In many industry sectors, comparison and review websites are one of the main channels through which a business can connect with its customers. Who hasn’t checked out reviews of a film, book or washing machine before typing in our card details and proceeding to the checkout?

But this is all well and good for consumer purchases, lawyers may cry – it is completely different when it comes to legal services. Isn’t it?

Well, yes to a certain degree, in that purchasing FMCGs (fast moving consumer goods such as toiletries or food for example) or durable goods (e.g. washing machines) is quite closely linked to the reputation of that item – or the company that sells it. In other words, personal experience and the word of mouth of others plays a huge part in getting people to buy.

Where legal services differs is that, in the past, people have automatically assumed a level of competence and, indeed, a certain level of service from a solicitor – and have generally gravitated towards their local provider – the same way in which they would register with their local doctor, see their local optician or open a bank account with their local bank…

…However, over the past few years’ society’s attitude towards service providers has shifted massively

• Along with the development of the internet, the global market and social media, the world has become a smaller place, both physically and virtually. People are now no longer constrained by the ‘local’ label, even when it comes to professionals who provide a service.
• What they are now looking for is who can provide the best service and the best value, not only in terms of price but also through visible examples of a good reputation i.e. testimonials and recommendations.
• As service providers, law firms now need to make sure that their reputation clearly matches their service and that this is good enough to attract new business as well as retain long-standing business from existing clients. So, how can they communicate this quickly and cost-effectively?

The rise and reach of the internet

• There is a difference between trying to find the right legal advisor, the cheapest car insurance, a night in a hotel or a care home for an elderly relative – the information sought, importance of the service to name but two. But this is a task that has been made much easier thanks to comparison sites.
• They, like brand names, provide a short cut to help people make a decision and can be divided into price-based comparison and review-based comparison – both of which contribute to the development of a reputation.

Price comparison sites

• These are ubiquitous in car insurance and many other sectors and, along with fixed price legal advice websites, are becoming more popular in the legal services sectors. Law firms are often attracted to these sites by promises of new business but, unless your law firm is of a suitable size, structure and culture, competing on price alone can be a risky option.
• A client’s perceptions of value are much more than just the cost involved and if your workflow is dependent on referrals that could be outlawed or from a source that could become a competitor, it is time to think about reputation management.

Review sites

• When there is a lack of information on which to make an informed decision – particularly for an infrequent and often ‘distress’ purchase such as legal advice – recommendations, reviews and the reach of the internet have been a great help to the consumer.
• Indeed, the Government is encouraging the empowerment of consumers in many service sectors – there are proposals in a forthcoming White Paper on the future of social care proposing for care homes to be reviewed and rated – it would be fair to say that review sites will become an even more prominent feature on the consumer landscape.

The role of feedback differs according to what is being sold

• For a product such as a toy, book or car, there can be clear indications of whether or not the reviewer has been impressed with the product or the service received.
• When it comes to legal services the information imbalance between client and solicitor is often huge and the subject matter highly emotive. The client often has little interest in the process; their focus is on the service and outcome – and that will shape any feedback they may provide.
• However, the implications of a ‘bad’ restaurant experience or waiting longer than expected for a shed to be delivered are less serious than the implications of some incorrect legal advice – real or perceived – and so it is understandable that many law firms remain wary of the subjective nature of reviews.

The effect on each service provider’s reputation is potentially significant but must be put in context

• Consumers are now quite familiar with using review sites to help them decide on a wide range of purchases. But they are also getting wise to the issues encountered by sites such as TripAdvisor where the lack of a verification process has shown some reviews to be fraudulent and/or malicious.
• By their very nature, review sites will attract extremes of opinion but those sites that endeavour to make sure that reviews are genuine, will be the ones whose own reputation will rank highly in the site visitor’s consciousness.
• Comparison site visitors don’t tend to be alarmed by the occasional negative comment (some may even be suspicious if none exist) and generally take a broader view of the range of reviews published.

