB profile is the first step in taking control of your estate planning law firm's online presence. To claim your business, you must log in to Google and either claim an existing profile or create a new one. You will need to coordinate with Google to receive a verification code to verify your profile. The default method for obtaining the code is by postcard to the address.After you have claimed your listing, it is time to fill out your GMB profile. Your GMB profile should include:

• Your business name
• Your contact information (i.e., address, phone, website)
• A description of your estate planning services
• Your hours of operation
• Answer questions

When filling out your Google My Business profile, include keywords that people may use to search for your services in the description.

Use GMB like it's social media

Did you know that you can post on GMB? When you post new content on your GMB profile listing, you provide local customers with helpful information about your company. This contributes to increasing your local authority.Treat posts as additional ways to answer FAQs, promote your website, and add additional keywords.

Add photos and videos to your GMB listing

Showcase your firm's office, team, and services by adding pictures to your profile. Adding photos allows potential clients to understand you and your firm better.Take it one step further and get 360 photography of your law office- think Street View, but indoors. To get 360 photos on your Google My Business, you must work with a Google Trusted Photographer.

3Optimize your website

Creating and updating content on your website will increase your authority on Estate Planning in the search results. The more information you provide on your website will help your site appear prominently online.

Practice area pages

When we talk about web content, we don't only mean blogging. Make sure your website details all of your practice areas. Explain your topic and how you would handle that issue, and end with a call-to-action (e.g., "call today for a consultation).

Blogging for busy lawyers

An estate planning firm should consider blogging to keep its website up to date with relevant content. Use your blog to answer questions that your clients ask you over and over again. A blog is a great way to show your expertise on the topic and can also act as a resource for potential clients.

Experiment with other forms of content

Once you've built your website and started blogging as part of your estate planning marketing strategy, you can experiment with different media.Estate planning can be a complex process, and many people have questions about it. Try filming a video to answer some of the most common questions. This is a great way to show your expertise and help potential clients understand estate planning better.You can also create long-form, helpful content like an eBook that people can download. This is a great way to show your expertise and provide potential clients with additional information about estate planning.

4Social media and reviews

Estate planning lawyers can use social media to connect with potential clients and build their businesses. Estate planning lawyers can attract new clients and grow their practices by creating interesting, engaging content.

Go where your clients already are

Your prospective clients are online. They are watching videos, reading articles, and checking social media. Social media can be highly effective for keeping in touch with existing clients, reaching new ones, and expanding your referral network. That said, choosing the proper social media channels is important.It makes sense for estate planning lawyers to be visible on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Lawyers can use these platforms to share blog posts, answer client questions, and connect with potential clients.

Linkedin, where everybody knows your game

LinkedIn is the most useful channel for estate planners. LinkedIn users are usually more professional, more established, and better educated, so it's only natural to have a presence on this platform.Like most social platforms, you can use it to share analyses or insights about changes in legislation or other timely news. You can promote your new blog articles, share information about your business, and add videos or images to enhance your posts.Regular posts will help you establish yourself as an estate-planning expert and help you reach more potential clients.

Ask your clients for reviews

Online reviews are incredibly important and give social proof to prospective clients. Make it easy for your clients to leave a review by providing them with a link to your online profiles to leave a review.In an ideal world, every happy client would leave a 5-star review on Google, but sometimes clients are shy about leaving reviews on Google because it will list their name publicly. If your client feels more comfortable leaving a review on LinkedIn, Facebook, or even an online directory like Avvo—encourage them to do so.

5Social media and reviews

As with all marketing strategies, you want to strike a balance in your approach. SEO and social strategy require consistency over time. Building strong relationships through networking and community involvement also take time.Paying for advertising is a great way to ensure that your company is always at the top of the search results, and it can keep the phones ringing when your firm is in a slump.

Paid advertising campaigns for estate planning attorneys

Law firms can also consider using paid marketing strategies to reach potential estate planning clients. Placing ads in relevant online and offline publications or websites targeting your desired audience can be extremely effective.Additionally, law firms can use targeted online advertising, such as pay-per-click advertising or display advertising, to reach individuals interested in your services.

