In today’s online world, it’s more important than ever for law firms to stay on top of information. And with the ease of the internet allowing for clients to find your practice with just a click, it’s vital to capitalize on every digital visitor. 

However, it’s also easier for clients to view your website and not engage. That’s where lead capture comes in.

What is lead capture? Simply put, lead capture is the process of successfully acquiring a lead—or a link to an interested client—through the use of lead capture tools. This, in turn, creates a greater likelihood of turning these leads into new clients. Integrating lead capture techniques is essential to your law firm—this guide will show you how and why.

The Importance of Lead Capture

Gathering lead information—and potential clients—is a highly valuable function of online lead capture for law firms. With so much interaction and business taking place virtually these days, capitalizing on the interactions with your digital presence is a must for legal intake purposes. 

To help put this in perspective, on average, 70% of visitors to your website who click away will never return. That’s a lot of potential clients down the drain. 

Online lead capture involves funneling visitors to your business’ website and helping them stay there. Lead capture guides them to interact at a deeper level with your firm and the solutions you offer while also providing you with lead data about that digital visitor.

This serves a dual purpose: 

  • Cultivating a connection between your law firm and the potential customer
  • Providing your business with follow-up information for a potential customer

The ultimate goal of lead capture is to encourage a user to interact more with your business. This, in turn, begins to develop a relationship with the hope that they will become a new client.

How Does Lead Capture Work?

Wondering, how to generate leads for law firms? Lead capture is achieved through lead capture tools. These tools provide a catalyst to get the prospective clients to exchange information, most basically an email, in return for something. 

Lead Capture Tools

A lead capture tool can be a discount or a newsletter, but the key is that there is a mutual exchange between the potential client and the firm.

Some examples of lead capture tools include:

  • Forms – A simple lead capture form gets straight to the point, often asking just for a name and email in exchange for updates, a discount or free consultation, a guide to certain law specialties, or other relevant news.
  • Pop-ups – A direct way of getting a message across, pop-ups are ideal in moderation. The goal is to catch the prospective client’s attention, often with a clear incentive attached, and have them click on the pop-up.
  • Chatbots – A way to allow visitors to interact or have questions answered, without taking up your firm’s time. Because it’s automated, you should set up the option to have visitors input their email addresses for further contact.
  • Live Chat – Speaking with a real person is naturally more intuitive for potential clients who have questions about a legal issue or about your law firm’s services. It’s also easier for a real life person to ask for contact information to follow up on later, which is why live chat for law firms has become a staple.  

Lead Capture Page

Also known as a landing page, this is where a prospective customer is taken after interacting with certain lead capture tools. If you are wondering how to improve the lead generation process digitally, landing pages are one of the best ways to do so.

This is a separate page where the only goal is to turn visitors into leads. It can have information detailing your services and the offer you will provide in exchange for information. But, most importantly, there is an interactable field where the visitor inputs their information, converting them into a qualified lead.

The key, however, is to provide an incentive that the visitor perceives as valuable. Lead capture incentives for a law firm might include:

  • A free 30-minute consultation on the phone or through email
  • A discounted rate on the first meeting
  • A discount on a contract evaluation 

In turn, the provided information then allows you to market directly to your leads, and your leads have a greater likelihood of continuing to interact with your business.

The Qualities of a Potential Lead

A lead capture system or tool can be used to connect you to potential clients, but the trick is to discern the leads with potential from the duds. 

  • They have a clearly articulated problem your firm can solve – The highest quality leads are ones that are actively trying to solve an issue—but they need your law firm’s help. Lead capture tools like chatbots and live chat are perfect opportunities to identify these high quality leads since these individuals will be looking for support.
  • They ask questions – “My employer hasn’t paid my wages in weeks; what should I do?” “How do you make a will valid?” “How do I obtain alimony?” Questions pave the way for answers—answers your law firm can provide through contractual work. Lead capture tools like forms, chatbots, and virtual receptionists working in a legal call center will guide your potential leads right to you.
  • They have a timeline – The best potential leads aren’t idle browsers—they have a problem to solve, and they want it done soon. Adding a time limit on certain lead capture offers or adding a comment box to your forms will help you discern which potential leads are ready to become clients ASAP. 

Getting the Most Out of Lead Capture with Alert

Online lead capture can help you get the most out of your website traffic. Keep in mind which type of lead generation tool might be the best fit for your business, and pay attention to statistics. A 2019 HubSpot survey revealed that only 6.5% of marketers said chatbots had their highest conversion rate, compared to web forms at 49.7%.

But following through on these tools can be a lot to handle. Especially considering evidence showing that a follow-up within five minutes is nine times more likely to convert leads.

At Alert, we can help your law firm capitalize on this fact by following up with your web form submission. Our expert team will follow up with a call within five minutes, maximizing the chance to convert leads. 

Let us help you make the most out of your lead capture, and help grow your law firm—trust Alert to turn leads into clients.

Sources: 

Entrepreneur. Is Your Website Acting as client-Repellent? Avoid These 5 Don’ts. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/236548

SmartBug. Back to Basics: What Are Landing Pages and How Do They Work? https://www.smartbugmedia.com/blog/back-to-basics-what-is-a-landing-page-and-how-do-they-work. 

PrivacyPolicies. Privacy Policies for Lead Capture Tools. https://www.privacypolicies.com/blog/lead-capture-tools-privacy-policy/#How_To_Get_Consent_To_Your_Privacy_Policy. 

HubSpot. Forms Aren’t Dead: The State of Email Lead Capture in 2020. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/state-of-email-lead-capture. 

Startup Bonsai. 33 Lead Generation Statistics to Fill Your Funnel Faster. https://startupbonsai.com/lead-generation-statistics/.