The Lawmatics Blog

Not so long ago, the idea of relying almost entirely on technology to run and expand your law firm may have seemed too much like science fiction. At first thought, artificial intelligence, data analytics, and law hardly go together. After all, you’re not flying spaceships here—you’re practicing law.Like it or not, we live in an era of digital technology, and if you hope to stand a chance against other players in the legal professional industry, you’re going to have to embrace a little science fiction with your law firm marketing efforts. The truth is that even though all this technology may be a little daunting initially, upon closer inspection, you’ll find that embracing the technological innovation of legal software like attorney intake software and marketing automation for law firms is the key to taking your law firm to the next level.The world is moving fast, and customer behavior is changing. In order to thrive in 2022’s marketing atmosphere, it's vital that you have a strong strategy in place.

Elements of a strong marketing strategy

If you're thinking to yourself, “Wait a minute. I went to school to practice law, not to be a digital marketing professional.“ —you're not alone. It can be a tough pill to swallow when you get out of law school and start your own practice, only to realize that you're not just a lawyer— you're a salesperson. In order to find and retain clients, you have to put on your marketing hat.Developing a marketing strategy or a marketing plan is the only way to grow your law firm and meet with the great success you hope to achieve.Let’s examine the qualities of an effective law firm marketing strategy.

Explicitly outlined goals

The first element that your marketing strategy should contain is a clear set of goals. For example, do you hope to grow your lead conversion by a certain amount? Perhaps you're expanding your practice area and want to appeal to a new type of client?When setting goals, you want to be as specific as possible. Broad and generic goals yield broad and generic results. Specific goals should always contain a what, why, where, how, and a when. Leave no stone unturned when it comes to developing realistic and achievable goals for your law firm.One of the most effective ways to create powerful law firm goals is to use the SMART method:

S

Specific

Any goal that you set should be clearly defined and specified, spelling out all the achievements you hope to accomplish and any obstacles that could present themselves. Make sure that you expand on each in as much detail as possible.

M

Measurable

Are the goals that you've created for your law firm measurable? When you create a goal that has an amount attached to it, your progress is much easier to track. Take a look at the goals that you have right now. If they are not currently measurable, set them to an amount per period of time that's realistic for your law firm.

A

Attainable

The key to developing and achieving goals is to ensure that they are, in fact, achievable. Setting goals that are unrealistic is only setting yourself up for failure. If your goal is downright impossible, then there's no way you're going to achieve it. It's that simple.

R

Realistic

A good rule of thumb with goal setting is that it should require a certain amount of effort on your part to achieve and not be too easy. On the other hand, it needs to be something you can actually commit to. For example, never losing a client again is probably not realistic. You have no control over everything, so make sure that your goals are in tune with your limits.

T

Timely

A time frame is critical in order to measure your success. A deadline helps you to push yourself harder based on how much you've achieved thus far. If you're getting closer to your proposed deadline and you haven't made much progress at all, then it's time to switch things up.

Defined target audience

The foundation of a marketing strategy is knowing who you're trying to target, otherwise you’re just shooting in the dark! Get to know and understand your ideal clients and how you should appeal to them. Identify who your target audience is by establishing demographics like:

• How old they are
• Where they live
• Their gender
• What industry they work in

The more that you can pinpoint who your target audience is, the better that you can develop a strategy that aims to appeal to that kind of person. The more intentional outreach your marketing efforts have, the better chances you have of converting leads to clients.

Clearly outlined services

Not all law firms are created equally. Your marketing strategy should clearly define what kind of unique services you offer and in what area of law. There should be no question about what kind of lawyer you are in your services summary. In addition to explaining what kind of services you offer, you should also have a pitch prepared for how your services can benefit clients over competitors.

Market and competitive analysis

If you hope to grow as a law firm, then you'll have to make sure that you're paying attention to what your competition is doing. You should be following everything from what they do on social media to what kind of prices and special offers they have for their legal services.Establish what’s working successfully for them and let that influence what moves your firm makes next in its marketing strategy. In addition to researching your competitors, you should also look at wide trends like how many law firms are using SEO and what are the social media platforms they have the most success with. The idea is to take good ideas that are working for others and fine-tune them into your own tailored version.

Solid message

Your brand message is how you communicate to your audience who you are. You should create a clear message that speaks directly to your target audience. Who are you as a lawyer? What is unique about you and sets you apart? is your brand's message in line with who you are personally?Your law firm's marketing message should represent who you hope to be perceived as and what you promised to do as a lawyer. A good marketing message clearly lays out what you hope to communicate through your law firm's brand.

Clear pricing

You can't hope to effectively market yourself without knowing exactly how you plan on pricing your services. Make sure that you outline how much it will cost and exactly what is included in that price. As billing by the hour becomes more of a thing of the past, many law firms have found great success advertising on a client-friendly flat fee system.When clients know they only have one price to anticipate rather than individually billed hours piling up, it can be a great selling point. If you hope to have a strong marketing strategy, you'll need to have a billing structure that is competitive yet still profitable.

Solid and well optimized website

All of your marketing should eventually attract interested leads and potential clients back to your website, where they should be met with a call to action. It's critical that it's well structured and optimized as a final selling point once you get leads to land on your page.The ultimate goal for leads landing on your page is for them to take the next steps towards becoming a client. A good call to action invites them to do this. Some of the most common and effective CTA's are:

• Scheduling a free consultation
• Downloading an eBook
• Signing up for a newsletter
• Filling out a client intake form

Whatever your call to action is, it should compel people to take a step further towards becoming a paying client.

9 Marketing ideas for law firms

Once you’ve developed your strategic approach, here are some of the ways you can consider marketing your firm in 2022— some you might recognize, some might be new.

