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Convincing Your Clients to Review Your Law Firm Online

This post will explore some strategies for convincing your clients to write you online reviews to boost your website’s visibility and drive more traffic to your site.
May 17, 2023

In recent years, online reviews have become an essential part of any business’s marketing strategy. When people search for products or services, they read reviews from other customers to determine whether to move forward with a purchase or schedule an appointment with the service provider. In fact, most people value online reviews as highly as they would recommendations from trusted friends and family members. However, it can be difficult to get your clients to take the time to write reviews for your law firm. Many attorneys find it awkward to ask their clients to leave them an online review, so they may put off this task out of discomfort. Unfortunately, having very few client reviews can negatively affect the public perception of your law firm. Those who see your firm’s lack of reviews may opt to work with a law practice with a higher number of favorable client reviews. Additionally, search engine algorithms like Google use client reviews to determine search result rankings. The more positive client reviews you accumulate, the more favorably search engines will rank your law firm’s website. This post will explore some strategies for convincing your clients to write you online reviews to boost your website’s visibility and drive more traffic to your site.

Show Clients Why Reviews Matter

There’s no way around it—asking clients to write a review of your law firm can be awkward and inconvenient. However, people are much more likely to comply with your request when they can see the value of their efforts. Instead of just asking a client to write a review, tell them why it matters. Explain how their words can help others locate the legal services and answers they need. Helping others can be a powerful motivator for people, so show your clients that their reviews can directly and positively impact other people’s lives. The review they write can inspire others to get the legal assistance they need to resolve their issue and move forward with greater confidence. Whether you ask a client in person or via an email or text to write a review, be sure to demonstrate how powerful their words will be in helping others find answers and solutions.

Integrate the Review Request Process Into Your Firm’s Culture

The more you can make the client review request process a natural part of your law firm’s culture, the easier it will be to inspire your clients to write reviews. It helps to consider the client’s journey and identify the points of contact your firm provides along the way. For instance, think about the initial interaction a client may have with your law firm (i.e., clicking on your website from a search results page, skimming through client reviews, etc.). From there, consider how you support your client along their journey with you—communicating with them, answering their questions, helping them prepare for litigation, and obtaining a resolution. How can you integrate the review request process into this journey? You may take a multi-faceted approach, offering feedback forms at your office, making the ask in person, or sending a follow-up email or text message after you’ve helped your client resolve their legal matter. When clients can see the review request as a natural component of their experience with your law firm, they will feel more inclined to comply with your request.

Offer Guidance

Review requests can be too vague, frustrating clients and preventing them from taking the time to write a thoughtful review. If your firm sends a text that just says, “Review our firm,” this open-ended wording may deter your client from composing a review. Instead, consider asking a few simple questions to spark a client’s memory and elicit specific and authentic responses. For example, ask your client how they would describe their experience working with your firm to a close friend or family member. Providing more detailed guidance and parameters can increase the likelihood that your client will respond to your review request—and these responses will be more focused and genuine than the types of reviews responding to an overly generic or broad request.

Acknowledge the Time Commitment

People are more likely to comply with a request if they feel acknowledged and thanked for their effort. When designing your process for requesting reviews from clients, be sure to express your appreciation for their willingness to invest their time and thoughtfulness into writing a review. You can also highlight how quickly they can fulfill your request, as many people may fail to engage in the review process because they think it requires too much time. Including language like, “Writing a review will only take 2-3 minutes of your time,” can maximize the likelihood of someone following through with your request. Pointing out that your clients can provide significant value to others in a matter of minutes and then thanking them for doing so will encourage more people to honor your law firm’s request.

Questions about leveling up your law firm’s digital marketing strategy? Give LegalRev a call today at (800) 893-2590 to get started.

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