Law Technology Today From the ABA Legal Technology Resource Center
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Too many law firms are operating without the critical software tools for legal lead intake and law firm management needed to keep up in today’s market. Worse yet, many who do are still operating within a patchwork of software platforms that aren’t talking to one another. Integrating your systems to support a legal lead’s journey from intake all the way through their case is the key to success.
We understand why people hold back on these solutions. In the past, it was much more complicated and overwhelming to set these systems up. Even now, attorneys will hear technical terms like URL post, JSON post, XML, ping post, OAuth, and webhooks and fall back on what’s worked in the past out of sheer exhaustion.
But the truth is, 3rd party integrations between platforms are easier than ever, and the stakes for doing so have never been higher. Automating your legal lead’s experience through an integrated software platform is more important than ever, and this was never clearer than during the past year.
Why Integrated Legal Software Platforms Were Key in 2020
At 4LegalLeads, have a privileged viewpoint thanks to our daily conversations with attorneys across the country, and here’s what we saw in 2020.
- Law firms whose software platforms were integrated online were able to make smooth transitions to remote work.
- But more importantly, these law firms were ready to scale because they had the tools in place to process online leads.
- They used online legal lead generation to zip past their competition because they had the systems in place to thrive in an online environment.
The pandemic forced the issue that many small to mid-sized law firms (and even some very big ones) had been trying to ignore or delay. Those who master the art of online lead generation will win the day.
Why Integrated Legal Software Platforms will ALWAYS be key moving forward.
There are three major problems that occur without an integrated system for legal lead intake and law practice management.
- Leads will get lost. Your law firm will be unable to respond fast enough to its leads, and at a certain volume, leads will start to fall through the cracks in your administrative system.
- Time will get wasted. There is too much efficiency to be gained by using integrated software systems to avoid using them. There are so many tasks you can automate, and there’s so much paperwork that can be conveniently moved online.
- Opportunities will be lost for leads and clients to feel cared for. As much as staff efficiency is helpful to the bottom line, nothing will make you more money than a well-cared-for client. The tasks you can automate are all about making sure clients are in good hands, and you can even add nice personal touches and thoughtful messages along the journey that are too easy to skip in the middle of a busy day. Ultimately, there’s nothing better for your office than referrals, and this process is a major part of how you win them.
What Legal Software Platforms Need to Be Integrated?
The short answer is: everything. Whatever tools you are using, there’s one simple goal here: How do you create the best possible experience for leads and clients? That experience depends on a smooth transfer of information between systems like these.
- Law Firm CRM (Customer Relationship Management) – This is critical for winning confidence early on and retaining it. You’ll be able to onboard clients faster, help them feel cared for, and make every step easier with tools like e-documents and online scheduling tools.
- Law Practice Management Software (LPMS) – Here you gain the comprehensive case management tools, document management, and billing solutions to craft a smooth journey for clients (and your staff!).
- Client Intake Service Software – Although many CRM systems have tools for intake, there are also platforms devoted to this. Many of these systems add robust tools for attributing leads to your various marketing channels so you can get detailed analytics on your marketing ROI.
- Call Center Software – Call center management is its own beast, and even if you only have 2-3 representatives working together, it can be a huge asset. A good call center system keeps leads from falling through the cracks. It also allows you to review recorded calls, and it empowers remote work when needed.
- Lead Distribution Systems – For law firms with multiple locations, it becomes necessary to have a 3rd party, intermediary system for funneling leads to the appropriate office.
All of these systems need to work seamlessly to pass information to one another. And where there used to be a lot of well-earned fear and trepidation about whether a system you invested in would work with others down the road, integrations have gotten much easier. Between these three options, nearly every system can be connected.
- Pre-Existing Integrations – Legal software platforms are constantly collaborating to create pre-built integrations.
- Zapier – If you somehow haven’t encountered this tool yet, Zapier is a service that creates intermediary connections between a near limitless combination of online software systems.
- Proprietary Software Integrations – For law firms who have created their own solutions, all that’s needed these days is an open endpoint for systems to connect.
And Don’t Forget One of the Most Important Legal Software Integrations
You should search for legal lead providers who can integrate their lead delivery systems with your CRM or lead intake systems. There’s one, overarching reason for this:
Speed.
A fast response is everything when responding to legal leads. Your leads need to feed directly into your software platform so that it can make automated responses and ping your representatives to reach out right away.
We provide attorneys with all of the tools they need to organize their leads within our system, and they receive all kinds of text and email notifications about new leads arriving. However, if you’re using your own system, you need legal leads to feed directly into it.
Minutes, even seconds, can make the difference between connecting with a lead or losing it. There are just too many options online for potential clients. They reach out to you in their moment of need, and they get antsy and move on quickly to new options.
The Benefits of Integrating Legal Software Solutions Add Up Quickly
It’s easy to see in the breakdown of software solutions above how integrating your legal software platforms to create a smooth lead/client journey can pay off. Take a look at the themes here all in one place and see how the impact adds up with an automated, integrated system.
- Better Intake for Leads = better ROI on your marketing and more growth for your firm.
- Tools for Attribution = your ability to spend your marketing funds on the channels that are truly producing results.
- Remarketing = your ability to deploy retargeted ads for the leads who have entered your CRM or lead intake system. Your results and ROI on retargeted ads will greatly increase over the initial ads.
- Organization and Efficiency = confidence and trust from your clients which leads to future referrals and lower operational expenses.
- Consistent Follow-Up = a sense of momentum and progress for clients (and your staff!)
Software Integrations are Easier than Ever!
It’s actually really easy to integrate most 3rd party providers. The same is true of integrating the delivery of your real-time legal leads. We usually just need your endpoint URL, any security tokens or identifiers unique to your account, and the fieldnames. (For example, we need to know how you label your fields like “Type of Legal Problem” in your system.)
There are way too many systems to list that we have connected with on behalf of our law firm clients, but a few include: CLIO GROW, Zapier Webhooks, Salesforce, Hubspot, Lawruler, Alert Communications, Captorra, Legal Docket, Lead Prosper, Legal Soft, Lawcus, Boberdoo, Leadspedia, and many more.
The barriers and complexity that used to stand in the way of having a well-integrated legal software system have really been cleared away. Reach out to support@4LegalLeads.com today if you want to get started on integrating your leads with your other systems. We can usually integrate within a week. Some systems like CLIO Grow, Zapier, and others and be done even faster within 24 hours.
It only takes a few moments to visit 4LegalLeads.com/lawyers and create your account, or you can speak to our team directly at (866) 473-0005. After you create your account, our support team (support@4legalleads.com) will customize and optimize it for you.