1Social media

Even though social media used to be a place for personal use, it's become a staple in the marketing world. If you can manage to master it, it can be one of the most powerful marketing tools out there. Both criminal defense marketing and family law marketing do exceptionally well on social media. Social media has the potential to reach an enormous audience for little to zero cost.Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are a unique opportunity to market to your target audience in a way that reaches them on a personal level. By connecting with them in an accessible way rather than merely advertising them, you start to build brand trust.The key to marketing on social media is marketing without making it look like you're actually marketing. Experts say that very little of your actual posting should be about your products and services themselves. Most of the time, you should be posting valuable and relevant information that gives you credibility in your area of practice.Although not everything that you share has to be original material, it can certainly work in your favor to post original content that will be shared by others and eventually lead new followers to your page. Some original content ideas include:

Videos

Videos are one of the most popular forms of shared content on social media. As a law firm, you should consider ideas like videos with a “legal tip of the day.” Offering free legal advice through the form of short videos as often as you see fit for your marketing schedule is a great way to build popularity amongst your audience.

Articles

Sharing articles in line with your area of practice is a fantastic way to demonstrate your stance and authority on the legal world. Rather than simply posting a link, make sure that you also add a caption with your opinion on it. Doing so connects on a deeper level with your audience and invites a conversation. Your success on social media has everything to do with engagement.

Photos

Statistics show that posts with visual content are four times as likely to get noticed as those which are text only. Consider posting images of one of your staff members or clients. Sharing news about your law firm through an image is a great way to let your followers get to know you better.

2SEO

SEO, which stands for search engine optimization, is all about getting your law firm website to a favorable ranking position on search engines— predominantly Google. There are many different SEO techniques out there, and they're constantly evolving as search engines get smarter.But let’s be honest, as a lawyer, nobody is expecting you to be well versed in computer or technical skills. However, basic local SEO is something that you should familiarize yourself with if you hope to build your brand. It's the magic formula that leads clients to you in a sea of other options online.Think about it—When someone is looking for a product or service, usually the first thing they do is perform a Google search. SEO techniques make it, so your law firm has a better chance of showing up in their search results first.It's important that your website and the content on it is well optimized for search engines. Since you're busy practicing law, you'll likely want to outsource the heavy SEO strategizing and execution to someone else. The good news is there are plenty of SEO agencies to choose from that specialize in law firm SEO.[oxygen-template id="6129"]

3Newsletters

Newsletters are one of the most tried and true forms of digital advertising for law firms, and in 2022, they're still just as effective. If you can manage to master the art of newsletters, it can be one of your most effective lead sources. Much like social media, it's an opportunity for little to no cost to reach a potentially huge audience. The trick to creating an effective newsletter is making sure that it has valuable information that makes people want to read it.Perhaps it can be recent news about your law firm or current events in your area of practice. Another tactic for convincing people to read your newsletter is to offer them a promotion or discount. Just like your website, a good newsletter should always end with a strong call to action.

4Chatbots

Put on your space suit because now things are getting really science fiction! Artificial intelligence now has a place even in the legal world. More and more businesses are turning towards chatbots as marketing agents.If someone lands on your website, a chatbot is there to provide information, advice and even schedule a consultation. Think of chatbots as an employee who works 24 hours a day without lunch breaks. What a deal!Any lead that comes your way will instantly be greeted with the appropriate information that they need. You can build a script that's unique to your firm's services and feels like a tone that you're comfortable with. While chatbots might not be able to completely take over for humans, they can certainly help convert leads into clients by guiding them in the right direction on your website.

5Personalized emails

While newsletters are undoubtedly effective forms of communication with your leads and clients, an all-in-one approach to marketing doesn't work for everyone.Statistics show that people are much more likely to read an email if it is targeted towards them personally. Personalized emails can be a targeted approach that can hope you convert leads in ways you never imagined possible before thanks to workflow automation for law firms and segmentation software.By using audience segmentation software, you can separate your leads into categories based on whatever criteria work best for your firm. That way, you know that the right person is getting the right kind of message at the right time with email automation for law firms, saving you even more time.Drip campaigns for law firms make it possible to deliver prompt follow ups that engage leads with trigger-based messaging tailored just for them.

6Business blog

If you have a business website, then it needs a blog—it's really that simple. Blogging is how law firms show their authority in their area of practice. If you manage to write a blog that attracts enough readers, then you'll gather at least several leads who are likely to hire you.One of the most practical ways to blog is to stick to Evergreen topics. Evergreen means that it's not a timely article specific to a certain period or event. Evergreen topics are relevant anytime any year. For example, if you're a family lawyer, you could create a blog about the biggest mistakes that couples make when going through a divorce. Offer your authority and expertise on the subject and build on it. It will remain a relevant and shareable article for years to come.One of the most important parts of blogging is consistency. Blogging can be an extremely effective marketing strategy if you can manage to post interesting content regularly. Make sure that you sprinkle keywords throughout your blog so that Google knows how to find you as a source for search terms that fall within your blog post’s topic.

7Online reviews

One of the first things that people will do when they are considering hiring a lawyer is to look up their reviews. Having a favorable review score can make or break your career. It's important that you keep a close eye on your firm's online reviews So that you have a feel for what people are seeing when they Google you.Since your online reviews are such a powerful marketing tool, ideally, you should encourage happy clients to leave reviews if they have a good experience. Your online reputation is one of the most important things you have to stand up against the competition, so make sure that it's managed well.

8PPC advertisements

One of the quickest ways to generate high-quality leads is by investing in pay-per-click advertising. PPC involves advertising on sites where your target audience is located. If you can manage to pair a good PPC with your SEO strategy, you can significantly shine online.The best place to start is by running a paid search campaign. This type of advertising results in showing up in Google search directly below the search bar. The more targeted you can make your keywords, the better. Specifying your location is critical since you want to attract leads that are in your area.

9Calls-to-action

As mentioned before, a call to action is all about encouraging your readers to— you guessed it, take action. Usually in the form of a command, it's a phrase that pushes someone to take the next steps towards becoming a pain client. CTA should undoubtedly be an integral part of your marketing strategy. Having a website without a clear CTA is a missed opportunity.A common mistake is assuming that website visitors know what to do once they arrive on your website. The truth is that many people will only take action if you tell them to.Every single page of your website should include a CTA. Whether it's to subscribe to your newsletter, download an ebook, or sign up for a free consultation, it's important that you monitor how effective your CTA is regularly. If it's not getting you any results, then you may want to improve on it. The idea is that you want to get people to click. If people aren't clicking, then you need to rethink your strategy.

