Turn your law firm’s website into a lead-generation machine with these conversion strategies.
Your website is your point of contact for most of your client base. In the old days, it would be enough for a site to serve as a digital business card, but today, websites serve a vital role as the mouth of your sales funnel.
The purpose of your site is to convert visitors into leads. The frequency that it can do so determines the quality of your site. Increasing your website conversions should be at the forefront of all your considerations. Fortunately, there are many ways you can turn your website into a reliable engine of conversion.
Understand Your Client Base
The first step in conversion is understanding who you’re trying to turn into a client. You should build a biography of your ideal client (known as a “Persona” in marketing lingo), as detailed as you can make it, and market with the intent of convincing this person to sign on. If you have taken no other actions, this is how you begin.
Once you’re farther along in the process, you can look at who you’re reaching. Through a combination of customer surveys, data analysis, social media feedback, reviews, and testimonials, you can form a more complete and accurate picture of your client base, which in turn informs how you optimize your website content to reach them.
Make Your Site Mobile-Friendly
Most internet browsing takes place on mobile devices. The shift from desktop to mobile is a continuing trend that shows no signs of slowing down, especially as more of the internet adapts to this new paradigm.
Because the trend is so prevalent, search engines now prioritize sites that are mobile-friendly over ones that aren’t. In short, your site needs to be mobile-friendly, with a responsive design that will display the version of the site optimized for the device the visitor is using. Visitors are far more likely to convert on a site built for the device they use.
Build Trust with Social Proof
People need a way to separate legitimate firms from scammers. While you know you’re trustworthy, the average person does not. This is where the concept of “social proof” comes from. It’s a sense of legitimacy that comes from corroborating sites, reviews, and locations. Think of it the way a reputable scientific study will include links to sources and traceable references.
89% of people will read reviews before making a decision, and 49% consider good reviews to be a top 3 reason for a selection. Reviews and testimonials are an important component of social proof, but they’re only one part. Because your lead forms will have user data, you need to be a trustworthy repository. A secure URL and security badges will show that whatever data you ask for will be kept secure and confidential.
Focus on Strong CTAs
Your site is built to generate leads, and CTAs are the way to do that. You want to make it clear where your visitors are supposed to click. A CTA should be immediately obvious to anyone who comes to your site, and you should never have multiple conflicting CTAs on a page. The instructions should also be clear and accurate: an unpleasant surprise can cost you a lead.
Always remember the goal of the site is to generate leads, and thus keep your CTAs focused, clear, and easily accessible.
Having strategically placed and well-executed Call-To-Action elements throughout your website increases your chances of capturing a lead.
Gather and Analyze Data
The best way to improve your site starts with understanding how visitors are using it. By tracking a visitor’s path through your site, you can then create more efficient and intuitive pathways for them.
Metrics like click-through rate (CTR), bounce rate, and conversion rate can provide you with a basic idea of how well your site is performing its primary task. A thorough analysis of this data can help you optimize for conversion rate.
Testing
It’s one thing to think a site is better. It’s another thing to know. That’s where testing comes in. You should extensively test every aspect of your site with the goal of improving conversion rate.
A/B Testing (also known as “split-testing”) is one of the most effective methods of testing. You create two versions of a site with a single difference and track which performs better. Because you’ve narrowed it down to a single difference, you can confidently attribute the winner’s performance to that difference.
Within that format, you can test different CTA buttons, different formats for your site, different ad placement, different header design; anything can be put through the paces of a proper test. Each A/B test brings you closer to true optimization and your goal of building a lead-generation engine.
Gather Feedback and Listen
Your clients will let you know if something isn’t working. Include ways for them to get in touch with you over website issues. In addition, the reviews and testimonials you receive will often include criticism that you can use to further improve your site.
Feedback is also common in your various social media feeds and can be teased out of website analytics. Any trend in user behavior should be used as a pretext for a test to improve. If you find that you’re not receiving enough, or the analytics are hard to read, conduct regular surveys.
Ask your website visitors for feedback and compare that information with your analytics to pinpoint areas where you can improve your website experience.
User Experience is Key
You must convince your users to trust you with their information and motivate them to submit a lead. Your website is a sales pitch to your clients. As such, their experience should be a good one.
A user should be able to scan your page and know exactly what is expected of them. The site should have a clean, elegant design, with ads and distractions kept to a minimum. Your lead-generation form should be as short as possible while still being actionable. Easy navigation is a must, with choices pared down to only what is necessary.
Live Chat and FAQs
Live chat allows your customers to answer questions and address concerns when they have them and is an integral part of a modern website experience. At minimum, you should be available during business hours, and ideally have a chatbot for other times.
An FAQ is also necessary. Though some clients will prefer to use live chat or a more direct contact, an FAQ will show your legal knowledge and will be some clients’ preferred way to answer questions. Requiring legal help is always stressful for the person involved, so give your clients multiple ways to engage.
Ready for more digital marketing insights? Download our free guide packed with advanced digital marketing strategies designed to fuel the growth of your law firm.
Partner With Lead Science: The Conversion Experts
Remember, your site exists to generate leads, and the degree to which it does that determines how well it functions. At Lead Science, we have two decades of experience in engineering sites optimized for conversion. We have years of testing data that has given us a comprehensive list of best practices that have served our award-winning sites well.
Schedule your Lead Science Discovery Call today. See how we can turn your law firm’s website into a lead-generation machine.
