To date, we have talked about the fact that most prospects
do not become clients of a law firm through a single exposure to the firm’s
marketing or business development efforts. More often than not, such prospects
will have been exposed to a multiplicity of “touchpoints,” that may include the
firm’s web site, advertising, referrals, meeting firm attorneys, etc. We have discussed
how each touchpoint merits some credit for its role in garnering that new
client. But is it reasonable to assume that each touchpoint deserves equal credit? Is an exposure to an ad
equal in value to meeting a friend who highly recommends a particular attorney.
We recently conducted a pilot research study in which we
asked participants to rate the degree of influence different touchpoints had
had in their decision to contract with a law practice. On a scale of 1 to 5
(with 5 being the highest), a friend’s referral averaged a score of 4.47 in contrast
to seeing an advertisement for the firm which averaged a 1.86. Does this suggest
one shouldn’t advertising or that one should rely solely on word-of-mouth for
business generation? Hardly. After all, an ad will reach many, many
more potential clients than could any attorney or group of attorneys. But that being said, it does suggest
that when a new client is obtained, credit must be allocated proportionately to
each of the contributing touchpoints.
For most return-on-investment models, this matters little
because they seldom are looking at marketing holistically, focusing instead on
how each initiative (i.e., the ad, networking, etc.) performed individually,
rather than how they performed in tandem. A History
of Client Origin (of which the past few weeks’ blog posts have been all
about) allows legal marketers the opportunity to ascertain exactly how they are
generating new business, what activities are generating it, and to what degree.
All of this, of course, leads to next week’s post in which
we will discuss the implications of the HCO methodology and what it means for
law firms in determining the best marketing and business development strategies
and tactics to pursue.
Next Week: The History
of Client Origin Methodology – Implications for Legal Marketers