Digital Data: The Analytics Law Firms Need to Know

In September, we partnered with Legal Marketing Association to conduct a survey of several law firms on their digital marketing efforts. We were able to share a wealth of valuable data about what firms are doing, how they’re measuring, and where they can improve when it comes to digital marketing. The biggest takeaway? Many firms don’t know where they stand or even how to measure their digital marketing efforts. In that light, we wanted to share some key law firm analytics that you should make a point to review and leverage in your strategy.

If you’re strapped on time and resources, the most critical areas to look at are conversions, the size of your overall database and number of online visitors. However – to actually apply the data and get results, you’ll need to do a much deeper dive.  Each phase of the customer lifestyle requires looking at unique metrics. For example, looking at the number of website visitors isn’t going to help you understand their likelihood of becoming a client. Keep this list handy to know which metrics should be a regular part of your reporting.

Conversion Health

Conversion health includes indicators that show a visitor is more likely to take the next step with your firm. For example consider:

• Time on site
• Average number of pages visited
• Conversion rate

Visitor Health

This area includes the breadth, relevance, and quality of your web and social visitors.

Search performance indicators are those that demonstrate the relevance of the content you’re providing and help you understand your ranking. Metrics useful to understand when it comes to your law firm’s search performance include:

• Domain level links volume
• Domain Authority
• Page Authority
• Visitors from search
• CTR on search results

Another important segment of visitor health is the performance of your ads. Are your ads effective when it comes to converting visitors? Look for these key pieces of data:

• Impressions
• Click-through rate
• Visitors from ads
• Cost per click

How well is your firm’s social media strategy working when it comes to bringing visitors over to your site? Social content performance indicators include:

• Reach
• CTR
• Visitors from social

Email Key Performance Indicators

Blindly sending out client alerts each week without knowing how successful they are is a waste of your firm’s resources. In order to make emails as effective as possible, you should be aware of where your law firm’s email marketing stands in terms of:

• Open rates
• Click through rates
• Digital visitors from email

Quality of Audience Indicators

Do you know who your law firm is reaching through its digital marketing strategies? Looking at these metrics individually are not helpful, rather you should have a comprehensive understanding of the health of your audience across digital channels. Start by measuring:

• Overall size of database
• Number of email subscribers
• Volume of RSS subscribers
• Number of social followers

Remember that collecting data is the easy part. Interpreting law firm analytics and taking appropriate action is the important – and most difficult – part. If you need some assistance deciphering findings, or even setting up Google Analytics in the first place, let us know! We can help you measure and make the most of your digital marketing efforts.