Boost your marketing strategy and measure our success with Lawmatics client intake and CRM software

A steady stream of new business is critical in order for your firm to survive. Don't make the mistake of assuming that people will come to your law firm without any effort on your part. Creating a thriving law firm requires a careful inconsistent marketing strategy.The above 9 marketing methods are only a few of the many advertising opportunities there are to get the word out about your law firm. By executing these and measuring and tracking your results with law firm reporting software, you'll increase your chances of qualified leads reaching you who will, in turn, become loyal clients.Are you ready to see how Lawmatics can help you grow and expand your law firm marketing strategy? From client intake, to CRM, to legal time and billing systems - Lawmatics is your one-stop-shop legal solution. Sign up for a free product demo today!

In this episode of The Law Entrepreneur podcast hosted by Neil Tyra, Lawmatics CEO Matt Spiegel shares his journey from criminal defense attorney to legal tech entrepreneur building the most powerful legal intake solution, marketing automation, and law firm CRM for attorneys by focusing on helping law firms improve the customer experience.

After the brief history lesson, Neil and Matt dive into a discussion on the importance of the client journey and what law firms can do to deliver an experience that encourages happy customers to become repeat clients.

“The client goes through a journey with your law firm,” explains Matt Spiegel, and the client journey is comprised of three distinct parts:

1. Client Intake - From the moment someone contacts your law firm all the way up to the moment they sign on the dotted line to become a client.
2. Active Matter - The client has officially hired you, they have an open matter with your law firm, and there is a definitive start and end to the process.
3. Former Client - Matt cites this phase as the most neglected phase that is actually a critical moment for law firms. The vast majority of business comes from referrals, so neglecting clients after their active matter is complete is a missed opportunity for driving more business.

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With this understanding of the customer journey, Matt explains how your success is determined by your ability to attract, delight, and retain clients. Next, Neil and Matt talk about the importance of having the right set of tools that all work together to deliver a successful customer experience.

We’re just scratching the surface of this podcast episode. Listen to the full discussion between Neil and Matt in episode 264 of The Law Entrepreneur podcast below!

A day in the life of an attorney is hardly a leisurely nine to five. From the phones ringing to emails coming in, preparing pleadings, to reviewing documents, there’s a lot going on. It’s easy to get dizzy from trying to keep up with it all, particularly if you’re a solo practitioner.On top of the time an attorney spends in the office working on their open matters, they also have to market themselves. After all, the only way to keep clients coming in is to attract and retain new clients, which requires work!The best way to ensure that you can keep up with the demands of a busy day in the life of a lawyer is to be as efficient as possible. After all, better efficiency means better profitability, especially in the legal world.

Why increase my law firm's productivity

More revenue

Increased efficiency doesn’t just mean less stress— it means increasing the amount of work you can take on, which ultimately means more revenue.Quite simply, regardless of your industry, better efficiency means more profitability, especially for lawyers who offer fixed fee services. Fixed fee services mean that regardless of whether a matter takes several days or several months, the amount on the bill stays the same. So it goes without saying that if you can increase your productivity on a flat fee system, you'll get through your workload much faster and boost your profitability.Even lawyers who charge by the hour still need to get through their workload as quickly as possible. If clients see that they're paying top dollar for services that take too long to happen, then you won’t make a very good impression. You need to be able to handle multiple cases at once as quickly as possible if you hope to grow your firm, and boosted efficiency is the only way to do that. In order to encourage repeat business and earn referrals, you'll need to offer efficient and honest services.

Fewer errors

Missed deadlines and neglected follow-ups are some of the most common complaints that people have about lawyers. After that comes poorly drafted contracts and essential documents with errors. An inefficient process means failing to spot mistakes that make a significant difference, particularly during your client intake process.Being a reliable lawyer means spotting mistakes and identifying issues as early on as possible by developing an efficient process. By implementing the right methods, you'll have the time and resources to make sure nothing important gets overlooked.

Happier clients

Ultimately, getting through your work faster means more time to spend on your clients which in turn creates happy clients. With all of your administrative work out of the way, you'll be able to receive more consultations and ultimately do what you do best which is practice law.Increasing your law firm’s productivity starts with measuring itWe live in a data-driven world, and the most reliable way to track progress is by relying on law firm data analytics. Key data gives you exact insights into understanding how well your current methods and strategies are working, eliminating the need for guesswork.Checking and tracking your firm's productivity by looking at the most important metrics will help you develop a better understanding of your overall performance and open doors to new opportunities. When it comes to being the best in your industry, the more information that you have, the more that you can do with it.[oxygen-template id="6132"]

6 key metrics for measuring your law firm’s productivity

Here are some of the most important metrics you can measure to help boost your law firm's productivity.

1Number of billable hoursIf your law firm operates on an hourly system, one of the most straightforward ways to track productivity is by counting how many billable hours you have completed. If you're spending fifty hours a week working and only a fraction of that is on billable work, then clearly something needs to change.

2Number of matters openedKeep track of how many matters are open to determine whether you're reaching your goals.

3Number of tasks completedBy tracking your firm's number of tasks compared to how many have been completed, you'll have a clear understanding of whether you need to make changes in your process.

4Average work rateIn addition to measuring the overall success of your firm, it's also essential to measure individual performance. Average work rate is an integral part of assessing the productivity of each member of your team.

5Monthly revenue billedUltimately, the amount of revenue that you bill each month will determine the success of your firm.

6Revenue per employeesIn addition to the overall revenue billed, your firm should also be tracking individual revenue.

How you can benefit from measuring your law firms productivity with Lawmatics

Using Lawmatics custom law firm reporting software will give you the critical information that you need to boost your overall productivity and ultimately boost profitability.Fortunately, the data is presented in an easy-to-digest format that anyone in your law firm can understand. You'll be able to see important metrics like how close you are to your objectives and how well your staff members are performing. In turn, you’ll benefit in the following ways.

