Is optimization part of your law firm’s inbound marketing strategy? If not, your firm could be missing the opportunity to add valuable clients and even more revenue. The objective of optimizing your law firm’s inbound marketing strategy is to identify the most valuable “wins” with the least amount of effort. Defining “wins” is accomplished with the S.M.A.R.T. Key Performance Indicators. Performance objectives must be “specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound.”
How is the Optimization of Inbound Marketing Achieved?
The goal of optimization is to boost conversion rates, which is achieved by tracking the path a potential client takes once they land on your website. Using Google Analytics provides your firm with detailed information about prospects’ activity and identifies improvements needed to boost conversion rates.
Without consistent optimization, your firm could lose leads and potential revenue. So, how does Google Analytics help to increase conversion rates? By using the Google Analytics Funnel tracking feature.
How Does Funnel Tracking Work?
The Google Analytics funnel tracking feature follows the complete path a visitor takes on your website. It shows how visitors browse areas of the site. The aim is to identify high exit rates on service pages. High exit rates on blogs may indicate the visitor successfully learned what they intended to learn through a google search.
The two types of available funnel analyses are strict and flexible. A strict funnel follows an idealized prospect’s path, then highlights the probable drop-off points. A flexible funnel uses a more realistic approach to show how the prospect’s behavior varies.
A flexible funnel is appropriate for use on the website landing page. Here each prospects’ search behavior will be different. However, once the prospect is near the decision-making point, the strict funnel will show the specific drop-off points. A high rate of drop-off here can mean a content gap. Conversely, identifying a high conversion rate from areas such as blog posts can indicate similar future blogs are needed.
Google Analytics Funnel Features:
- Goal funnels are a good starting point. However, this feature is limited in identifying specifics about site visits.
- Reverse goal path funnels trace the visitor path from the end to the beginning. This funnel will highlight common conversion steps as well as any undesired activity.
- Horizontal funnels categorize and compare drop-off points. This funnel provides greater accuracy about a visitor’s path compared to the goal funnel.
- Custom funnels offer individual customization to find the most needed information.
Identifying the path a visitor takes when on your website enables your firm to make corrections that will lead to increased client conversion.
Principal Areas of Optimization for Law Firms
Intake Protocols
Intake protocols begin the process of turning prospects into clients. Potential legal clients must be able to contact your firm 24/7/365. To know if your intake protocols work, you need to see the abandonment rate, which should be no higher than 1%. All calls should be answered in three rings or less; a two to five minute response time for web leads is critical.
Retention Rates
A major goal of inbound marketing for law firms is increasing the client retention rate. Keeping your clients “delighted” is the key to a long-lasting professional relationship. A delighted client believes the firm has exceeded their expectations and shows it through personal touches. Delighted clients become evangelists for your firm, spreading the positive word about you to everyone they know.
Optimize Your Inbound Marketing with a Legal Call Center
Inbound marketing optimization’s purpose is to find and solve the most significant problems. Diagnosing the problem starts with analyzing your SMART goal. Was the goal specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound? If the SMART goal meets those conditions, then optimization can take place.
If, after optimizing the sales funnel, the issues still exist, then the trouble lies with your intake procedures. If intake is the problem, a cost-efficient and results orientated way to lower your abandonment rate is to partner with a professional legal call center.
The combination of a Google Analytics analysis, intake optimization and partnership with a legal call center will raise your retention and conversion rates as well as lower your lead loss rates. Integrating optimization into your inbound marketing plan for your law firm is a crucial step in order to stop revenue from falling between the cracks.
