The Practical Application of “The History of Client Origin.”

Since the beginning of the year, we have focused on a new, and we believe, more accurate way of assessing the effects of disparate marketing vehicles and strategic approaches. By tracing the origin of its clients, today’s law firm can harness a wealth of information on the effectiveness of each and all of its marketing initiatives. By accessing this data, it can thus make informed decisions as to the short and long- term benefits future marketing endeavors may or may not provide. Application of this model can also help marketing decision makers determine which practice areas to emphasize in promotional efforts and which attorneys to assign the task of business generation. Tracking this history allows firm decision makers to compare non-linear marketing activities (e.g., image advertising, brochures, web sites) with more direct and more easily measurable activities. Finally, this methodology takes into account the powerful role referrals have in the overall health of a law firm and thereby also provides a gauge as to the perceived quality of the firm itself.

Nevertheless, to conduct such an analysis by hand is neither practical nor realistic. Consider for example the law practice that has been in business for over a century, that has served thousands of clients, hundreds of which have come through referrals and all of which have helped to build the firm to its current state. The pathways and permutations thereof could well venture into the millions -- not the kind of analysis of which even the most ambitious of marketing decision makers would most likely be willing to undertake.

The problem of practicality is easily addressed however, through technology that can track the path by which every client came to the firm and thus the relative ROI and Aggregate ROI for any marketing activity over any period of time. Hence, the problem is not with having the capability of obtaining the output for such analyses, but with obtaining the proper input.

Etiometrix, LLC just announced the launch of RainGauge, the first application that utilizes the History of Client Origin methodology to track law firm marketing ROI. (Full disclosure:  We have been working with the technical software people to develop this application.) It limits the intake process to a single question, asking new clients to select from a list of activities by which they have read, seen, heard or learned about the firm. It even captures referrals. Most important, the program provides legal marketers with the opportunity to view their firm’s marketing and business development initiatives from the most detailed to the most holistic perspective possible.

If you would like more information on the RainGauge application, visit www.etiometrix.com or call 856-810-2127.

And we certainly welcome your comments, questions and general feedback on this recent series of posts regarding the proprietary methodology History of Client Origin.