While your law firm may not be open ‘round-the-clock, your potential clients still need legal help and advice after your doors close for the day. After all, people don’t only get divorced, in accidents or pulled over for DUI’s between the hours of 9 to 5, Monday through Friday. Life happens in the after-hours, and that’s when your clients need you most.  

As a business, you want to maximize your revenue by keeping your client roster full. If there was a way to keep in touch with clients 24/7/365, you could help more people, increase profitability and grow your law firm. 

And there is—through live chat and text services.

FREE DOWNLOAD: A GUIDE TO GROWING LAW FIRM REVENUE AND PERFECTING CLIENT EXPERIENCE WITH LIVE CHAT & TEXT 

What is Live Chat & Text As A Service? 

Businesses that leverage live chat and text services have the ability to communicate with clients and answer their questions no matter where they are or what time it is. Essentially, a live chat for law firms is a digital client assistance desk. If a potential client has a question, no matter if it’s during business hours, a holiday weekend or at 3 a.m. on a Sunday, they can chat or text with a real person and get the information they need.  

You can make live chat or text available on the homepage of your website via a personalized chat window, or you can give clients the option to text you—or both. Either way, they will get a prompt response with accurate information. This not only helps solve potentially time-sensitive issues, but it makes you a responsive and trustworthy resource so the potential client feels comfortable pursuing a further relationship as a client with your law firm.  

Human-Powered Live Chat or AI Chatbots? 

When you use text and live chat for lead generation, or for client service purposes, you have two options. You can either choose live chat powered by real people or an AI chatbot tool. Chatbots do have benefits, as they can answer questions instantaneously and don’t require a live person, which can save your law firm money. However, they can be difficult to install on your website and there’s a learning curve when it comes to making them work correctly. In addition, the services they provide are limited. They can only answer pre-programmed questions and just don’t have the same ability to provide information—or a caring touch—the way a human does.  

Human-powered chat, on the other hand, is preferred by 92 percent of consumers. Chat powered by real people creates a better client experience because humans can provide more information and the compassion and empathy that AI lacks. When needing to contact a lawyer, people are often in a time of turmoil, which is why it’s so important to have a real person on the other end who can provide a genuine understanding response. These initial communications build trust—a key reason clients will often choose an attorney over another—and a more sturdy foundation for ongoing relationships between client and firm.  

While AI chatbots can be affordable, human-powered chat is much more cost-effective at the end of the day because you’re getting better a better ROI. People-powered live chat and text builds relationships, converts more leads into clients and helps naturally grow revenue—all at a fraction of the cost of hiring someone to work in-house. 

The Business Benefits of Human-Powered Live Chat & Text for Law Firms 

Increases Revenue 

Live chat and text as a service increases revenue by accelerating the sales process and bringing in more qualified leads, since agents who fully understand the needs of your clients know which leads are worth looking into further. It also creates additional channels for collecting leads at any time of day, during any day of the week.  

Visitors to your website may seek out contact information, and there’s only a slight chance that they will reach out to you via phone since some people just don’t like talking on the phone, or maybe they are on-the-go and can’t make a phone call. Live chat and text gives them another way to get in touch with you, increasing the chances that they will turn into paying clients. With live chat and text options, they are less likely to leave your site without taking an action. 

Provides a Better Experience for Clients 

Compared to AI chatbots, live chat and text powered by real people provides your clients with a better overall experience from the first moment they get in touch with your firm. They can contact you at a time that’s convenient to them, even if it’s in the middle of the night. They get their questions answered right away and get the help they need without much effort on their part—building a solid client-attorney relationship right from the start.  

Live chat and text can also be used to send out appointment reminders, updates and more.  

How to Get Live Chat & Text On Your Website 

Depending on the platform you choose, installing live chat and text on your website may be difficult, especially if you aren’t tech-savvy. It can be a smart idea to partner with a company like Alert Communications. We make live chat and text messaging simple—all you need to do is add a short snippet of code to your website.  

We can provide live chat and text services for your law firm, and since we only work in the legal industry, you can rest assured that your clients are getting directed to the resources they need.  

Sign up today and receive one FREE month of our chat & text services (up to 10 leads), plus zero setup costs (a $199 value).