Use a dedicated landing page to track and convert leads

If you are investing in paid advertising, you need to take the extra step to include a dedicated landing page for each of your paid campaigns.If you choose to have your landing page on your website, remove all site navigation so the lead will stay on that page and convert. You can also build out landing pages on platforms that specialize in converting PPC leads.Your PPC landing page will be specifically designed to capture the contact information of individuals interested in learning more about estate planning services.The advantage of using a landing page is that you can track how many people are visiting the page and how many are filling out the contact form. This data will be extremely valuable as you assess your ROI for your paid campaigns.

Test Google local service ads

Google Local Service Ads is a relatively new advertising platform that allows you to place ads for their services in the local search results. These ads appear as a sponsored listing at the top of the search results and include a call-to-action button that allows potential clients to contact the law firm quickly.To be eligible to participate in Google Local Service Ads, all of the attorneys at your firm must meet specific requirements, such as being licensed and insured. Additionally, your firm's attorneys must undergo a background check conducted by Google.Despite the effort, Google Local Service Ads can be an extremely effective way to reach potential estate planning clients who are searching for estate planning services in your area because you will appear at the top of search results (even above other PPC ads), and Google will have verified you.

Grow your estate planning practice with Lawmatics

Some of the most effective marketing strategies for an estate planning practice include creating helpful, optimized website content to address FAQs, sponsoring local teams or charities, and filling out your Google My Business. These strategies will help you reach prospective clients and connect you to the community.Take your marketing to the next level with Lawmatics. Lawmatics also offers a case management system to manage long-term relationships with your clients easily.

FAQs

?What are the best places for estate lawyers to have an online presence?

There are several great places estate planning lawyers can have an online presence.A website is a must-have. Your website should accurately represent your practice and what you provide. Consider an search engine optimization (SEO) strategy to optimize your website so that potential consumers may locate you online with ease.You should also consider social media sites, as they are ideal for establishing connections with potential clients. LinkedIn is a fantastic platform for estate planning professionals to network and develop relationships with new clients.

?How can Google attract clients who need help with wills & estate planning?

You can use Google products like Google My Business and Google Local Service Ads to get in front of prospective clients.To start, you need to claim and verify a Google My Business listing and optimize it for search engines, making it easier for prospective clients to find you. Once you have your GMB listing, you can write posts related to estate planning.Google Local Service Ads will display your law firm information at the top of the search results page and push people to call you.

Video marketing is a great way to go if you're a law firm looking to boost your business. Creating informative and engaging videos can educate potential clients, build trust, and convert leads into paying clients. However, video marketing can be tricky - it's important to know what you're doing if you want to see results.This blog post will give you a crash course on video content marketing for law firms. We'll cover what video marketing is, how to create an effective video marketing strategy that will help capture the attention of a prospective client, and how to measure your results. By the end of this post, you'll have everything you need to get started with video marketing for your law firm’s legal services.Video marketing is the process of creating and promoting videos to achieve business goals. These goals can include increasing brand awareness, generating leads, or converting leads into a new client.Creating a video marketing strategy can seem daunting, but it doesn't have to be. By following these steps, you'll be on your way to creating a video marketing strategy that works for your law firm.

Why video marketing for lawyers is worth the investment

Video marketing is an excellent way for law firms to engage with prospective clients, convey complex legal concepts, and prove that they are knowledgeable and trustworthy. Law firms can attract more clients and boost their business by creating informative and exciting videos.When creating your video marketing plan, you need to consider how to engage, build trust and convert leads. Video can be a powerful legal marketing conversion tool, helping you turn leads into clients. You can plug videos into a current email marketing strategy or add them to a service landing page to generate leads.

Online video content is a great medium to educate and engage

You can use videos to address a client's pain point effectively, explain a complex legal concept, and describe your services. You can establish credibility and expertise in a video and show your personality. By making informative and interesting videos for your target audience, you can attract more customers, boost your business, and have your law practice stand out in a crowded marketplace.Not everyone wants to read an in-depth article or skim for the answer to the question. Instead, a potential client may gravitate towards educational videos, or an explainer video, on the topic. Prospective clients are more likely to prefer less-quality, authentic video over high-quality video that appears artificial.

Videos help people get familiar with you

Video helps people gain trust with you by providing a more personal and relatable experience than a text-based marketing tactic. In video, you can explain your personal background, why you went to law school, and discuss your passion for your law practice and why you provide the legal services that you do. This type of content helps people get to know you and trust you as a legal professional.

