New tech and tools for attorneys and business owners are released yearly. While every new technology may not be the best fit for your law practice, it’s important to your firm’s growth to stay up-to-date on tech that can help you streamline your processes and boost productivity.
Read on for tips on choosing the right tools and tech for your business, how you can balance empathy with automation in a digital world, and four website features you should consider for your firm’s website.
How to Choose the Best Technology for Your Law Practice
Law firm websites can be powerful marketing tools, but if you’re not using your website for more than marketing you could be missing out on a major opportunity to boost your firm’s productivity. By using your website as not just part of your marketing – but a fully integrated part of your practice – you can save time, money, and resources while providing your potential clients with a seamless experience. Plus, you can run your practice more efficiently, manage client expectations, and even eliminate the overhead costs of a physical office.
So, with so many technology solutions available to you, how do you decide which are best for your business? If you’re in the position to choose new tech solutions for your law firm’s website, it’s best to start by considering what your immediate needs are as a business owner. More specifically, look at what’s either costing you a lot of time, a lot of money, or maybe both. Then, consider where these processes can be automated for you or your employees.
To take this a step further, think about the immediate needs of your clients. Can you identify trends in the pain points you’re experiencing with clients or potential clients? How might these be solved by technology?
An Example of a Client Pain Point with a Tech Solution
Like you, clients are busy. Also like you, they may have different preferences on how to reach out to you. Some might like to call, but more prefer other methods that don’t require waiting or being placed on hold. If on hold for too long, they may hang up – that inconvenience can cost you a client.
As a solution, many attorneys integrate a scheduling tool on their website so that clients can schedule appointments quickly without any hassle. This solution saves both you and your clients time with one added benefit: This type of scheduling tool can reduce the amount of errors in your calendar.
Still Unsure about Which Tech Is Best for Your Law Firm?
Still not sure where to start when it comes to legal tech for your website? The next best thing to do is to request demos for any solutions you’re interested in adopting. This can help you make informed decisions on what is best for your business.
Balancing Empathy and Automation in a Digital World
Both empathy and automation matter for running an efficient and thriving law practice. Practicing empathy can increase overall client satisfaction, differentiate you from your competitors, and help a potential client establish trust and confidence in you. Automation, meanwhile, can help boost your firm’s efficiency so that you can focus on delivering a better client experience.
As you consider where you can lean into the latest technology to help run your business, it’s important to plan how you will strike a balance between empathy and automation. Knowing when and what to automate and when and for what to apply a human touch can greatly improve client acquisition.
Examples of Balancing Empathy with Automation
Observe cues from your client journey to understand when the human touch is most beneficial to you and your potential clients such as an initial client consultation. Depending on your area of practice, a new client may benefit from a face-to-face interaction for their consultation as opposed to a quick online form. On the other hand, automation could best serve your practice for things like scheduling or client testimonial requests.
Four Bonus Website Features to Consider for 2024
#1 Online Payment Systems
There are several benefits to accepting electronic payments directly on your law firm website. For example, you can get paid faster, save time, and increase your firm’s revenue with an online payment system. For the legal industry, research has reported faster collection times for online payments with 57% of electronic payments paid on the same day as billing and 85% paid within a week, according to Clio’s 2019 Legal Trends Report.
Online payment systems can also improve your clients’ experience. Electronic payment options offer flexibility to your clients and, in turn, improve their overall satisfaction with your services. Finally, choosing an electronic payment solution that integrates with your legal practice management software can make tracking and organization of payments, transactions, and your financial performance much easier. As a result, you can make informed and data-driven business decisions for your practice without the need for tracking down vital payment data.
LawLytics websites integrate with a variety of online payment solutions for your practice including LawPay, ClientPay, Telos, and more.
#2 Video
People favor video for a variety of online interactions because it is engaging, expressive, and informative. With a little extra effort on the front end, your firm can achieve a high-quality and evergreen resource for current and potential clients.
Incorporating video on your law firm’s website can help you improve client communications. For example, you can create videos that walk a client through certain processes they should expect to experience while working with you. In turn, not only do you avoid overwhelming them with reading material, you provide a personal touch to the process.
Video can also create more meaningful interactions with leads. One common way to approach this is the creation of client testimonial videos. In these videos, a satisfied client typically outlines the nature of their case, the obstacles they were facing, and their outcome. Although written client testimonials are equally valuable in your digital marketing, a video testimonial can level up the impact. By hearing the words from happy clients themselves, potential clients have an easier time centering themselves in the narrative, and it can influence them to reach out and hire your firm.
Adding video to your LawLytics website is quick and intuitive. You can store video files directly in your LawLytics dashboard and insert them into any webpage without the use of coding or formatting. If you’re currently a LawLytics member and would like to know more about how you can start using video on your website, please reach out to support.
#3 Accessibility Tools
There is a growing interest among attorneys in creating websites that are accessible. Your website’s accessibility is often a product of its foundational design, but there are also several tools available to you to aid in accessibility. Accessibility overlay tools are website add-ons that provide your web visitors with accessibility options such as larger font, contrast colors, text-to-speech, and more. Incorporating this feature on your law firm website helps ensure anyone can utilize your website regardless of ability.
Note: All LawLytics websites are designed and built to ADA accessibility standards.
LawLytics members can now seamlessly integrate UserWay, a free web accessibility widget, with just one click. UserWay works to enhance the accessibility experience for your potential clients with built-in features like alt-text for images, text size and spacing adjustments, and a larger cursor.
#4 Chat Functionality
Successful law firms often feature a chat function on their websites. Long gone are the days of clunky, robotic chatbots. Today, chat features offer a more sophisticated customer service experience than ever before with live representatives, video messaging, AI, and more.
Live chat can improve your website’s conversion power by offering help and interaction with your law firm the moment a visitor enters your website. Not only does this enhance the potential client’s experience, but it can improve your overall efficiency.
For the most part, chat features can support live chat, chatbots, or both. Live chat allows a potential client to interact with a real human agent, which can build an immediate connection with a client. Chatbots, in contrast, tend to be pre-programmed with a limited script to help web visitors with basic tasks. Overall, having a chat feature on your website can help ensure your potential clients find what they are looking for when they’re on your site.
With LawLytics, you can choose from several chat technologies for your website. Not all chat features are built equally, and it’s important to find a solution that works best for you and your potential clients. For example, it’s best to use a chat feature that integrates with your firm’s CRM for easier tracking and management. In addition, your chat feature should offer you customization and branding options and work well with mobile devices.
Get a Website That’s More Than Just a Website with LawLytics
Regardless of your firm size, location, or practice area, your law firm’s website will always be your #1 marketing tool. In an increasingly competitive industry and a decidedly digital world, an optimized, professional website is the key to standing out from your local competition. With LawLytics, you can be confident that your website remains at the cutting edge of technology for lawyers. We are committed to consistent optimizations, releases, and improvements to help you get more out of your website and your business.
If you’re currently a LawLytics member and would like to know how you can implement bonus website features for an enhanced client experience, please reach out to support. If you’re not yet a LawLytics member and would like an interactive demo of our technology, schedule a time with a product expert.
