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In recent years, the conversation around data privacy, specifically as it relates to website usage, has become a hot topic. As consumers become more sophisticated and aware of how their data is being used, concern over what information is shared and how it happens, has become top of mind in the public consciousness.
While the specifics of website privacy and analytics may not seem like a huge concern for a law firm’s legal website, that could not be further from the truth. In fact, potential clients can and do notice how your firm approaches website privacy and analytics, from the moment they land on your site. This means that how you handle website privacy is more important than you may think, especially when it comes to building and maintaining user trust. Here are five points that all law firms should know:
Setting Early Expectations Around Tracking is Key
One of the keys to building trust with potential clients is setting proper expectations about how your website will track their data. These days, the back end of your website can be customized to give site visitors the choice of opting into all, some or no data tracking. This is a fairly straightforward pop-up that can greet potential clients as soon as they arrive on your site–a useful way to set expectations, gain consent and establish yourself as someone who is willing to put your clients’ preferences at the center of your work.
Doing so gives potential clients peace of mind that you care about their privacy–even before they establish a working relationship with your firm. This is an element of your approach that you can reinforce throughout your professional interactions with your clients. However, setting the tone the first time someone arrives on your firm’s site will make a difference in how they perceive you.
Proper Use of Analytics Tools and Compliance Considerations Can Move the Needle
As a website administrator, you have countless analytical tools at your fingertips. These tools allow you to better understand who is visiting your site and where they’re coming from, as well as what might boost website traffic in the future. Using these tools, while remaining in compliance with all data privacy laws, allows you to better understand the role that your website is playing in the bigger picture of your firm.
While it may seem overwhelming at first to sift through the data, ignoring these tools means missing out on information that can move the needle for your practice, without coming across in a way that feels like spam. As you start getting familiar with what each data point means–and how it translates in real time to your work–you’ll have a better sense of not only what is working or needs to be improved, but exactly what you can do to resolve it, without breaking a sweat or resorting to tactics that ultimately decrease client trust.
Trust Signals Aren’t Just for Optics
If you’ve spent any time on the internet, you’ve likely seen disclaimer pop-ups, consent banners, and SSL encryption notices. These small but mighty signals are one of the fastest ways to build trust with potential clients, as they indicate that you and your firm care about protecting data from day one. And they aren’t just for optics, either. By ensuring that your website has SSL encryption, for example, you are taking a clear and intentional step to ensure that your clients feel safe when they share data on your site.
The same goes for disclaimers and consent banners–each of these create an actual ripple to ensure that the user experience is exactly what the potential client has requested. Given the personal nature of what your clients are likely sharing with you when they reach out, this not only creates peace of mind, but, in the long-run, is great for cultivating rapport, which can only naturally boost your business.
Ethical Marketing Will Always Win Over Aggressive Tracking
It would be easy to think that aggressively tracking potential clients through website data and analytics is a guaranteed way to ensure that they ultimately choose your firm. But often, the truth is the complete opposite. Potential clients often find it somewhat uncomfortable when they can tell that your firm has been aggressively vying for their attention as they browse the web. Yes–they can tell!
The better approach is ethical marketing, which respects the potential client’s boundaries, and allows them to have the most positive possible experience with your website and your firm. Ethical marketing means that you steer clear of tactics that seem pushy or overwhelming, and instead create a seamless, easy-to-navigate user experience on your site so that the potential client wants to keep coming back.
Prioritizing Client Privacy Does Not Inhibit Conversions
One of the biggest misconceptions about honoring client data privacy is that doing so will limit your firm’s ability to convert potential clients into actual, paying clients. The truth is that when you respect a potential client’s data privacy preferences, you build a foundation of trust that actually encourages them to work with you, if and when the timing is right.
It may seem counter-intuitive, but sometimes less is more. Especially in a world where targeted marketing can feel like Big Brother is watching, your ability to respect a client’s boundaries and allow them to feel seen–not stalked–as they move through the digital world will make a difference in the long-term.
Trust Has Become the Foundational Performance Metric
Nowadays, trust isn’t just a quality you think about throwing in at the end of your work, it can and should be a cornerstone of your website–and your practice–from day one. With so many law firms to choose from, potential clients aren’t just going with the firm that has the most accolades, they’re going with the one that conveys a real sense of trust and demonstrates their commitment to that value with the way they have organized their site.
So if your firm is looking to secure more clients in the current climate, establishing yourself as a firm that builds trust by prioritizing client privacy is an excellent place to start.