Videos can convert prospects into leads

Law firms looking to convert leads into clients can use video marketing plans to a significant effect. Video is a great way to show potential clients what you can do for them and how to help. You're generating trust and respect in every video you share that highlights your demeanor and expertise.Video testimonials are a great way to show potential clients that you're an expert in your field and have helped others succeed and overcome adversity. By featuring video testimonials on your website or social media channels directed at your target market, you can increase confidence in your firm and help convert leads into clients.

Video is a powerful marketing tool that can help a law firm close more clients. Creating informative and engaging videos can educate potential clients, build trust, and convert leads into paying clients. Now is the time to start if you're not using video in your digital marketing strategy.

How to create your law firm video marketing strategy

When creating your video marketing strategy, it's important to start by defining success and how you'll measure ROI. This will help you determine what type of video content to create, where to promote it, how to allocate a marketing budget, and how to measure your results.What is your audience looking for when they watch your video? Consider creating videos that are middle of the funnel, conversion-focused, and at the bottom of the funnel.

1Define success and how you will measure ROI for videos

You can measure success in many ways. You could track video views, leads generated, or even new business conversions. The important thing is to determine what you want to achieve with your video marketing campaign and track that metric accordingly.Goals to set with video marketing:

• Drive traffic to your law firm website
• Qualify prospects
• Generate new business leads

Metrics to support your marketing goals

• View count - This is a general health marker of how well the video is performing.
• Engagement - These stats will show how long people watched your video and if they watched the entire video. This can inform future video content.
• Traffic to your website - You can report referral traffic if you post videos on YouTube or another platform.
• Conversion rate - Calculate this metric by analyzing the percentage of traffic your video generated and converted.
• Cost per Conversion - If you are using video in advertising, you can calculate your return on ad spending by dividing the video's conversion rate by its cost per conversion.

Before you start producing videos, you need to know how effective your law firm's video marketing campaign will be as well as how to assess the results per your goals.

2Use the marketing funnel to guide video concept

In creating video marketing content, it's important to think about the target market you're trying to reach. Some videos are great for generating awareness and introducing new prospects to your law firm. In contrast, others are more conversion-focused and meant to turn leads into paying clients.

Awareness: top of the funnel

Video content that generates awareness for your law firm can help introduce new prospects to your business. Videos that are funny, interesting, or informative can help attract attention and introduce viewers to your brand. Your awareness videos should be based on discovery rather than converting leads.Awareness videos also help in increasing the audience, and the key metric to measure here is video views.

Consideration: middle of the funnel

Now that you have a general idea of what video content you should produce, it's important to consider the middle of the funnel. Videos that are conversion-focused can help turn leads into paying clients.These videos should be educational, helpful, and persuasive. They should also be relevant to the services your law firm offers. Conclude your video with a call to action that encourages viewers to visit your website and explore your offering or additional published content/videos.The most important measurements when evaluating a video are click-thru rate and viewing duration.

Conversion: bottom of the funnel

Conversion-focused videos at the bottom of the funnel are designed to turn leads into paying clients. These videos are persuasive and relevant to the services your law firm offers.When creating a video for the bottom of the funnel, it's important to keep in mind what you want the viewer to do after watching the video:

• Do you want them to contact your firm for a consultation?
• Fill out a form on your website?
• Call your office?

Make sure your call to action is clear and easy to follow. You should also include a sense of urgency in your call to action.The key metric when creating conversion films is clickthrough rates and conversions.

3Familiarize yourself with the video creation process

Now that you understand the basics of video marketing and how to measure its success, it's time to create your video.

Generate video ideas and create outlines

Before you start filming, we need to do some video planning. This can be done by brainstorming topics relevant to your law firm that will interest your target audience. You can also look at what your competitors are doing and try to create unique and different video content.A successful video format looks like this:

• Introduce yourself, your law firm, and your practice area
• Give an overview of a topic
• Discuss a common pain point or question people have around this topic
• Showcase examples of how you'd address said issue or question
• Conclude by offering a call to action and signing off

You and your marketing team can plan for your video style at this stage.

Create a video production schedule

This will help you track which videos need to be filmed and when they need to be published. It's also important to outline or write your video script. This will help ensure that your video is on-brand and consistent with your law firm's messaging.