Less time lost

Once you start tracking your performance, you'll likely begin to find areas where you can make improvements. Lawmatics can help you identify areas you can speed up in your workload so you can turn your attention towards things that matter most.For example, if you see that you're spending over half of your day devoted to manual data entry, it's time to start implementing an automated client intake process.

Smoother processes

There's a big difference between collecting data and putting your data to use. If you truly want to make the most out of your goal tracking, then it's time to start finding areas in your practice that need to be streamlined.Creating automated email workflows for law firms has never been easier than with Lawmatics. You can create automated workflows that eliminate the need for tedious and repetitive manual processes. It's as easy as building automated email campaigns with custom triggers. Engage, nurture, and convert— all with the help of workflow automation for law firms.

Accountability

Once you have the right information at your fingertips, you can determine who and what is responsible for the bottlenecks in your firm. In turn, your firm will have increased accountability and a better chance of avoiding the same problems in the future.

Predictability

Before becoming a data-driven firm, measuring your success is merely speculation. However, once you learn how to measure your productivity, it's easier to predict what will work and what will not work in the future.Predictability is your most reliable guide for what may or may not further productivity in the future.Now that you’ve got a better understanding of what you can gain from tracking your firm’s productivity, here are five tips for measuring it effectively.

How to effectively measure your law firm’s productivity

1Identify your goals

One of the most important steps of measuring your progress is to have a clear understanding of precisely what your short and long-term goals are. For example, if you hope to spend less time on administrative tasks and more time on your clients, you'll need to measure how much time you're spending on each. Once you can clearly identify what it is that you hope to achieve, then it will be easier to measure whether you're reaching those goals by implementing a strategy.Remember, your goals should be as specific as possible and include as many concepts as possible. Everything that you hope to achieve should be plainly laid out and documented, including reasonable expectations. Make sure that your short-term goals tie into your long-term goals to apply the best possible strategy.Your strategy should include streamlining your processes and integrating legal document automation in order to ensure that you reach your goals as quickly as possible.

2Break them into manageable portions

It's natural for your law firm to be eager to reach your goals as fast as you can. However, it's more realistic to break your targets up into manageable portions. For example, if your objective is to obtain a certain number of clients each year, then try to split up your goals into weekly or monthly goals. You can set the number of new clients to an appropriate amount per lawyer in your practice.Obviously, the fewer lawyers that you have in your practice, the lower your goals will be. Once you've broken down the numbers, you can track everyone's lead conversions week by week. By dividing that figure by the number of law firm marketing efforts you've made, you'll be able to determine whether your system is paying off or not.

3Put a better system in place

The most successful law firms are the ones that have an efficient system set in place. The key to an effective system is adjusting it as needed. You may have to fine-tune the way that you do things until you find a rhythm that gets you the results that you want.When putting a system in place, make sure that you implement the right technology for maximum productivity. It helps to know what’s out there. Some of the most popular tools for optimal productivity include:

Legal intake and CRM software like Lawmatics

With so much going on as a lawyer, one of the biggest challenges is getting back to all of your leads and clients on time. The only way to effectively manage your clients and where they currently stand in their client journey is by tracking them through a legal intake and CRM for lawyers.

An attorney intake software automates the entire experience so that your leads and clients stay happy every step of the way. From sending automatic thank-yous to offering automated appointment scheduling, a legal client intake software makes everyone's lives easier and ultimately results in your law firm being more productive. Check out our post on how to optimize the legal client intake process for a closer look at how you can do just that.

Calendar and email software like Google Suite and Microsoft Office

A cloud-based calendar coupled with email automation for law firms is the foundation on which you’ll build your legal practice. When using it for day to day work combined with a CRM for attorneys and law firm client intake software, you’ll skyrocket your productivity and efficiency in ways you could never dream of. It’s as simple as your leads filling out a legal client intake form and the information goes directly into your CRM, and the client journey begins.

Law practice software like MyCase

Many people get confused about the difference between practice management software and a law firm CRM. Although they do have some similarities, ultimately, each provides unique benefits individually. Unlike a legal CRM, which handles current and past clients, case management software handles existing clients, helping you keep all of your cases organized.

The right case management software will help you manage all case details and any changes that have been made, track task management, keep all of your important documents and files you need for your cases, and handle client billing. While some of the features between CRMs and case management software may be similar, ultimately, they function better when used in conjunction with each other. The only way to maximize your productivity is by using both of these types of software.

4Measure and evaluate progress

As you continue to implement your new strategy, it's important that you constantly evaluate and measure your progress. Using a software created specifically for goal tracking for law firms regularly will determine whether you're meeting your goals as a whole and individually. The key to evaluating is maximizing technology to your advantage. By setting up legal reporting software in a way that works for your law firm, you can keep a close eye on how well you are meeting your targets.

5Rate your productivity on a scale

The key to increasing productivity is using a scale system. Rating your productivity as a team will help you provide concise feedback on your progress. Make sure that everyone in your law firm contributes their rating so that you have a combined representation of how well everyone thinks they're doing. Are you functioning at a 7 and you’d like to be more of a 10? Having a specific number on a scale to shoot for makes progress feel more achievable.

Measure your productivity and blow your goals out of the water With Lawmatics

The more knowledge you have, the more opportunities that you have to grow. By measuring your law firm's productivity through the help of Lawmatics’ robust software, considered the best CRM for law firms, you can set, track, and achieve your law firm's most important goals.Are you ready to see how Lawmatics can help you improve your law firm's productivity? Sign up for a free product demo today!

Ask any law firm, and they'll likely tell you that their ultimate goal is to become as profitable as possible. Yet, the key to profitability is efficiency, and this is where many law firms are lacking. Without an efficient system set in place, you can never reach your full potential as a practice. If we examine some of the most successful law firms, they share one thing in common besides profitability.They use visual marketing analytics for law firms to their advantage by using it to make better-informed business decisions. Though despite the clear evidence that data analytics can skyrocket your business, a startling amount of law firms have not yet started incorporating visual analytics into their practice.So, how do you use visual analytics, and what is it?

What are visual analytics?

