Whether your potential clients are starting from scratch with a Google search for “business attorneys near me” or doing a little due diligence after receiving a referral, your law firm website is one of the first stops they make on the way to hiring you.
But if you think it ends there, think again!
Your website does more than simply showcase your practice areas and provide leads and clients with your contact information.
When combined with your legal client relationship management (CRM) software, your website can reduce manual tasks, build client relationships, and help your practice become a law-firm-growing machine by:
- Creating the right first impression
- Keeping leads and clients engaged
- Making intake smoother
- Facilitating smoother workflows AND client service
- Helping you get paid faster
Let’s take a closer look at the dynamic duo of your law firm’s website and legal CRM.
Creating a strong first impression
First impressions matter, but as a legal practice, how do you make the right one in today’s digital world? You have several options for how to nurture a positive first impression.
Unsurprisingly, your website is one of them! With an attractive, on-brand website, you can showcase your experience, highlight your attorneys’ qualifications, and build trust from the outset.
However, keep in mind that law firms have specific ethics requirements concerning marketing, so it’s essential to work with a legal website provider who knows the ins and outs of this industry and can help you stay compliant.
Your CRM also aids in creating a strong first impression. As detailed below, it allows for a high degree of personalized communication and messaging, setting the right tone for future client interactions.
Keeping leads engaged
Your website visitors typically aren’t coming to your website because they’re just researching a particular practice area. They’re most likely visiting because they’re in the market for legal services.
But if your website doesn’t go beyond your attorney bios and a few practice areas, they might as well be stuck in research mode.
You can prevent this from happening with a site intentionally designed to engage them. This includes:
- Relevant, informative blog posts
- Detailed practice area pages with real-world examples and case studies
- A resource center with downloadable guides, checklists, and other helpful content
However, to truly keep leads engaged, you need to help them take the next step towards becoming a client. Incorporate well-placed contact forms, lead magnets, and calls to action on your site.
Once leads have reached out, their information is added to your CRM as a contact, and you can put your CRM to work with marketing automation strategies like:
- Automated email drip campaigns to keep leads warm and nurture them towards a consultation
- Personalized follow-ups with relevant information based on their specific needs and interests
- Targeted messaging and content to address common pain points and objections
Making intake smoother
If you want new clients to feel like their relationship with you is off to a promising start, one of the best things you can do is offer a friction-free intake process. When intake goes smoothly, clients feel like they’re getting a preview of your firm’s capabilities.
Unfortunately, the traditional manual intake processes can be prone to bottlenecks and miscommunication, not to mention data entry errors.
The solution here is surprisingly simple, though. With a legal CRM offering smart, logic-based intake forms that can be embedded on your website, you can create a straightforward process:
- Client fills out an intake form
- The intake form gathers relevant information
- Information is synced with your practice management system
- Client receives automated follow-up about next steps
- Your team is notified, and next steps are triggered
This process helps your clients feel attended to from the beginning, a great sign for client service expectations.
But just as importantly, the process eliminates numerous manual tasks from the intake process. Instead of walking new clients through forms or tracking down who needs to follow up with whom (and when), your team can focus on billable tasks or business development work.
Creating smooth client service and smoother workflows
When you build a website that is easy to navigate, mobile-friendly, and full of useful content, both leads and clients will look at it as a resource. They’ll be able to use your website as a way to educate themselves on their legal matters, but they’ll also turn to it to facilitate client service.
For example, from your website, your clients can:
- Schedule appointments with your team
- Connect to their document portal for secure access to important files
- Make payments or view invoices
This benefits your law firm as well. With a website and CRM working together to facilitate client service, you can automate time-consuming administrative tasks and create a more efficient process overall. This means you can take on more clients without sacrificing the quality of your services, leading to potential revenue growth for your firm.
Getting your firm paid faster
In addition to improving communication and workflows, your website and CRM can work in tandem to help you get paid faster.
There are several ways you can achieve this. The simplest way (which is often the best way!) is to add online payment links to your website. Putting a “Make a Payment” link on your homepage reduces head-scratching when your client is ready to pay but can’t find their invoice.
If your law firm uses legal practice management software with a client portal feature, you can also add a client portal link to your website to increase accessibility.
Where does your legal CRM come into the picture? Your legal CRM can be used to send automated invoice reminders. These reminders can help increase the rate of payment, as well as reduce the chances that clients will pay late or be sent to collections.
Leveraging data for better decision making
Your website is a huge source of data for your firm. So is your legal CRM. When combined, they offer insight into:
- Potential clients: How they find your site, which pages they visit, and what content they engage with can give you data on how to best focus your marketing budget.
- Current clients: Email opens and clicks, website visits, and document downloads can help you identify areas for improvement in client service or communication.
- Overall performance: With the data from your website and CRM, you can evaluate metrics like conversion rates, average response times, and client satisfaction and use that information to inform decision making to improve your productivity and profitability.
Empower your firm’s growth with Tabs3 Websites and CRM
The combination of Tabs3 Websites and CRM gives your law firm the tools it needs to attract, engage, and retain clients more effectively than ever. By harnessing the support of these platforms, your team can deliver exceptional service while nurturing your firm’s growth and success.
Explore how Tabs3 can transform your practice by scheduling a demo or signing up for a free trial today.