Filming your videos

You don't need fancy video equipment to start filming videos. You can simply use your phone or computer.When filming, make sure you have enough light. Natural light is best, but if that's not an option, you can use lamps or overhead lights. If filming on the phone, use a tripod or stable surface to avoid shakiness.Next, pay attention to the audio. The video should be easy to hear and understand. Try to film in a quiet, controlled environment to avoid audio interference. If there is a lot of background noise, it will be difficult for viewers to focus on the video.Make sure you speak clearly and at a normal volume. If you're filming indoors, you may want to use a microphone to ensure the audio is clear.

Video editing and adding captions

Once you have all of your video footage, it's time to start editing. This is where you will add captions, music, and any other special effects. You don't need to be a seasoned video editor. There are many cheap and user-friendly apps for people new to editing films, especially if filming and editing on your phone.It's important to add captions to your video for accessibility. This can be done with a text-to-speech program or by hiring a captioning service.

Publishing your video

After your video is edited and captioned, it's time to publish it. You can post your video on your website, social media, or a video hosting platform such as YouTube.Hosting videos on YouTube allows law firms to reach a large audience with their video content. YouTube is the world's second most frequented search engine. Law firms can ensure that potential clients easily find their entire library of videos by hosting all of their videos on their YouTube channel. In addition, hosting videos on YouTube allows firms to embed videos on their website or blog, which can help increase website traffic and video views.Videos are a popular medium on social media because they have increased audience engagement. Try editing your full video into digestible videos for your law firm’s social media marketing platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, or TikTok.

4Measure your results

Remember our goals from above? Well, now it's time to collect the data and start measuring our results. This will help you determine which videos resonate with your target audience and what content speaks to your audience.You can use your data to inform your next video campaign.

Popular video formats for law firms and where they fit in your marketing strategy

Find the perfect type of videos to promote your services.

Attract clients

At this stage, videos should address clients' problems and suggest possible solutions. These videos aim mainly at increasing visibility and building confidence among viewers. Because of your desire to gain more viewers for your video, you might be more interested in engaging emotions.Examples of videos that attract audiences are as follows:

• Short videos that highlight your law firm's personality
• Thought leadership videos that offer a unique perspective on a new idea
• Brand videos that share your law firm's values and mission
• Explainer videos that provide tips for solving your audience's pain point

Animated video explainers

Animated video explainers can be a great way to introduce potential clients to your law firm. They are engaging and easy to understand and can help simplify complex legal concepts.

Interview-style explainer videos

These are a great way to personally connect with prospective clients. These videos can set the tone for your firm and services. In these videos, a lawyer or other representative from the firm sits down and explains a legal concept in a simple, easy-to-understand way.

Engage leads

Once you have video content that is both informative and engaging, it's time to start engaging with leads. Video can be a powerful tool for lead generation.Examples of videos that convert leads are as follows:

• A webinar filled with tactical advice
• Common case results
• Testimonials of customers with relatable stories
• In-depth explainer and how-to videos
• Landing page promotional videos

Testimonials

Video testimonials represent one of your most important types of videos — it shows past or present satisfied customers describing a positive experience with their product. Honest personal reviews of customers are far superior compared to what a company would say because they give you social proof that you are accountable and honest.

Close and delight customers

You took the case, but a video is another great tool that improves the post-conversion stage in your retention and referral marketing strategies. Even after taking the case, your goal is to continue to provide high-quality information to your customers.Consider your client as your biggest fan and referral source. This kind of video encourages people to evangelize your services. Your first chance for happiness begins directly with purchase. Make a thank-you video to welcome people to our community.Examples of videos that thank your clients are as follows:

• Testimonial videos of customers with relatable stories
• Culture or brand videos that sell viewers on your quality of service
• Personalized videos that welcome clients to the firm
• Evergreen videos that explain each process of a client's matter

Onboarding clients

Take a page from your favorite software companies, and incorporate video into your onboarding process. Create a video repository where you and your team explain the different stages of their case. You can build out a library of videos to cater to clients who prefer self-service or have any questions about the process. Develop videos that span the client lifecycle from intake to settlement.

Close more leads with Lawmatics

Video marketing is a great way to engage and delight your prospective clients. By providing high-quality video content, you can help them understand complex legal concepts, prove that you're knowledgeable and trustworthy, and show them how your product could benefit their business.Using video in your marketing strategy is a great way to set yourself apart from the competition and build relationships with potential clients. Optimize your client intake with the Lawmatics customizable dashboard. You provide excellent video content, and we provide the tools your team needs to track prospective leads through every step of the client journey.See how Lawmatics works today.