Visual analytics draws information from your law firm’s activity, from the number of open matters to bottlenecks in your client intake process. You can view your law firm's trends through easy-to-digest visuals on both macro and micro levels. Analyzing this data can help you better understand how processes work and apply the information to push the envelope even further in your law firm.Data has always been there, of course— it’s nothing new. But modern technology now makes it more accessible for law firms to read and understand. What once might have taken a lawyer a painstaking amount of time to gather information relevant to what they hope to achieve now takes only a matter of minutes by running it through visual analytics software.Visual analytics are incredibly easy to understand since it’s presented in a straightforward and easy-to-read format. You can compare everything from conversion rates from each marketing source to how many matters you have open today versus last year. By observing your law firm’s progress, you can gain important insights that give you an edge on the competition.

6 signs your practice can benefit from analytics

1 You’re losing track of leads

Many law firms are under the impression that they're doing a satisfactory job when leads first make contact, but analytics can expose it’s not the case. The client journey begins the minute that a lead first contacts your law firm. It's your make-it-or-break-it moment to make a good impression.A great way to tell if your client intake process is where it needs to be is by asking yourself how quickly you get back to calls, emails, and legal client intake forms. If your law firm is still relying on a paper and pen process to write down leads' information, then chances are this is a warning sign that you're in trouble. Running your practice off of sticky notes is a fast track to losing track of opportunities.A closer look into your practice with law firm reporting software can help you recognize that your conversion rates are significantly lower than the number of calls coming in. In many cases, you may not even realize that the source of your low profits has to do with an area of your practice that you didn't even suspect. The right legal crm can help you set things on track through features like automated appointment scheduling and audience segmentation software.

2 Your clients aren’t happy

If there's one thing that you don't need for your law firm, it's a bad review. Unhappy clients are much more likely to talk about their experiences than happy ones — unfortunately, that's just the way that the world works. All it takes are a few unhappy clients to successfully tarnish your reputation.It's easy to brush negative reviews off as difficult people impossible to please. However, if you start to take a closer look at your visual analytics, you may have better insight as to why they were unhappy and have a right to be so. Most of the time, it's a result of poor communication on the lawyer's part. Analytics can help you find places in the client journey that need improvement that can often be solved with the help of workflow automation for law firms.

3 You have no idea where your clients are coming from

So you have a few different marketing campaigns in place, but you're not really sure which ones are giving you what results — How can you be sure that you're spending your law firm's marketing resources wisely if you're not even sure which sources are getting you the greatest results? If you don't have a clear understanding of exactly where your leads and clients are coming from, then this is a clear indication that you're in trouble. Analytics can help you identify where your target audience is so that you can focus your energy more in that direction. Legal metrics can help you appropriately adjust your budget to wherever marketing your law firm gets you the most results.

4 Your revenue is suffering

It is safe to say that the amount of revenue your law firm pulls in is one of the most critical elements of your business. If your revenue isn't close to where you'd like it to be, then there's no reason for you to settle for where it is. Tracking your revenue with the right software can help you make the necessary improvements where needed to increase it. By having a clear understanding of where your law firm stands in profitability, you can get a realistic idea of what changes need to be made.

5 You’re losing time on administrative tasks

Many lawyers get out of law school thinking that starting their own practice means they'll spend the majority of their time practicing law. Yet, they are in for a rude awakening when they realize that most of their week is spent on administrative tasks. Thanks to the help of technology, this no longer has to be the case. If you find yourself spending the bulk of your workweek on monotonous data entry, then you're doing it all wrong.Visual analytics can help you see where your firm is devoting its time, and in turn, you can implement time-saving features like legal document automation. The right law firm client intake software and CRM for lawyers can input leads' information for you and even follow up with them without you having to lift a finger. That means more time for you to focus on what matters most at your law firm.

6 You don’t have specific goals

Many law firms believe that they may not be able to benefit from using analytics. When determining whether you need legal analytics for your law firm, it's essential to ask yourself what you'd like to achieve. If you're looking to make better use of your time and increase your profits, then law firm analytics are undoubtedly a good choice for you.With data visualization tools, you can make better-informed decisions to help you stand out and deliver the best possible results for your clients.

Why data-driven law firms are more successful

Competitive pricing

A quick internet search will show you that there is a large range of prices when it comes to hiring legal services. Some charge by the hour, while others charge flat fees. Many lawyers may hesitate to transition into a flat fee pricing system because they fear it may fall short of the amount of work and hours that the job requires. Data can help you determine what kind of flat fees are best for your practice by looking closely at your previous cases, how many hours they took to complete, what they entailed, and ultimately how much you were compensated. In turn, you can use these figures to move towards a fixed fee system. So many legal professionals have begun offering alternative payment arrangements that failing to do the same can result in your leads turning elsewhere.

Improved business decisions

Businesses outside of the legal industry have been using data to make important decisions for years. And although it is relatively new to the legal industry, it's incredibly valuable. Becoming a data-driven law firm will equip you with the knowledge you need to measure how well you're doing, what problems you need to address, and what plans you can make for a better future. With this valuable information, you can analyze your own data combined with market trends and make better-informed business decisions.

Growth

Ultimately, a law firm isn't any different from a traditional business. In order to grow, you'll need to regularly review how well your performance is in order to plan for the future. The most successful firms that have experienced significant growth didn't get there by accident—they ran their firm like a business. They used technology to their advantage to develop better strategies. Data analytics for lawyers give you a birdseye view for better forecasting the future of your law firm and what you can expect in terms of growth.

