Lawyer Monthly - April 2022

39 APR 2022 | WWW.LAWYER-MONTHLY.COM HOW OMNICHANNEL LEGAL SERVICES MEET CLIENTS’ NEEDS POST-PANDEMIC well as how and when they want it. Whether your firm specialises in family law, criminal law, commercial law or something else, it is essential for you to know your audience. By understanding the people who make up your audience and targeting specific media depending on your clients' preferences, you will form a much better relationship with prospects and clients alike. However, remember that the balance to strike between online and offline channels will differ considerably depending on the demographic you target. For example, the younger generation will prefer to use online channels to interact with your business. In contrast, older generations prefer to use the phone and branded websites. As legal practices speak to people of all ages, you must develop several personas to appeal to every age group. 2) Assess your clients’ journeys Once you have identified your audience and your consumers’ channels of choice, the next step is tomap out your consumers' journeys to hiring your services. Doing this will identify areas where an omnichannel experience can be implemented or enhanced. The benefits of mapping your customers’ journeys will highlight where people require the most help or get frustrated with your services. For example, if your firm offers a range of legal services, but they are not clearly highlighted on your website and a prospect cannot quickly find what they were looking for, they will move on to the next firm on their Google search list. A solution to this quick answer, but so are you because you are allowed to focus on the bigger picture without any disruption to your day. In today’s fast-paced world, where you can order consumer products or watch the news 24/7, it makes sense to ensure your practice can be reached at any time too. To do this, I would recommend using a 24/7 call answering service. This way, if a customer wants to speak to someone directly, they simply have to pick up the phone. 4) Provide an Omnichannel Experience Throughout the Process You must be attentive to your clients' needs throughout the entire process of working with them. Even if you are already representing a client, they will still expect a good level of customer service. When practices get bigger, people may think it is just an institutional relationship, but clients still want personal care. They also want dialogue between matters, and lawyers must not disappear because their transaction has ended. So, ensuring that you remain responsive and transparent throughout the process is incredibly important. If clients feel they are being left in the dark, they will understandably begin to feel frustrated, leading to complaints on social media and ultimately a stain on your firm's reputation. This scenario can be avoided by ensuring a fluid omnichannel experience is in place throughout the whole proceeding and beyond. 5) Do not forget about your in-person customer services You can have the best online customer service going. However, if you neglect your in-person customer service, you will pay the price. Remember, for an effective omnichannel strategy to work, you must understand that your clients are very rarely just online or offline. Integrating your online channels is all well and good, but if your clients are not satisfied with how your firm treats them face to face, the omnichannel customer experience will not be complete. could be to install a webchat option on the page to help guide your clients through difficult parts of the process. This way, if clients encounter difficulties, they can quickly contact an agent for assistance and resolve their problems immediately. 3) Apply omnichannel support services As clients interact with your practice across different channels, you must provide an omnichannel customer support strategy to run alongside it. Not only this, but practices should also answer their emails and calls promptly, maintaining reliable and honest terms with the client. To do this, you should provide your clients with access to communicate directly with someone immediately on the channel which they are currently using. Live web chat, for example, is a popular rapid-contact channel for companies and clients to use. Web chat enables you to keep consumers on your site, allowing them to ask questions and gain insights. This benefits lawyers because webchat operators can take preliminary information ahead of time, asking specific questions to better prepare for meetings and book introductory meetings. Also, if your client wants to ask a question, your webchat operator can book them in for a call or consultation with one of the lawyers at your practice. This not only means your client is happy because they received a As legal practices speak to people of all ages, you must develop several personas to appeal to every age group. For an effective omnichannel strategy to work, you must understand that your clients are very rarely just online or offline

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