Lawmatics automations are your key to not only saving valuable time, but also facilitating better communication with both leads and clients. Better communication leads to increased conversion rates, happier clients, more referrals and repeat business, so why wouldn’t you want to add automation into your practice?Nearly every aspect of your business can benefit from automation, from intake to payment collection, and Lawmatics is just the tool you need to make that happen. In fact, you can use Lawmatics throughout the entire client lifecycle to keep clients updated on every aspect of their case — all without you needing to lift a finger.Don’t forget the importance of staying in touch with your old book of business. Whether you are looking to keep clients updated on industry news, firm announcements, or even current promotions, Lawmatics automations allow you to keep in touch long after a case has ended.Let’s take a further look into some of the areas where automation can help keep leads and clients updated.

1 Intake form delivery & follow-up

New client intake is often one of the most critical processes in your firm, since this is the first interaction new leads get to have with your business. Automation makes it possible to delight them with your responsiveness right off the bat, leading to more conversions.

Send an intake form & reminders

Whether you are collecting data from leads during your intake or sending a detailed questionnaire to clients, Lawmatics has the tools you need to make sending forms and collecting client data a seamless process. Firms like Buchanan Law, a New Mexico Employment and Personal Injury firm, swiftly qualify clients by sending automated reminders for clients to complete missing information.While working your leads through the intake process, the goal is to make them feel involved and engaged without bombarding them with a surplus of information or emails. Automations allow you to send your forms, along with reminders to take action on said forms, at a cadence of your choice. Send your forms via email, text message, or a combination of both, and use delivery windows to ensure that the form is only sent during an appropriate time window.

Set a delivery window so that your messages are only delivered during business hours, or any other time window of your choosing.

Use exit conditions to make sure prospective clients stop receiving reminders once they have submitted the form. Follow these steps to create your form reminder workflow:

1. Go to the Automations page under the Marketing tab and create a new automation.
2. Select your entry conditions or trigger. This is the activity that should trigger the sending of your intake form. Maybe once they book an appointment or submit a contact request on your website.
3. Use the plus sign to add the Send Form action, and then select the specific form you wish to send.
4. Click the plus sign icon again and add a time delay, setting a particular time delay before your next reminder.
5. Use the plus sign icon to add the Send Form action again.
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 to add as many reminders as you would like.
7. Add an exit condition of the form

Create a drip campaign of reminders to fill out a form. Make sure you include exit conditions so they exit once they submit the form.

Send a confirmation email or text message

It’s all too common for an intake process to stall because a prospective client hasn’t received a confirmation or instructions on next steps immediately following their last action — in this case a form fill. Imagine a lead having to wait for an update until you or your staff have the time to manually review their form, and then you end up playing phone tag trying to schedule their consultation. Sound familiar?Automation will make this scenario a thing of the past. Once a prospective client fills out a basic intake form, said client will automatically receive a thank-you email and/or text message that delivers a link to book their consultation. Your leads will not be left wondering and guessing what their next step with your firm will be, instead they will receive instantaneous and personalized messaging confirming that you have received their form submission and advising them on what comes next in the process.Here’s how to make this happen:

1. Create a new automation using the Filled a Form entry condition
2. Click the plus sign icon and select the Request Appointment action item
3. Alternatively, create a custom email and include a booking link in the email, and send that email instead of the appointment request

Trigger an automation when the client/lead submits a form so that they receive instant communication of next steps.

Share an intake form in the Client Portal

Last but certainly not least, forms can also be shared directly to a matter within the Client Portal. Inviting a matter to access the portal gives them the ability to create their own password, and then sign into their own custom dashboard for their matter. Their portal becomes their hub for all things case-related, from intake forms to documents to appointments, making it one of the most versatile tools for keeping clients up to date on their case.No matter how you choose to automate your forms, Lawmatics will take all of your tedious and manual steps out of the form sharing and collecting process.

2 Appointment & event reminders

Perhaps one of the most important pieces of your intake and case management puzzle is appointment scheduling. But whether you’re booking initial consultations, signing meetings, virtual calls or in person sessions, appointment reminder message(s) should always follow. This not only helps improve your show rates, but also reassures clients and prospects that they’re actively moving through the process. And the best way to take care of this important step? You guessed it, automation.