Better time management

Statistics show that lawyers spend only a small portion of their workweek actually practicing law. When you start thinking like a CEO, you start to realize that lost time equals lost money. Generating more revenue begins with using your time wisely. Visual analytics provide the information you need to determine whether you're using your resources as well as you could be. The end result is making the best possible use of your time in the most profitable way.If you fall into the category of law firms that haven't yet leveraged data, then here are some of the things that your law firm can expect to gain by using visual analytics.[oxygen-template id="6132"]

7 reasons to start utilizing visual analytics at your law firm

1 Increased revenue

When you begin to incorporate data analytics into your law firm's process, you start to realize where you stand currently and where you have opportunities to improve. Closely tracking where your firm can make improvements will ultimately improve your understanding of how to get results, therefore increasing your revenue.Before implementing data and analytics into their process, many law firms learn that their numbers aren't even close to being where they could be. Data often reveals that leads are falling through the cracks instead of being converted into clients. By tracking your client acquisition rate, you can see how well you're converting leads. From how many matters you have open to how many new clients you've received recently and where they're coming from, you can determine the total value of where you stand.The great news is, it's often as simple as implementing a systematic client intake process to boost your lead-to-sale conversion rate. An attorney intake software will help you get your numbers to where they should be by having a clear view of where each leading client stands and by using the power of automation. You can significantly improve your law firm's legal intake process, all thanks to the insights provided by visual analytics.

2 Better formed strategies

Reaching your firm's goals starts with having a plan. Relying on your intuition to form business strategies is a flawed system. Without data, your plan will be nothing but guesswork. Strategic planning is essential if you hope to grow your law firm. The best way to form strategies for the future of your law firm is by using valuable insight provided through data and looking for patterns that can be useful for the future. By harnessing the information presented to you in an easy-to-read format, visual analytics make it possible to make data-driven decisions in all aspects of your law firm.An in-depth analysis with goal tracking for law firms will help you identify opportunities that wouldn’t be possible without the help of data.For example, if your data reveals that certain months of the year tend to be slower than others, you can prepare for these months in advance by pushing your law firm marketing methods hard to bring in more clients before those months hit.The idea is to gain as much insight as possible in every area of your business in order to ensure your law firm's success.

3 Improved marketing

Visual analytics can help you identify any holes in your marketing. Ultimately, you want a return on your investment for your marketing efforts— otherwise, you're just spinning your wheels. Once you identify the best ways to effectively target your ideal audience, you can improve your current marketing efforts and increase your ROI. With data analytics, you'll have a much broader understanding of which areas of marketing you should continue to spend in and which areas you should scrap. Simply put, legal marketing analytics help you understand who your ideal client is and where they’re coming from. The end result is gaining the know-how to create the most effective marketing strategy possible to reach your target audience.With the information you gather from analytics combined with email automation for law firms will better capture and convert leads into happy clients.

4 Improved time management

If your law firm isn't producing the kind of results that you'd like to see, then it's vital that you figure out where the problems lie immediately. Instead of wasting precious time brainstorming and speculating where the bottlenecks are in your law firm, you could be spending that time practicing law.There's no need for speculation or guesswork when you rely on data. Tracking your law firm's performance pinpoints precisely where you have room to grow. It's as easy as running a report once or twice a month and going over what needs improvements.

5 Better overview of your performance

A lot of people get startled when they hear the word data. However, Lawmatics reporting and insights software is so incredibly easy to use that anyone in your office can read it. It's delivered in an easy-to-digest format that covers the most critical metrics for your law firm.Easily break your lead sources up into actionable data points and work towards your long-term revenue goals. Monitor your staff's productivity and uncover where each staff member has room to grow. No need to read complicated technical jargon— it's all laid out in an easy-to-view format that will give you total control over your progress.

6 Superior client experience

Knowledge is power, so once you know exactly what's working and what isn't, you can make improvements where necessary. Viewing your stats allows you to make smarter decisions that ultimately improve your clients' experience. With clear visuals and insights into your internal processes, you can boost your clients' journey and take your law firm to the next level.

7 Improved planning for the future

The only way that you can plan for the future is by having the proper insight. Without data, business decisions are nothing but guesswork. However, when you have all of the figures laid out in front of you, you can strategize and make predictions based on actual statistics, not just educated guesses. The end result is knowing exactly what's working right now and what is most likely to work in the future. With legal reporting software, you can focus on what's driving revenue and what creates repeat business— today and tomorrow.

Best tips and practices for utilizing visual analytics

Set specific goals

Legal professionals have found all sorts of obstacles in their path since the outbreak of Coronavirus. It's more important than ever for attorneys to learn how to thrive in the legal industry. The most reliable way to set yourself up for success is to create specific goals for your law firm. The more specific that you can be, the better. When setting goals for your practice, you should first determine things like:✓ Why you’ve chosen a particular goal for your law firm ✓ Any challenges that you predict may arise ✓ How you plant on accomplishing your goals When setting your targets, make sure that they are realistic. Although it's admirable to shoot for the stars, trying to achieve unrealistic goals can leave you feeling frustrated. Consider finding a balance between ambitious and realistic.

Measure results regularly

The only way to ensure that you're reaching your goals is to measure them regularly. Check your law firm data analytics frequently to gain better insights into your firm's performance. Visual analytics make it possible to track whatever custom information you would like. Center your analytics around where your goals are to ensure that you're staying accountable.Consider measuring your goals on a routine basis, like every month. That way, you know if there are any red flags indicating that you need to make changes.

Make changes immediately

One of the biggest mistakes that people make with their data is failing to take action. Without taking action, data is useless. It's vital that as soon as you find problem areas in your practice, you take action as quickly as possible. The longer you take to make changes where necessary, the more revenue you're losing by the minute. Stop floundering your time and prioritize making changes, even if it means having to completely upgrade the way you operate.

Update regularly

Naturally, your goals will evolve. Therefore, you won't need to track the same metrics all the time. It's crucial that you update your goals regularly and your metrics accordingly. That way, you're not wasting your time looking at data that is no longer relevant to your current plans.

Grow your law firm with Lawmatics reporting and insights software

Gone are the days of running your law practice out of your email inbox and spreadsheets. It's time to embrace technology and optimize the way that your law firm does things.There's already enough pressure on your practice as it is. Becoming data-driven can lift a considerable amount of pressure off of your shoulders and provide the right insight for you to make changes where it counts most. Increased cash flow and more clients start with knowing which efforts you need to implement.By mapping out where the problem areas lie and where opportunities are hidden, You can rethink your law practice and blow your goals out of the water. Not only will you make things easier for yourself, but you'll also make it much more convenient for your clients. Unleash the true potential of your law firm and harness technology to reach your goals through a systematic and efficient process.feAre you ready to see how Lawmatics Reporting and Insights Software can help you grow your practice? Sign up for a free product demo today!

