Since Rand did such a nice job articulating the differences between interruption and inbound marketing, I thought it worth applying these concepts to some ways legal services consumers use the internet to when they think they need a lawyer.

Here's a recent television commercial I saw here in Chicago:

So that's there's no confusion, I don't know this attorney. I don't know what the cost of this campaign was. And I have no idea what kind of return it generated.

However, I do know that when their potential clients think they might be in need of a lawyer, they might do this:

And they might see this:

And some folks might not know whether they even need a lawyer yet. So they might ask a question like this:

And some of those consumers may have been referred by friends. So those folks might do this:

And they might see this:

And this:

And they'll eventually find this:

And they may even get to this:

Whether they're directly searching for a lawyer, trying to get answers about their legal issues, or vetting a referral that they received from a friend or family member, the way legal services consumers find information about their legal issues has been forever changed by the internet.

I don't know if interruption marketing will ever completely die. However, I am pretty confident that providing your potential clients with content that demonstrates your knowledge, skill, and experience, when they are looking for it is much more likely to motivate them to contact and hire you than when you interrupt their favorite television show or sports game.

And the internet provides a variety of ways for you to do that. And most of these are much less expensive than their interruption counterparts.

He was worried that his reviews had been removed because of a violation or error he was not aware of.  He reached out to see what we thought had happened and what steps we could take to rectify the problem.

I began to do some research and realized that our client was far from the only one experiencing this.  In fact, the change in review counts was an intentional move by Google.  

Google recently revamped the look and layout of their Places pages.  Most of the changes were aesthetic in nature including a cleaner overall look and more prominent "call to action" buttons.  However, one significant change was that Google is no longer showing reviews from 3rd party review sites such as Yelp and Citysearch nor is it counting them in the total number of reviews it shows for each place.  Instead, Google is showing the 3rd party review counts at the bottom of the page with a link to the reviews.

As a result, many businesses saw their total review counts go down.  One example from this Techcrunch article points out:

For instance, the Google Places page for Paxti's Chicago Pizza in San Francisco went from 1,110 reviews to 171 reviews after the non-Google reviews were stripped out.

Why The Change?

So now that we know the change wasn't due to a violation of guidelines or penalty of some sort you may be curious as to why Google made this switch.

One theory is that Google now has enough reviews of its own so that it no longer needs to use 3rd party reviews.  However, another theory is that Google is making adjustments after the launch of the FTC antitrust investigation.  According to the article:

The people familiar with the matter said issues in the FTC probe are expected to include whether Google searches unfairly steer users to the company's own growing network of services at the expense of rival providers.

Techcrunch explains the investigation's connection to Google's Places pages in more detail:

The issue appears to be that Google is using its market power in search to push consumers to its own services. Perhaps the most egregious example of this has been with Google Places, which comes up at the top of search results for pretty much every local search, whether or not it is the best result. The FTC, no doubt, will be asking Yelp about this, which is constantly having run-ins with Google Places. Expedia, TripAdvisor, and Microsoft have also complained about lost clicks.

It seems that Google is looking to ease concerns that it is using 3rd party reviews to bolster their own local places properties. 

Like other small businesses, law firms can benefit greatly from both client, as well as, professional reviews online. In fact, as you can see from this short youtube search story, review sites are gaining much greater visibility in search engine results pages:

However, there are several considerations regarding online client reviews that are unique to legal professionals. Here are some things to think about your online client reviews.

Before we get into the specific how's and what's of online client reviews, it's worth saying a quick word about getting client reviews in a more general sense. And that discussion must begin with providing excellent client service and developing a strong professional relationship. If you can't provide great service to your clients, you may not want them reviewing you at all.

So, let's assume that you have provided excellent service and you believe that you have a satisfied client that might be willing to provide you with a positive testimonial. The next question is what do your state bar's ethics rules say about client testimonials?

Client Reviews & Ethics

The ABA's Model Rules of Professional Conduct - Information About Legal Services Rule 7.1 Communications Concerning A Lawyer's Services states:

A lawyer shall not make a false or misleading communication about the lawyer or the lawyer's services. A communication is false or misleading if it contains a material misrepresentation of fact or law, or omits a fact necessary to make the statement considered as a whole not materially misleading.

It goes without saying that testimonials that make false or misleading communications about a lawyer's services should not be used nor encouraged. In fact, some may make the argument that a lawyer has an obligation to use reasonable means remove false or misleading testimonials or reviews of which they become aware (while a noble principle, it seems unfair to require lawyers to scour the web for false testimonials).

Additionally, client testimonials may, in some instances, fall under the purview of Rule 7.2 Advertising, which states:

(a) Subject to the requirements of Rules 7.1 and 7.3, a lawyer may advertise services through written, recorded or electronic communication, including public media.

(b) A lawyer shall not give anything of value to a person for recommending the lawyer's services except that a lawyer may

(1) pay the reasonable costs of advertisements or communications permitted by this Rule;

(2) pay the usual charges of a legal service plan or a not-for-profit or qualified lawyer referral service. A qualified lawyer referral service is a lawyer referral service that has been approved by an appropriate regulatory authority;

(3) pay for a law practice in accordance with Rule 1.17; and

(4) refer clients to another lawyer or a nonlawyer professional pursuant to an agreement not otherwise prohibited under these Rules that provides for the other person to refer clients or customers to the lawyer, if

(i) the reciprocal referral agreement is not exclusive, and

(ii) the client is informed of the existence and nature of the agreement.

(c) Any communication made pursuant to this rule shall include the name and office address of at least one lawyer or law firm responsible for its content.

While there are many client testimonial instances in which Rule 7.2 is not triggered, it's important for legal professionals to be aware of how the rules of their state may regulate their use.