Taking this on board, some online retailers actively include all positive and negative reviews of their products and services on their own websites. It is worth noting that, under the new ABS rules; those big brands could soon be offering legal advice. Will they offer a ‘warts and all’ availability of client reviews for these services – and will you?

Given that getting client feedback is an SRA requirement for the new OFR, an appreciation of reputation management through reviews is important. The time has come for law firms to ‘think like a retailer’ with regard to their reputation and to consider the information that would help a potential client choose them over another provider.

The Legallybetter perspective

• Legallybetter has been in existence for three years. We are an independent and responsible review site and have always been careful to ensure our service offering is to the benefit of law firms. To date, we haven’t published very negative reviews (though we are currently reviewing this policy), as we want to give law firms the opportunity to rectify any problems they may have had with a client.
• We enable law firms to maximise the value of their reputation through the provision of a new client feedback service that is second to none and help empowered consumers be able to make an informed choice.
• We perceive a difference between the collective reputation of an entire law firm and that of an individual solicitor – they both have huge value and are both inextricably linked but also entirely independent of each other. To that end we offer individual solicitor profiles as well as a listing for the whole law firm including individual branch offices to enhance your local status.

We won’t sell you leads and won’t promise to get your law firm onto page 1 of Google. We provide actual client feedback for your firm to verify and act upon. We welcome a future where we are able to provide client feedback about all legal services providers.

We aim to improve the quality of your customer contact, business partnerships and effectiveness of your website, making it a hub for your communications.  Our e-newsletter creative package offer includes:

• Bespoke design template
• Test emails
• Sending service
• Copywriting assistance
• Additional web content

Special Price £225 per issue (usual price £250)

How we will work with you

• Agree themes, content and timetable for each issue
• Co-ordinate social media channels e.g. Twitter, blog
• Your company to provide email addresses for each issue
• Test e-mails sent prior to e-newsletter campaign
• Report available soon after each campaign has been sent
• Use of measurement tools such as Google Analytics and Google Alerts
• Log kept to show monthly progress – emails opened, click thrus etc

We maximise the value of PR releases, articles and other content and are very happy to work with any existing service providers you may already use.

Here at Fedora we also have great copywriting resources and save our clients time and money by creating timely, relevant online content.

To discuss your requirements please contact Jon Hepburn on 01743 366288.

We have many years collective experience producing copy that will bring a fresh approach to your communications, providing consistent tone of voice to reflect your corporate values. And we’re sure it’ll be more cost-effective and less time-consuming than utilising your own time or in-house resources.

Our copywriting rates start at £125 for half a day. We’ll take a brief from you in person, over the phone or via email. Typical turnaround is 72 hours, but a 24 hour service is available at extra cost.

We offer a rapid response, accuracy and incisiveness to help you reach your customers. Click here for experiences from satisfied clients or call us on 01743 366288 to find out more.

A typical telemarketing/research project conducted by iam teemarketing includes:

• Agreement of achievable KPIs.
• A guaranteed return on investment. (iam ROI currently stands at £4.98 for every £1 invested.)
• Free call recordings as required (typically appointments made or leads).
• Access to whomever is placing calls on your behalf for the entire time they’re representing you.
• Access to the web-based ‘phone line. This means you can hear how you’re being represented in real-time so, together with iam, you can perfect the approach accordingly.
• Free data verification as the project progresses.
• A detailed daily report showing calls placed, decision makers spoken with, appointments set/leads generated (if that’s the brief), literature requests & other positive calls completed.
• A daily update of the spreadsheet used/provided with comprehensive notes and amended data, where relevant.

For further information contact Chris Harding at iam telemarketing on 0333 332 0360.

The world of the web evolves quickly and it is vital to keep your website relevant and interesting in order to keep your profile prominent online. This doesn’t mean a huge investment in continually redesigning your site.

However, it does mean that you need to regularly update your content with material that will actively work for you. The proliferation of sites on WordPress and Droopal platforms – with easy to use content management systems (CMS) – have significantly helped that process.

Fedora can advise you on adding content to your site, whether you do it yourself or would like us to do it for you. Call Jon on 01743 366288 or email jon@fedoraconsultancy.co.uk for prices.

