Florida Bar CLE- The Importance of Online Reviews for Lawyers

The Importance of Online
Reviews for Lawyers

888-431-1529 rocketmatter.com
Speaker
MK Getler
Director of Marketing @BirdEye_
● Twitter - @MKGetler
● LinkedIn - mkgetler

96% of clients seeking legal
guidance used a search engine
*2015 Studies done by The National Law Review & ReviewTrackers

83% of clients read online reviews
as the first step to finding a lawyer
*2015 Studies done by The National Law Review & ReviewTrackers

Q: How can lawyers get new
clients and build long-lasting
relationships with existing ones?
A: By harnessing the power of
their online reviews through review
management.

What is
Review Management?

Review Management-Overview
•To earn your client’s loyalty, it’s imperative that you
respond to both positive and negative online
reviews
•Set a realistic response ratio for your support team,
such as 1 response for every 4 reviews
•Responses should be personal, respectful, and
helpful

Q:Why Are Online Reviews Important for Law
Firms?
A: Online reviews are displayed in search engine
results and have a huge impact in local SEO

Local SEO is a primary driver of client
acquisition:
Source: SearchEngineWatch
90% of clients choose a law firm on page
one of search results

A substantial portion (13%) of the 200+ factors
in Google’s search engine algorithm involve
review signals such as:
‣Review Quantity (number of reviews)
‣Review Velocity (how frequently reviews are posted)
‣Review Diversity (the breadth of sites reviews are posted on)
Source: Moz.com

Both Google and Clients Value
Online Reviews
‣70% of clients are willing to go to an attorney’s office
in a less convenient location if they have better
reviews
‣75% of clients seeking an attorney over the last year
used online resources at some point in their process
‣65% of clients found ratings to be moderately or
extremely influential in their decision

Positive Reviews
1. Thank the customer for their review
2. Add a personal touch if possible
3. Express your hope that they return

Negative Reviews
•A single negative review can cost you up to 30
clients
•Responding to the person that left the bad review,
you can build a relationship as well as trust with
potential clients
•Even if the client is in the wrong, it’s important not
to respond defensively

Negative Reviews:
3 Things to Remember When Responding
1.Apologize
2.Offer a reasonable solution
3.Follow-up privately

Driving the Client
Experience with Reviews

Develop a deep understanding of your
clients’ wants and needs
By collecting and listening to feedback
“If I asked my customers
what they wanted, they
would have said a faster
horse.”
- Henry Ford

The Client Experience
Feedback Loop
Client Consultation Review
Request
Feedback Publish &
Promote
Client Insights Legal Firm
Team

Address any & all issues immediately
By responding to client feedback instantly

Understanding the Client Experience
Feedback Loop Allows You To:
Implement, test and alter
law firm operations that
affect client experience
Differentiate between
isolated incidents and
recurring trends
Retain existing customers
and acquire new ones

Ensure happy clients’ voices get heard & seen
By leveraging clients as your own marketing engine

Promote Your Positive Reviews!
•Share great testimonials on your website, social
media, and business listings
•Potential clients are more likely to trust you with
their issues if they see proof of your brand’s quality
and reliability

How Do Online Reviews
Work for Law Firms?

Online reviews are a form of User Generated
Content (UGC) that your clients can share on
public sites such as Google and Facebook.
‣These sites typically
structure feedback as
open-ended
commentary alongside
a rating from 1-5 stars.

After a client posts a review for a law firm, it’s
tied to that law firm’s profile and visible to the
public
‣In most cases,
reviews can only be
removed by the
review site itself if
they violate the
site’s policies

How to Ask for
Online Reviews

Focus on Sites That are
Most Important to Your
Law Firm

4 Useful Tips for Asking for
Reviews
1. Make it Authentic
2. Ask Promptly
3. Make it Seamless
4. Be Consistent

Make it Authentic
Do NOT offer your client incentives in exchange for a
review
‣This leads to biased or insincere reviews that
don’t reflect your client’s experience
‣Highly frowned upon or even forbidden by most
review sites

Ask Promptly
7 out of 10 clients will leave a review for a law firm
that they have visited when asked.
‣Ask for the review immediately after a touchpoint
(i.e. after a consultation or after a case)
‣You want them to remember their experience
and give an honest review.

Make it Seamless
Meet your clients where they are. Often this is their
smartphones.
‣Your review request messages should be
compatible across all desktop and mobile devices
and should involve as few steps as possible.
Sources: 1. Gartner.com, 2. Forbes, 3. Apfonica, 4. Venturebeat

Be Consistent
•Your review generation strategy must be ongoing
for it to be effective.
‣Most clients only find a review relevant if it was
written in the last 2-3 months, so you need a
constant stream of fresh reviews to prove your
credibility to potential clients

Conclusion
Online reviews have changed the way clients select
lawyers
○ Collect & Listen to feedback
○ Respond in real-time at critical touchpoints
○ Maximize the marketing power of happy clients
○ Continuously improve the client feedback loop

E-Mail - mk.getler@birdeye.com
LinkedIn - mkgetler
Twitter - @mkgetler
Thank You!
Course # 3175

Florida Bar CLE- The Importance of Online Reviews for Lawyers

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Florida Bar CLE- The Importance of Online Reviews for Lawyers