Live chat and text messaging are quickly becoming must-have client communication options. And with many legal issues being highly delicate and often urgent, the ability to conveniently contact a firm online, day or night, can make a big difference for prospective clients when choosing a legal firm.
Over 50 percent of all consumers prefer to use live online chat because there is virtually no wait time when compared to phone conversations—and it’s available wherever and whenever.
Investing in a live chat and text service doesn’t just give your clients another convenient channel of communication. It cuts firm overhead and support costs, increases conversion rates and improves client satisfaction and loyalty.
Let’s take a look at several ways to use live chat and text to increase revenue and improve client relationships.
1. Boost Conversion Rates
The cost of a lost legal lead can reach tens of thousands of dollars. Unfortunately, many law firms allow potential clients to slip through the cracks, often unknowingly, simply because they don’t provide assistance in a timely manner—or a clear, convenient way to reach out.
A live chat and text messaging option provides leads with another way to make contact with your firm. And even if your intake specialists are available via phone 24/7/365, not all people are ready to share their problems over the phone, or perhaps they are on the go and don’t have the ability to make a phone call.
In fact, about 75 percent of millennials prefer texting over talking, reasons varying from lack of time to psychological barriers. By providing potential clients with live chat and text options, you increase the chances of converting them into satisfied and paying clients.
2. Maximize Marketing ROI
Live chat and text also allow you to cut marketing costs by taking advantage of pre-designed scripts to answer common questions and decrease the time you spend trying to convert each potential client.
By implementing live chat and text at the top of the sales funnel (meaning when they are first seeking out your services) you decrease advertising expenses. Live chat gives you access to the data you need to perform initial intake in a personalized manner.
You can use live chat transcripts to drive conversions and run a predictive analysis for future marketing efforts.
3. Make Smarter, Data-Driven Decisions
A live chat and text service provides you access to a variety of performance data that you can use to make better marketing and business decisions. Instead of creating transcripts of phone conversations and reading through lengthy conversations to try and single out important information, you can take advantage of written interactions for analytics.
A live chat and text function that’s integrated with your CRM/case management software (CMS) can provide valuable information about each client for further interactions, marketing and predictive analytics. The collected data doesn’t just help you make better decisions. It also helps you improve client experience and increases loyalty.
More: What Is A Live Chat & Text Service And How Can Your Law Firm Benefit?
4. Maintain A Human Touch While Staying Digital
People-powered live chat and text is a combination of all the benefits provided by chatbots and live phone specialists. It offers:
- Quick responses to questions
- 24/7/365 availability—including nights, weekends and holidays
- Professional assistance on par with what your own law firm would provide
- Human interaction that builds trust in your practice
It provides the initial support channel someone may need to talk about their legal issue and ask questions—without having to pick up the phone. Human chat agents are able to express empathy while giving professional, concise advice and answers to questions through text.
5. Provide ‘Round-The-Clock Support
Potential legal clients often need assistance during off-hours. Not being able to reach your legal firm at night or on weekends forces them to shop around to another firm that is available for immediate assistance. Live chat and text is another way to provide 24/7/365 support to both potential and existing clients.
By outsourcing live chat and text support to a professional legal intake center, like Alert Communications, you can make sure that each client gets sufficient attention at any convenient time. Legal intake experts leverage live chat and text messaging to make sure no potential clients slip through the cracks—no matter the time of day or night.
Key Benefits Of Using Live Chat For Your Law Firm
Because of the many uses of live chat and texting for law firm growth and client experience, there are also many benefits, including:
- Quicker Responses: Instant responses prevent clients from shopping around.
- Higher Conversions: Website visitors can be converted into leads on the spot, or sent through to a phone agent for more complex conversations.
- Richer Analytics: Data collected during live chat and text conversations can enhance analytics and help you streamline your marketing tactics.
- More Language Options: Live chat and text experts can provide support in more than one language.
- Easier Monitoring: You can monitor services and advice provided to your clients by skimming through written text, instead of listening to hours of phone conversations.
- Protects Client Privacy: Live chat and text is more private since anyone can overhear a phone conversation. For example, if a client is in a crowded office or grocery store, they can easily type out a quick text without being overheard—without having to step out of the room to find somewhere more private.
- Better Client Experience: Providing convenient access to a live support feature that clients can use wherever and whenever to reach you increases client satisfaction and turns clients into your law firm’s ambassadors.
While live chat and text shouldn’t be the only support and communication channel for a law firm, coupled with traditional phone interaction, it can affect revenue in a very positive way. In fact, when combined with phone answering services, live chat and text has been shown to increase conversion rates by up to 40 percent.
Collaborating With A Legal Intake Center To Provide Live Chat & Text Services
Just like phone intake and support, live chat and text communication for law firms should be handled by professionals. Understanding the legal industry’s nuances, an empathetic approach and a strategic intake process are key to making powerful connections with potential and existing clients.
At Alert Communications, our legal intake experts and law firm answering services specialize in seamless communication with potential and existing clients across all available channels—including live chat and text. We make it easy to set up the technology on your website and then provide the agents to act as professional, knowledgeable and empathetic representatives of your law firm—freeing you and your team up to focus on what you do best.