What is your role at Lawmatics, and what does your job entail?

I am a Lawmatics software craftsman. I am responsible for taking care of our platform’s infrastructure while simplifying our customers’ lives by helping the engineering team create the powerful features we offer in our platform.

How did you end up working for Lawmatics?

I started working with Matt and Roey a long time ago on other products. I've been working for Lawmatics since the very beginning. I enjoy how we continue to work together to deliver an exceptional experience to our customers.

What’s the best part of your job?

The best part of my job is interacting with all the amazing people we have in our team. It's pretty incredible to feel that everyone here works with passion and acts like a family.

What challenges have you faced or opportunities you’ve uncovered working remotely during COVID-19?

Well, I was already working remotely for Lawmatics before COVID. And I really appreciate that the Lawmatics team communicates really well and stays organized despite the team being entirely remote.

Where are you originally from, and how did you end up in San Diego?

I'm from Goiania, Brazil, and still here in Brazil. But I love to go to San Diego to visit our team. I miss these moments so much with our team. I look forward to when it is safe for us all to come together as one team again.

What do you like to do when you aren’t working?

I'm a person with a lot of hobbies, and I'm learning to fish this year. I take my hobbies very seriously with a learning plan like a business. I'm a Tennis addict and love to play board games.

What is a fun fact most people may not know about you?

I love popular Brazilian country music. It's really fun because as a nerdy engineer, nobody can imagine my music taste.

What is the one thing you can’t live without, and why?

I can't live without "Pamonha.” Pamonha is a very typical Brazilian food that is a paste made of sweet corn that is boiled and wrapped in corn husks.

Do you have a favorite saying, quote, or personal mantra, and if so, what is it and why?

"Love the life you live. Live the life you love." -Bob Marley

I really appreciate all the moments that happen in my life. Bad moments are an opportunity to learn and grow.

Can you walk us through your "Aha" moment—the moment when you realized how powerful the Lawmatics platform is for lawyers and law firms?

I decided to use our platform for hiring new engineers and created a hiring process flow using Automations, Pipelines, and Email templates. At that moment, I realized how adaptable Lawmatics is, and you can automate everything.

Based on your experience, what words of wisdom or advice do you have for legal professionals looking to help their law firms win more business, impress clients, and be more efficient?

A long time ago I got an SMS from my dentist on my birthday. I never forgot about this dentist because of this one small thing. My advice is "be simple" and never forget the most important part of your business: your customers. Simple actions like an SMS on your customers’ birthday will help them keep your business top of mind.

Since an engineer's mind naturally wants to automate everything, I highly recommend focusing on automating your workflow. Our pipelines with Automations can be a very powerful way to organize your day-to-day work, and taking the time to explore Automations can help you be more efficient.

If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that attorneys are busy people.Yet, believe it or not, a vast majority of their tasks are administrative, sometimes even making it a challenge for them to prioritize practicing law over monotonous office work like getting back to potential clients.You heard that right — sometimes lawyers have so much going on that they hardly have time to be lawyers.Sounds pretty backward, right?Yet, for a law firm to succeed, it has to prioritize the tedious administrative tasks — like the client intake process. The client intake process is unquestionably the most important part of a law firm’s opportunity to uphold its reputation. First impressions count, so if a lawyer blows their intake process, they’ve already lost half the battle.Far too many law firms neglect their client intake process and, as a result, have a poor conversion rate. A poorly-developed client intake process doesn’t just result in friction and disorganization; it results in lost money. And let’s face it, the goal is to make revenue, not lose it.When you don't have a good intake strategy in place, then you're losing time that you could be spending practicing law. So, before you lose any more valuable time on a poorly constructed client intake process — it’s time to start prioritizing, streamlining, and optimizing your client intake process.A great place to start is knowing the do's and don'ts of client intake.

Do: pre-screen your clients

Pre-screen your clients

As an attorney, your schedule is already spread thin. Why waste time trying to onboard clients who aren't a good fit for your practice? Unfortunately, not everyone who comes into your office will be the right match for you and your team, and that's just the way things are. Believe it or not, you don't have to say yes to everyone who comes into your office. In some cases, it benefits both you and the potential client to send them elsewhere for legal services.Rather than carving out a consultation in your schedule only to realize during the appointment that you're not a good fit for each other, you should conduct a thoughtful prescreen. Prescreening is a great way to assess things like what the person is looking for services for and whether they've ever sought out legal services in the past.Bigger firms have the luxury of a receptionist who can conduct phone pre-screening prior to consultations. However, if you're a solo practitioner, then you probably don't have a lot of time to spend on prescreening clients. One of the best ways to speed up your intake process without forgetting to collect important information is by using custom templates. Quickly get the answers you need from your clients upfront, so everyone is on the same page before your consultation.With Lawmatics drag and drop custom form builder, you can easily grab whatever information you need, making the prescreening process that much faster and easier.

Do: capture contact information

Capture contact information

Using the same custom form builder, create a legal client intake form that requests your potential client to fill out their contact information. Customizing your field inputs ensures that you'll capture only the information that you need in a way that makes sense for your practice. Once it's filled out, the form will automatically go into your CRM for lawyers.No more searching through your inbox or digging through spreadsheets — grab your clients' information right away with the right attorney intake software. Once the contact information is collected, you can start meticulously tracking your client's journey and never losing track of a lead again.

Do: automate email replies

Automate email replies

One of the biggest missed opportunities that lawyers make is failing to follow up after grabbing the initial contact information. With so much on your plate as an attorney, slipups are expected. That's why automation makes it easy to stay on top of getting back to clients.From the initial lead capture, law firm client intake software automates the client experience so that your clients stay happy from the very beginning. Custom automation makes it possible to follow up with clients without you having to do a thing. From sending an automatic thank you message with a bit of information about your firm to confirming your consultation, automation keeps everyone on the same page, so nothing slips through the cracks.