We particularly focus on bringing often dry, technical subject matter to life and ensuring the messages accurately reflect the corporate culture, values and ‘tone of voice’ of our clients.

See below three recent examples of e-newsletters produced for local clients.  They can play a major role in driving traffic to your website, blog or social media channels. Also see our special offer on the Fedora E-newsletter creative package.

Triangle HR Ltd, Shrewsbury, Shropshire

For Justine at Triangle HR we utilised existing corporate identity elements to develop a well received monthly e-newsletter. Triangle HR is a leading Shropshire-based HR consultancy. Fedora looks after all of their online marketing activity. We prepare the news and event content in conjunction with them, add it to the blog on their website, then design and send an e-newsletter on their behalf.

Email Jon Hepburn for examples of e-news prepared for Triangle HR that have achieved consistently high open rates and click-thrus.

TaxAssist Accountants, Shrewsbury, Shropshire

For Nigel at TaxAssist Shrewsbury we’ve developed the layout you see here, compiled the copy and send it out to a local client and contact list. The campaign provides a low cost way of staying in contact with their existing client base. We’ve achieved over 30% open rate and increase in click thru’s to Nigel’s blog.

The Old Rectory Hotel, Wem, N. Shropshire

Lastly there’s an example of a quarterly e-news sent to previous guests on behalf of The Old Rectory Hotel which again has a very positive effect on web traffic and bookings for events and accommodation. ‘Open rates’ and ‘click-thru’s’ have remained consistently high for this ongoing campaign.

This is a service we provide for a number of clients and many have found it to be particularly effective in driving traffic to their websites.

The StartAssist service is a joint initiative set up by Nigel Lomax at TaxAssist Accountants and Janet Dale of It’seeze (a local provider of low cost websites) – and showcases other providers who offer suitable services for new businesses.

Given Fedora’s specialist marketing expertise and our experience with advising smaller businesses, the opportunity to link up to help people with new businesses and start-ups made sense to us. We’ve been delighted to help with the launch and will be helping promote and develop the service for the future.

We’ve provided StartAssist with a great special offer on our e-newsletter creative package for all firms who sign up to the StartAssist deal and will be providing practical marketing advice and articles for the website and blog. We are also looking forward to linking up with other sponsors.

Because there is little government support available, StartAssist will help new businesses in four ways:-

• giving them a presence on the web via their own business page – (see sample page)
• promoting their company through StartAssist via social media networking
• introducing them to local business networks and trusted suppliers – including Fedora.
• giving them access to information and advice from our StartAssist business community

Informal contact with a few solicitors has revealed a perception that OFR is ‘just self-regulation’ there is less chance a law firm will get caught out by the SRA, therefore they will do the bare minimum or even ignore this new requirement for the time being.

Just because client feedback hasn’t been a compliance requirement before, we’d suggest you ignore this aspect of the OFR at your peril, aside from the commercial benefits of happy clients and an enhanced reputation.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss?

The new rules by their very definition are open to interpretation. There is a saying that ‘perception is reality’. The reality here is that no law firm can turn blind eye to the requirement for evidence based outcomes. Below we want to put in the context of compliance with the need to demonstrate a high standard of client care…

It would appear the SRA isn’t being as helpful as it could be. A very informative discussion on the Outcomes-focused Regulation LinkedIn group makes the point that there appears to be a bit of a cop-out in the new regs. The SRA themselves have offered this ‘advice’:

“Solicitors should be careful not to assume, that if a particular requirement in the SCC 2007 does not appear in the new Code, that it is no longer a relevant consideration. The requirement may still be relevant in the case of particular clients and be an important factor in demonstrating compliance with the Principles even if the requirement is not specifically set out “

Source: Brian Rogers FCMI (Chairman of the Regulatory Affairs Committee at Manchester Law Society)

What should be done regarding client feedback?

The specific focus at Legallybetter is on Principle 5 regarding client care and in particular the importance of client feedback to ‘evidenced’ outcomes.