Collecting Client Reviews

Once the ethics issues have been addressed, the next step is to develop a system by which to collect the review. I have seen many different methods of client review collection, some good, others largely ineffective.

I was once told that, "you don't get anything in this world unless you ask". While I'm not sure that this is always true, it certainly seems applicable to obtaining client reviews.

Sure, there are those clients that are extremely eager to sing your praises. However, more times than not, you will probably need to initiate the discussion of whether or not the client is willing to provide a positive testimonial.

Now that you have a client that is ready and willing to provide a testimonial, you have to decide how best to collect it. In my opinion, one of the best ways to collect a client testimonial is through an exit interview.

Effective exit interviews or surveys should feel less like testimonial collection and more like an experience survey. You may want to consider scanning various online review sites for questions and rating systems that you can incorporate into your exit interview process.

If you have a client who is willing to provide a testimonial and is fairly savvy with computers and the Internet, in addition to documenting the review for the file, you may also consider providing access to online review sites right at your office. You may be surprised how many clients will leave reviews right there on the spot. Then again, you may not.

Many clients won't feel comfortable with you standing over your shoulder while they write something about you online. That is why assigning exit interviews to a secretary or paralegal might make the most sense. Alternatively, you could have the client simply fill-out an exit interview form, take a form with them, or provide a testimonial over the phone.

Getting Your Client Reviews Online

Now that you have collected the interview, it's time to decide how and where to use it. If it complies with your state's ethics rules, you might want to consider syndicating the review online. Obviously, you will want to make sure you have permission first. Next, the question becomes, where do you want your clients to provide online reviews?

The first place you will want to consider are local search data providers. These sites are beneficial due to their own online visibility, as well as, their impact on local search visibility. In addition to the more general local search data providers, you should also consider legal specific review websites and data providers.

Here are just a couple to consider:

Martindale-Hubbell Client Review:

Avvo:

While there are several other lawyer review sites to consider, these two are especially important in terms of increasing your firm's Google Places visibility:

As you can see, Google is currently pulling data into Google Places listings from Avvo and Lawyers.com. This data plays a role in your firm's local prominence.

When it comes to increasing your reputation and visibility online, there is no question that the importance of online client reviews will greatly increase in 2011. As social signals continue to merge with seo factors, don't be surprised to see tweets, likes, and status updates playing a larger role in your visibility too.

According to the firm, the results from the local campaign hadn't been very impressive.  Since the firm's contract with the local search agency was expiring at the end of the year, we advised them to finish out the term and then we would take over the local optimization.  However, when Google made a change towards the end of October to how they displayed local search results, the importance of the firm's Google Places listing took on a more prominent role.  We advised the firm to let us take control of the local campaign in November and we would perform the additional work as a component of our service.

This is when the trouble began.

Needless to say, the firm now has a mess on their hands.  While there are outlets they can pursue to help resolve the issue, it's an annoying situation to have to deal with.

What Steps Can You Take To Protect Yourself?

As always, you should perform due diligence before you hire a service to perform marketing on your behalf.  Speak to references.  Ask more in depth questions than did you get higher rankings.  Ask about the customer service and how the agency is to deal with.  Do they respond quickly?  Are they responsive when asked to do something?

In addition, make sure accounts are being setup under your email and logins or that you are supplied with the login information right upfront.  In the case of Google Places accounts, once you give up the pin number, the agency will be able to connect your Google Places account with any account of their choosing.  This needs to be an account you own or at the very least an account you have access to.  

Photo by Paul Bence

How do you gather client testimonials? Ideally, you can simply accept a testimonial offered by one of your firm’s satisfied clients. What could be more convincing than a testimonial from a client who felt so good about their experience that they volunteered to endorse your firm?

 

However, bear in mind that many people do not feel they are good writers. Additionally, they may be very busy. This could lead to delays in preparing the testimonial. Take the initiative by writing their comments and asking them to edit what you have written. Most will tell you that your comments are accurate and will give you permission to use the testimonial.

You can also make collecting testimonials a routine part of your client relations. For instance, at the end of the representation, you can ask the client to complete a survey that asks questions such as, “Was our firm responsive to your questions and concerns? Were our attorneys and staff friendly and courteous?” You can also directly ask the client in the survey if he or she would be interested in providing a testimonial and if they approve of your firm’s use of the comments in a testimonial.

You will find that most clients will be fine with your use of it. Another method is to visit the client and write the testimonial with them or, even better, take a pocket video camera or videographer with you and get a video testimonial on the spot.

Making testimonials a part of your routine client relations process is essential. I also recommend getting a written version of the testimonial that includes a short testimonial statement, as well as, a star-rating. Many online rating sites will ask users to include a star-rating. Getting these star ratings from clients makes those testimonials effective online. The next step is to actually use the testimonial on one of the higher visibility rating sites.

It's important to keep in mind that posting of client and peer testimonials may be subject to regulation by your state bar. It's essential that you check with your state bar to make sure you are in compliance with your state's rules of professional conduct.

Be sure to avoid posting testimonials that are false, misleading, or artificial. Many seo companies may try to implement artificial ratings, reviews, or testimonials on your behalf. These spam reviews are not only a negative reflection of your professional reputation online, they may subject you to a disciplinary proceeding with your state bar.

At the risk of stating the obvious, the Internet is a big place. There may be literally thousands of business directories available for you to list your firm. However, like websites, the quality of these directories varies greatly. Which begs the question, where should I acquire citations?

Luckily, the local experts at GetListed.org have provided a pretty good starting point. I encourage you to look up your website and claim your profiles. Once you have done the basics, check out these additional opportunities to enhance your local listings.

Finally, if you need help, don't have time, or would like to know about additional opportunities to increase your firm's local search engine visibility, let us show you how we can help.