Do: be friendly

Be friendly

It seems so simple when you see it in writing, yet being friendly is something that many lawyers forget. Don't forget that even though your job is to practice law, you're still a salesperson. As your grandma always said, you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar, and if you hope to get the sale, you’ll need to be friendly.Delighting your clients is one of the best ways to boost your conversion rates, and nothing delights like friendly customer service. It's really that simple. From sending out an automatic thank you message to smiling during your consultation, a bit of friendliness makes your clients feel valued and results in more referrals.

Do: track your data

Track your data

Data is an essential part of better understanding how well your firm is achieving its goals; otherwise, you’re just guessing — particularly when it comes to your intake process. Goal tracking for law firms is as easy as using the right legal client intake software. For example, Lawmatics can help you determine key analytics like where most of your leads are coming from, how many of them are successfully converting into clients, and which of them have turned into the most profitable for your firm.Thanks to easy-to-read dashboards, you don't have to be a computer scientist to understand law firm data analytics. Law firm reporting software will present you with a report that is incredibly easy to use and understand so you clearly see what's working and what's not in your client intake process.

Do: offer e-signature

Offer e-signature

So often, lawyers assume that they’re the only busy ones in a client-attorney relationship. The truth is that your clients don’t love lengthy back and forths any more than lawyers do.Why spend hours and even possibly days sending back contracts and agreements that require printers and scanners? Offer a client e-signature tool instead. An E-signature feature doesn't just allow you to create, send, and sign important documents, but it also stores them safely in one single, convenient place. Legal file request automation saves time sending the right attachments for your clients to sign quickly.It's as easy as creating, signing, and sharing within minutes. You'll wow your leads and clients by eliminating bottlenecks and simplifying a large portion of your client intake process.[oxygen-template id="6131"]

Don't: waste time on repetitive data entry

Waste time on repetitive data entry

A recent report revealed that the average lawyer spends nearly 50% of their workweek on administrative tasks. Unfortunately, that's a serious hit on lawyers' productivity. Many practices still rely on repetitive data entry to keep up with all of their client's information. Unfortunately, if you hope to grow as a law firm, you'll need to upgrade to a superior process.There's no way you can possibly keep up with the demands of all your clients with a manual system in place. Workflow automation for law firms is the best way to get the same amount of work done in a fraction of your time, giving you more time to spend on practicing law.

Don't: use paper and pen

Use paper and pen

Let's put it this way — if your client intake process involves paper and a pen, then you're likely not converting that many leads. Not only do you risk leads falling through the cracks, but you're probably making all sorts of errors during your manual pen and paper process. Forget about post-its stuck all over your desk, and join us in the 21st century.!A huge part of your firm's reputation rides on the client journey. If you hope to deliver a positive client journey and delight every step of the way, you have software to ensure no one gets lost in the mix.Automation makes it so that you never have to worry about a task being taken care of or whether a lead's details have correctly collected.Using software instead of a pen and paper means no more digging through stacks of documents. No more worrying about who's been followed up with or what the last thing you discussed with them was. Intake software makes it easy to track your client every step of the way and easily store important information in one central location so that anyone in your law firm can see where the client stands.

Don't: take too long to respond

Take too long to respond

One of the biggest complaints that people have about lawyers is their lack of communication skills. Recent studies have shown that as little as 64% of lawyers get back to their leads clients and phone calls. While this may seem like a shocking figure to some, it's no big surprise for firms that are still relying on pen and paper or their email inbox to run their law firm. Software is the only way to ensure that leads are followed up with right away. Email automation for law firms makes it possible to give your clients the attention they need every step of the way without you having to lift a finger. Whether it's to confirm an appointment or thank someone for signing up for your newsletter, following up has never been easier than it is with automated email workflows for law firms.

Don't: spend time on long email back and forths

Spend time on long email back and forths

Is all too common of a scenario: A lead requests a consultation from a lawyer, the lawyer gets back to them with a list of possible appointment time, and unfortunately, none of those times work — resulting in a lengthy back and forth. Instead of wasting your time with unnecessary back and forths, it's time to start incorporating automation into your process.With the help of client intake software, your leads can self-schedule without you having to do a thing. It's as simple as syncing your calendar with only the dates and times you want your clients to see. Show them only the available appointments that you'd like them to be able to choose from. After choosing from your available time slots, everyone will be notified with a consultation confirmation by email.Not only does automated appointment scheduling save time by allowing your clients to self-schedule and keep you on track with your appointments, but clients will significantly appreciate the direct access to your schedule.

Don't: skip talking about fees upfront

Skip talking about fees upfront

Failing to talk about your fees beforehand can lead to misunderstandings later down the road. It's best to get the conversation of money out of the way as early on as possible so that it's clear what you're both asking of each other. During your consultation, take time to discuss how your billing works and what kind of methods you accept. If you offer payment plans through a legal billing software, make sure that you explain how they work. Ensure that everything billing-related is gone over and put in writing, so there's no question about it later on. Failing to get this critical information on the table can lead to frustrations for everyone.

Don't: assume all leads are the same

Assume all leads are the same

Lumping everyone together into an all-in-one marketing approach is a huge blunder. Don't make the mistake of assuming that all of your leads are the same. The only way to grow your law firm is to get to know your prospects in and out, and strong connections are the key to generating new and repeat clients. With audience segmentation software, you can deliver targeted and personalized marketing campaigns that will make meaningful impressions. Thanks to client list segmentation, targeting distinct groups of your clients makes it easy to deliver personalized content through drip campaigns for law firms.Create tailored ads, and engage with leads individually by marketing your law practice through audience segmentation software.

Optimize your client intake process with Lawmatics

At the end of the day, time equals money. The more time you spend on unnecessary tasks like monotonous data entry, redundant back and forths, and inefficient processes, the more revenue is lost. However, by automating whenever you can, you'll lighten your workload and improve your clients' experience throughout the intake process.First impressions are critical, so your intake process should be optimized every step of the way — and Lawmatics can help you do that.Are you ready to see how to optimize the legal client intake process with Lawmatics? Sign up for a free product demo today!