Mandatory Principal 5 states that you must “provide a proper standard of service to your clients” and in order to do this, you must comply with the mandatory Outcomes in Chapter one. You will need to provide evidence to the SRA of the steps your business takes. If you do not have a client feedback system of process then how will you provide this evidence to the SRA?

• The rules do not lay down specific requirements, as the current ‘tick box’ approach may do, but the SRA will expect to see the same level of evidence to show compliance. The difference being that they will expect to see that this is in place for all firms rather than as a response to notification of a visit from the SRA.
• Again, just because client feedback evidence and processes haven’t been needed until now (unless you are a Lexcel Accredited firm which required it under section 7.5 of the standard) doesn’t mean the SRA will be any less rigorous in looking for evidenced outcomes.
• It would seem that the SRA knows what it expect law firms to produce by way of evidence to support outcomes, but it could do more to help in this regard. At Legally Better we offer a service that does precisely that, but let’s continue with the constructive rather than the commercial messages.

Definitive statements are in short supply, leaving it open to interpretation, so here’s our view. As far as we understand Principle 5 states ‘(You must) provide a proper standard of service to your clients’.

• The onus is on the law firm to prove to the SRA under the new reporting procedures that they have systems in place to ensure they provide a proper standard of service to their clients and one that is in their best interests.
• This can only be substantiated by having a defined procedure in place. One which asks the client their experience of the service and legal advice received and a system in place for monitoring this feedback then taking appropriate action.

They might not be going about it in the most helpful manner but maybe the SRA is focused on driving up standards of client care and improving the collective reputation of solicitors. If a law firm shows real commitment (structurally, culturally and commercially) to that principle they should be heading in the right direction with regard to compliance.

I’ll leave the final word on this in two extracts from Alastair Moyes from Market Law near the end of his most recent Law Gazette blog posting ‘Quality, Quantity or both?’

“Given the introduction of outcomes-focused regulation that focuses on client satisfaction, all enquiries need to be handled in a way that maximises the potential of gaining a profitable matter and retaining the future work from that client…. Organising your firm to profitably satisfy the needs of a client is a definition of what marketing means for a solicitors firm. It’s not just good business practice, now a requirement of your firm.”

PS On a more general note we hear that the SRA will be contacting all law firms requesting that they have ready to submit a business plan, a financial plan and a marketing plan in order that the firm can demonstrate their investment and commitment to the new regulation, the realities of that for many law firms would be challenging, to say the least.

CoreLegal have come together with two of the leading speakers in their field to stage a half-day CPD seminar in London on Monday 28th November. The seminar takes as its subject the highly topical question of ‘Outcomes Focused Regulation’ (OFR)

The CoreLegal Seminar, the first in a series of forthcoming events that CoreLegal is planning over the coming months, is entitled ‘Outcomes Focused Regulation – What It Is And How To Achieve It’ and will take place on 28th November at the Hotel Russell on London’s Russell Square.

Expert presenters Paul Bennett and Michaela Hardwick, calling upon a wealth of practical experience together with the highest level of expertise in the fields of consulting, training and performance coaching, will be giving key presentations on the day.

With the introduction of OFR, which has come to be viewed as a ‘thorn in the side’ for many solicitors, the old detailed and prescriptive rulebook has been replaced with a targeted, risk-based approach that shines the spotlight very markedly on client service standards.

The Seminar will seek to explore this brave new world, explain the new SRA regulations and offer practical advice on how law firms and solicitors can deal with these changes.

The CoreLegal Seminar is open to all law firms and solicitors and will offer guidance on how to comply with OFR, help on how to negotiate change from being reactive to being pro-active and give advice on specific OFR issues.

The event also provides an excellent opportunity to network following the presentations.

CoreLegal CPD Seminar

• Monday 28th November 2011
• Hotel Russell, 1-8 Russell Square London WC1B 5BE
• 2-5pm (networking and complimentary drinks 5-6pm)
• Cost £40 – early bird rate (pre 8th November) £35

For more details and to book a place please visit:

http://www.outcomesfocusedregulations.eventbrite.com