If you were to take a poll of your past and current clients to determine how they first learned about your law firm, or when they decided to call for a consultation, we’re confident you’d come back with a wide array of responses.
Depending on the current marketing strategies for your law firm, you might have folks who converted into leads after seeing a billboard, hearing a radio ad, listening to a friend, or reading one of your posts online. Many, in fact, needed a combination of interactions with your brand name before they were ready to convert.
The point is, they converted into leads or clients, which is a good thing. But how do you know why they became leads? That’s the kind of question you want to know the answer to so that you can refine and optimize your marketing strategy.
When it comes to law firms, who often see leads come through via phone calls, call tracking can be the missing link that gives you all the data you need to make better decisions when marketing your brand.
Take, for example, a client who calls a specific phone number displayed on an ad on a Google search page:
If the law firm in that ad had implemented call tracking, they’d know that their lead came directly from this ad and could then choose whether the ad is attracting the type of prospects it’s intended to attract.
Here’s how call tracking makes it happen.
The power of dynamic phone numbers when marketing your law firm
Dynamic phone numbers are when you display different phone numbers on each of your online spaces (ads, web pages, social media) that all funnel to the same place (your firm’s office). Differentiating your phone numbers across the web makes it pain-free and simple to know which online (or even offline space) your leads came from.
Take, for example, the image below from a law firm in St. Louis:
On this page, focused on child custody cases, visitors can call (314) 684-8364. That’s great, except, it’s the same exact number as what’s found on their Workers’ Compensation page:
In the end, a lead is a lead, but if this firm had implemented dynamic call tracking, then they’d know exactly which pages garnered the most leads and, perhaps, would use that information to develop aggressive (and rewarding) paid ads built around those landing pages. If for example, the firm receives a lot of calls from the number displayed on their Workers’ Comp page, then they know there’s a need and demand for that at the moment and they should strike while the iron is hot (by crafting a few keyword-focused ads).
On top of that, keyword-level tracking lets you know which keywords were used during a search to land in your pages. For example, if a prospect used a term like “divorce lawyer near me” they’d see one phone number on your landing page or ad, while folks who used a key phrase like “divorce attorneys in St. Louis” would see another phone number.
That level of control gives you impressive data to refine your SEO keyword strategies, as well as your future paid advertising campaigns.
Ready to take this call-tracking capability to the next level? You can also make it possible that when your prospects call your office, your staff will see exactly which keywords were used to lead to that call. This can help them determine how best to approach that call to deliver an unmatched user experience.
Get your budget back on track with call tracking
Law firms are among the biggest spenders when it comes to online advertising. You have to be: the competition out there is fierce.
Seeing as phone calls are typically the best indicator of whether a prospect has become a lead, you really want to be able to measure as much data as you can from these calls. With call tracking in place, you’ll be able to discover which online channels and pages are driving the most traffic, and which ones are falling short of expectations.
With that information you can then make the necessary changes: Do you need to change the look of a landing page? The content? Is the entire campaign built on a key phrase that isn’t delivering?
This works for offline marketing campaigns as well. Let’s say you have an ad displayed at bus terminals, as well as a unique (dynamic) phone number on these ads. You discover that most of the leads calling your office aren’t dialing that dynamic number. You might then consider scaling back that campaign and invest your dollars elsewhere.
The same can be said for those pages and channels that are exceeding expectations.
Let’s use this as an example: your data shows that the phrase “top criminal defense attorney near me” leads to an incredible amount of calls to your office.
Therefore, if keywords about location or type of service are leading to more conversions, you know that you should guide your legal paid search strategy in that direction and create more content around that topic for a law firm SEO strategy. Maybe you’ll create a video, publish a few blogs and boost your ad spend in that direction – why not? You know you’ll likely see a good return on your investment.
Closing arguments
Call tracking comes across as a pretty complex and robust tool – and it is, but that doesn’t mean it’s not easy to implement nor affordable for most law firms. By making call tracking a part of your overall strategy, you’ll have a better understanding of your prospects, which will then give you the insight you need to build the best possible digital marketing campaigns moving forward.