Send appointment reminders

As with forms, all communication regarding your firm’s appointments can be triggered automatically to send out an email or text message. Use event automations to send time-relative reminders about an upcoming appointment, such as an email the day before and/or a text message the hour before their consultation. You will also want to make sure you stay in touch after an appointment, especially for new leads meeting with your firm for the first time or for clients awaiting an important case update. Event automations allow you to automate touchpoints X number of hours/days after an event as well.

Use event automations to trigger automations relative to the time of an appointment, such as 2 hours after a consultation.

For clients who prefer to be more hands-on with their case updates, give them client portal access to allow them to see their appointments (along with any other case information) any time they would like at the tip of their fingers.

Your clients can login to their own portal, as shown above, where they can manage their tasks, events, documents, forms, etc.

You may find that some clients prefer more frequent communication, and others take a more passive approach by checking their portal independently. Lawmatics automations make it easy to provide updates in a way that best suits the needs of your clientele.

3 Assign tasks to clients

Tasks are a great way to automate internal steps and notify staff members of important to-do items and deadlines, but they can also be assigned and shared externally directly to your clients. Use the client portal to share tasks with any of your matter-related contacts, and automate these tasks based on triggers within your process.If your firm commonly works with matters that go on for a long period of time, or if you have a lengthy and extensive intake process, you may find that your matters disengage during these steps. Assigning action items (in the form of Tasks) and case updates encourages your clients to stay involved with the important information being shared via their client portal.This can all be automated, of course. Simply:

1. Invite the appropriate contact(s) to access the Client Portal
2. Use the Add Task automation action
3. Select who you would like to share the task with.

With this process you are essentially creating a template of tasks, and it can be specific to the practice area, case type, or any other condition.

Select who to assign your automated tasks to, this can be the main contact, any other contacts related to the matter, or an internal user.

For matters that involve multiple clients such as a married couple or business partners, you have the option to share tasks with all contacts related to a matter, or pick and choose which tasks should be assigned to which contacts.

4 Documents and file sharing

Not only can Lawmatics help automate the delivery and submission of forms, it can also populate the data collected on any form into emails or documents, such as retainer agreements. With automation, you are able to complete the whole process of receiving client data, drafting a document with that data, and sending it for signature without lifting a finger.Create templates for emails and documents alike, and auto-populate them with client data in lieu of manual data entry, after which you can send them via automation.

Use the dropdown menus provided to add merge fields in your documents. These will automatically populate with the client’s information when sent or previewed.

You may also have standard file templates for things like court filings, medical forms, or even FAQs and info about your firm. These types of documents can be shared as attachments to any of your email templates, giving an extremely personalized touch to what would otherwise be a standard automated workflow.

5 Marketing emails

One of the many benefits of Lawmatics is the ability to stay in touch with contacts in your CRM as well as clients long after their case has concluded. Our marketing features make it simple to stay in contact with your whole book of business on an automated basis.One of the most common ways of marketing to your audience is by sending out a firm newsletter, educational content, or attorney bios. These are great tools for building a relationship with your contacts and making them feel connected to your firm. You will be certain to stay top of mind when they need help with another matter or have someone to refer to you.Make sure to take advantage of our HTML design suite to create beautiful newsletters or other eye-catching announcements. Also use the Promotional Email option to give recipients the opportunity to opt-out.

Turn on the Promotional Email option to add an unsubscribe link to the bottom of your emails.

We also suggest creating a birthday email template along with an automated birthday email campaign to send a birthday greeting to your contacts and past clients.

Why automate with Lawmatics?

No matter how you decide to use them in your practice, Lawmatics automations are designed to save your firm priceless time while increasing your ability to stay in touch with clients.From intake forms, to retainer agreements, to appointment reminders, to birthday emails, automation is your key to unlocking new efficiencies in the operations of your business — and a newfound work-life balance as well.If any of these automation ideas stand out to you, feel free to schedule a demo to find out more. If you’re already a Lawmatics user, reach out to your implementation specialist for help with setup. You are not by any means limited to the examples given here, we look forward to hearing how Lawmatics automation can help benefit your unique practice!

