5 Ways for Law Firms to Solicit Customer Reviews and Testimonials

One of the most important tools in an attorney or law firm's marketing toolbelt is client reviews/testimonials. This tool serves as a close second to personal referrals and can have a serious impact on whether or not a potential client chooses to reach out to your firm. To inspire customer reviews, it’s important to first and foremost give clients motivation to offer positive feedback; this happens by performing excellently as a lawyer as well as an advocate for your client.

Top-notch customer service, timely responses, and true kindness can all inspire a client to leave a positive review or testimonial, regardless of the outcome of their case. Second in importance is convenience; making the process for leaving a review or testimonial as easy as possible is more likely to result in follow-through from happy clients.

5 ways that attorneys and law firms can solicit customer reviews and testimonials include:

1. Conduct scheduled exit interviews. A great way to not only collect customer feedback but to gauge the quality of a firm’s customer service is to regularly conduct exit interviews. Exit interviews can be conducted in person, over the phone, or even via email, and they should include a set of clear questions regarding the client’s experience, things they appreciated, things they did not, as well as leaving room for the client to add any of their own thoughts. The feedback from these exit interviews can be used for both quality assurance purposes as well as to collect useful reviews and testimonials.
2. Send automated follow-up surveys. For the sake of time and efficiency, many companies have begun sending automated follow-up surveys by email. The automation of this process can take out a lot of the stress involved in soliciting client feedback and is typically convenient for the client as well. Pre-constructed web forms can help clients give detailed and important feedback on their own schedule and in just a few minutes. This may also make it easier to transfer the actual reviews from the survey to whatever location you want the reviews to be visible on, including but not limited to the law firm’s website.
3. Incorporate a feedback page on your website. If your website does not already include a dedicated page or section for client reviews and testimonials, it’s a good idea to add one. This page should not only include reviews from clients, but it should also include an easy-to-fill-out webform where clients can leave their own feedback at their leisure. It may also be a good idea to include links to a law firm’s Google Business and Facebook profiles so that clients can share their reviews beyond the website.
4. Consult an expert. If the above measures sound intimidating or have not worked effectively for you, it may be time to involve a legal marketing expert. A law firm marketing consultant can help analyze your current process for requesting and obtaining reviews and testimonials and strengthen any weak points in the process. A legal marketing expert can also help you expand the reach of your reviews/testimonials and may want to help you create further review opportunities on other websites.
5. Just ask. Asking for client feedback can feel awkward at first, but as far as convenience goes, it’s an easy and straightforward approach. However, whenever asking a client directly for their feedback, it’s a good idea to wait until their case has concluded, and to ask for ways to improve in addition to the desired positive feedback. Whether this means sending a clean, structured email to individual clients or to a batch of clients with resolved cases, simply asking for feedback can make a client feel like their voice is truly heard and cared for.

For more ways to solicit client reviews and testimonials as an attorney or law firm, reach out to a legal marketing expert.