21 Conversion Rate Optimization Best Practices for Law Firms

Law firms often overlook focusing on the “conversion rate” of their website, because clients are not purchasing services on the platform. However, conversion rate can measure other key objectives that make a difference to your lead generation strategy – whether that’s downloading a white paper or registering for a webinar. It’s essential to optimize your pages for those conversions (a practice known as CRO). Here are 21 conversion rate optimization best practices for law firms:

Look at the Whole Picture

Growth hacks and specific tweaks do have their place, but in order to truly optimize your website, you should rely on systematic processes. Any data that you pull will be contextual, meaning you need to have a clear understanding of your site’s performance and problems. You’ll have to find the process that works best for your team, but generally, you should plan on taking the following steps:

1. Research both qualitative and quantitative data on your website’s performance.

In particular, look for blockages in the conversion funnel. What could be keeping people from converting? We suggest focusing on the following: 

• understanding different visitor types and intentions
• identifying user-experience problems
• gathering and documenting visitors’ objections

2. Leverage that research to develop a plan for various tests and experiments.

3. Prioritize those ideas.

Use a consistent method so that you can properly categorize ideas each time you go through this process. 

4. Start by running the test or experiment that you deemed the highest priority.

5. Analyze your results at the end of the time period you planned on. 

6. Make sure to document and record the results from your efforts. 

7. Use the insights that you’ve gained to tweak your test plan and come up with smarter ways to experiment.

The bottom line is that taking a consistent, well-defined approach to CRO will yield better results. You can alter that process over time so that it works better for your team, but having the correct tools and workflows in place will support your overall CRO strategy. 

Truly Understand Your Users

It’s critical to know what the market actually wants. Your website shouldn’t simply focus on what you can provide, but what data has shown you that your clients and prospects need. You can only rely on that knowledge if you’ve taken the time to conduct research and listen to your target audience. 

8. Research the market.

If you have created client personas, that’s a good place to start. Review your Google Analytics dashboard to understand visitors and their performance across digital channels. 

9. Build real relationships.

Remember that online interactions are only a part of the overall sales process. Take the time to understand users and treat them differently based on what you know about them. 

10. Stay in touch.

One-time conversions are great, but what is your plan for nurturing the relationship? 

11. Actually talk to clients.

It’s essential to get feedback from real people who do business with your firm. Whether that’s via a survey, a scheduled interview, or just collecting information from your sales staff, it’s important to have some context behind the raw numbers. 

12. Invest in user sessions.

There is plenty of data available to show you what does and doesn’t work. You can use tools like Hotjar to observe how users behave on your website, but we believe it’s worth hosting user sessions where you can actually see what people are doing – and then ask them why. Even one or two of these sessions can provide valuable information that data itself can’t provide. 

Focus on Being Crystal Clear

Don’t undervalue providing clarity across your web pages. Keep things as simple as possible and be clear about what you’re providing and what the next steps are. Your request should be evident to users without much thought. As you make changes to improve CRO, ask yourself what motivation the visitor has to continue on the page or take the next step. 

13. Choose one goal per page – what is the single action you’d like them to take?

14. Eliminate unnecessary or distracting elements from the page.

15. Reduce any unneeded steps in the process that the user is going through to reach your chosen goal.

16. Reward people by making sure they get exactly what they expected when they took the action you requested.

Things like a thank you page or an email sent instantly make a difference.

Optimize Content and Messaging

Good design principles are important, but make sure your content and messaging are compelling first. The words on the page are likely to play the biggest role in what the user does next. 

17. Ensure every landing page has a strong value proposition (and see the points above about being clear).

18. It needs to be obvious to visitors what they will get if they take action.

Streamline this messaging from the very first touchpoint so that people understand the value of going further.

19. Emphasize credibility.

Your goal is to generate trust and action. Ensure that all of your messaging conveys competence and honesty. Testimonials and other forms of social proof are a great way to do this.

Experiment and Test

If you’ve made it this far, you’re at the tactical portion of the CRO process. Many experts agree that effective CRO comes down to 80% research and 20% experimentation. 

20. Make sure you have statistics on each test you perform. 

21. Collaborate with other experts, whether that’s a digital partner or your own colleagues.

The more you know about your clients, your sales process, and your digital channels, the better. Use the information you gain to add more tests and tweaks to your plan and continue to work your way down the list.

Takeaway: 

Most legal marketers are responsible for their own CRO strategy. That means it’s a big investment to do the legwork and execution of research, testing, data collection, etc. – but those are all essential conversion rate optimization best practices for law firms. Learning these conversion rate optimization best practices for law firms is a good first step. However, if your firm doesn’t have the time or resources to implement a robust and data-driven CRO plan, don’t be afraid to reach out. We often help our clients develop plans that turn more visitors into leads. Contact us today if you’d like to take your CRO strategy to the next level