After two consecutive recognitions in Above The Law— first in 2021 as the most intuitive and robust CRM and client intake platform, and once again in the 2022 Legal Practice Management Buyer’s Guide, Lawmatics is thrilled and honored to announce we’ve made the list yet again, this time in their CRM, Business Development, Virtual Receptionist, Chat & Text Messaging Buyers Guide 2022 Edition .The list of outstanding legal technology solutions and latest developments which Lawmatics offers was determined by gathering reputable supporting articles and product reviews of software in our space.Our goal has always been and continues to be offering you the most comprehensive all in one solution to enrich your workflow and enhance your client relationships. By participating in the Legal Tech Publishing eBook series, we stand with our community of fellow providers. Together we can offer law practices a vetted selection of legal technology solutions for their consideration.Here are some of the highlights from the latest buyers guide that features Lawmatics.

“Lawmatics Enriches Your Workflow Processes and Manages Your Client Relationships From Beginning to End With Automation”

Why legal tech publishing recommends Lawmatics:

• Lawmatics provides a thorough method of managing all client contacts thanks to powerful automation, allowing a law firm to build workflows that take a user through firm-defined processes ensuring no missed steps.
• The custom forms in Lawmatics are highly configurable so that a firm can gather information based on the needs of each client. Fields are highly customizable and can be conditional.
• Lawmatics legal document automation features pulls information from a contact directly into an agreement, eliminating errors and providing a workflow for approvals and signature Collection.
• Lawmatics provides an easily digestible view of visuals that track what's important to a firm in real time.

Check out the full Lawmatics review in Legal Tech Publishing’s CRM, Business Development, Virtual Receptionist, Chat & Text Messaging Buyers Guide 2022 Edition here.

In case summer time wasn’t already hot enough, the latest new features from Lawmatics are sure to fire up your day! We are thrilled to share the new features and improvements that are now live in the platform.

Custom Invoice Reminders

An exciting addition to Lawmatics Payments, you now have the option to send automated invoice reminders to clients with an outstanding balance. Avoid the frustration of seeing past due invoices go unpaid by notifying clients of an impending due date or past due balance. Reminders can be sent relative to the invoice due date, such as the week before or the day before, or anytime after. Customize each invoice reminder by using merge fields in your email reminder template and even create different templates for your different invoice types. Who doesn’t love a feature that helps you get paid more consistently with no extra effort?

To learn more about Invoice Reminders, click here.

Recovery Bin

We are thrilled to announce the new Recovery Bin feature, allowing you to restore recently deleted data. Anytime a contact, matter, and/or company in Lawmatics is deleted — erroneously or otherwise — it will be moved to the all-new Data Recovery Bin rather than deleted permanently. Simply hover your mouse over the settings gear and select Recovery Bin to view your deleted records and restore as needed. No more stressing over an accidental slip of the mouse on the delete button!

To learn more about Data Recovery Bin, click here.

Trust Balance Transfer

For any matters that have a remaining trust balance after resolution, our new Trust Balance Transfer feature allows you to transfer that balance to another matter. Whereas for some matters you may simply need to refund the trust balance, others that concern clients with more than one ongoing matter can be reconciled with the transfer balance option, where you are able to allocate the remaining balance to the appropriate place.

To learn more about Trust Accounting in Lawmatics click here.

Rename Files Upon Upload

You already know and love the Lawmatics file management system, which enables you to automate the process of collecting and saving critical case documents from your clients. For improved case organization and professionalism when it comes to your file storage, you can now rename any files that are uploaded with an informal or nonsensical name. This applies to both files uploaded by clients to their matters as well as internal files saved by members of your firm.

To learn more about how you can manage your files with Lawmatics, click here.

Internal Form Enhancement - Create Matter for Existing Contact/Company

Internal forms have long been a user-preferred way to create new matters for new contacts in Lawmatics. A new dropdown menu option in our internal forms feature now lets you create a new matter for an existing contact or company when filling out a form. Simply select the contact for which you wish to create a new matter and Lawmatics will pre-fill the form with their existing contact information. Upon form submission, a new matter will be created for said contact.

Not yet familiar with internal vs. external forms? Read up on them here.

Flat Fee Duration

We love giving Lawmatics users new customization options when it comes to billing transparency with your clients. With this new feature you can now choose whether or not your flat-fee invoices show the time duration of each time entry. Alternatively, toggle this setting off to show only the amount billed for all time entries while hiding the number of hours.

For a rundown of all time & billing settings options and customizations, click here.—Thanks for checking out our latest updates! We hope you’ll enjoy each of these new features. As always, stay tuned for what else is coming this Summer in Lawmatics!