How Legaltech Can Boost Client Satisfaction & Retention

5 min read

Here’s how your law firm can leverage legal technology to make clients happier and keep them around longer.

The legal industry is becoming more competitive all the time. New firms arise, existing firms expand into new areas of practice, and emerging legal startups disrupt the legal space with their innovations. Whether you serve consumers or businesses, your current and prospective clients have more legal options than ever before – even, in some cases, self-serve options. That’s why keeping your clients happy has never been more important. It’s critical for law firms in every area of practice to prioritize client satisfaction and retention in order to maintain profitability.

Thankfully, emerging technologies are making this task easier. There are a variety of legaltech solutions on the market that are enabling firms to keep clients happier for longer and prevent client poaching. Forward-thinking firms are already adopting these tools to improve the client experience, deliver more value, and protect their revenue. Here’s what you should know about leveraging legal technology to improve client satisfaction and increase client retention rates.

Better Organization Means Fewer Errors

No matter what area of law you practice, chances are you’re handling a great number of matters at the same time – including all of the assorted documents and emails that go with those matters. If you’re keeping track of your matters manually, whether via email or with paper files, there’s a very good chance that you could end up missing important details or making a mistake.

Moreover, the chance of a mistake increases as the number of people touching a file grows. If you’re using a mix of digital and physical media to manage your matters, that complicates things even further – increasing the risk of a critical error. Clients don’t appreciate mistakes, no matter the size. Nor do they appreciate the added time it takes to rectify a mistake.

Thankfully, modern legaltech solutions are making it possible to stay organized across all of your open matters and tasks. Emerging software like records management & document automation apps come with a variety of robust features designed to better organize documents, automatically flag missing or incorrect information, and give you a broader view of your work. When your data is organized in a sensible and searchable way, it’s much easier to maintain accuracy and avoid mistakes.

Efficiency Gains Enable Responsiveness

Clients’ needs have changed in recent years. While clients in the past were simply happy to have legal assistance, modern clients now require and expect a higher-touch type of service – one marked by strong communication enabled by technology. Clients expect their lawyers to be responsive to communications. In fact, one survey by Thomson Reuters found that 57% of consumers took action on their legal needs within one week. In an age where information is available instantly via the Internet, and it’s possible to instantly communicate with anyone via email or text message, legal clients have come to expect instant responses.

For most lawyers and paralegals, instant responses to client inquiries is unfeasible. But emerging technology is making it easier to get back to clients quickly and answer their queries accurately.

For instance, legal AI chatbots are capable of acting as 24/7 receptionists, directing current and potential clients to important information in seconds rather than forcing clients to wait hours or days to talk to a lawyer. Furthermore, emerging technologies like automated document drafting solutions are saving lawyers and paralegals time – time that could instead be used to respond to client inquiries and update clients on their matters. And the better you keep in touch with clients, the happier they’ll be.

Superior Communication Keeps Clients Informed

While manually responding to client inquiries and sending manual updates is a great way to maintain a personal touch, there’s an even more efficient way to keep your clients up-to-date regarding their matters.

Legal case management software enables you to automate emails to clients based on where their matter is in the pipeline. As a result, you can maintain strong communication with your clients without having to call or email them every week. By integrating your case management software with a client portal, your clients can instantly view their matters and documents at any time of the day or night. This means your clients can maintain visibility on their matters without the need to call or email you, freeing you up to do what you do best – complete legal work.

Client satisfaction and retention is an important priority for law firms of all sizes. Without clients, you have no revenue. Without revenue, your firm fails. Emerging tech solutions are making it easier for lawyers and paralegals to stay organized, eliminate mistakes, be more responsive to client inquiries, and give clients better insights into the statuses of their matters. By keeping your clients informed and responding to their inquiries quickly, you can maintain clients’ confidence in your firm and boost your client satisfaction and retention rates.

Are you ready to discover how Appara’s document automation, workflow automation, and entity management technology can help you increase client satisfaction and retention? Book a demo to unlock your free trial today.