Online reviews are increasingly important for personal injury law firms. According to a Local Consumer Review Survey by BrightLocal, 77% of consumers ‘always’ or ‘regularly’ read online reviews when browsing for local businesses. So how do you get more good reviews for your law firm in the new year? And how do you turn clients into word-of-mouth advertisers? Here are three tips for getting great law firm reviews in 2022.
1. Automate your request for reviews
The best time to ask for a review is shortly after a case is won or resolved. Use Neos case management workflows and automations to send a thank-you email with a request for a review shortly after a case is closed. This automated message will arrive when the client is most satisfied and most likely to give your firm a positive review.
Consider including a direct link to your Google Business Profile, Yelp, or wherever you’d like clients to leave reviews. If clients have to seek out your listing on their own, many will not take the time to do so. Make it as easy as possible for them.
2. Respond to your reviews – good and bad
Use your reviews as an opportunity to demonstrate your firm’s commitment to client satisfaction. Responding to every review shows prospects and current clients that you care about what your clients have to say.
When responding to positive reviews, keep it brief and show your appreciation. When responding to negative reviews, stay calm and professional, and take any valid feedback to heart.
3. Use a Yelp survey to identify detractors
One of the biggest mistakes law firms make is sending out review requests to all their clients without first gauging their satisfaction. If you send review requests to unhappy clients, you risk getting negative reviews that damage your reputation.
To avoid this, use a satisfaction survey to identify your happy clients before sending them review requests. For example, you could use a simple 1-10 rating survey: clients who rate you 9 or 10 are most likely to leave a positive review, so those are the ones you want to send a review request to first. Those who rate you lower can be followed up with personally to understand their concerns and, hopefully, turn their experience around.
The bottom line on law firm reviews
Reviews are increasingly important for your law firm’s ability to attract and retain clients. And while it may seem daunting to get clients to leave reviews, it’s more straightforward than you might think.
Make it easy by automating your review requests and directing clients to a specific review platform. Respond to all your reviews, good and bad, to show your commitment to client satisfaction. And use a pre-review satisfaction survey to ensure you only send review requests to satisfied clients.
With Neos Intake Pro, you can automate your review requests and ensure that you’re sending them to clients at the right time. Contact us today to learn more about how Neos can help you get more great reviews in 2022.
