Clients are used to logging into a portal for their bank account, doctor's office, investments, or any number of services. Why shouldn't they have a portal for their law firm? Adopting a client portal gives law firms the option to provide a one-stop-shop for their client's needs. Successfully adopting it can be a challenge, but doing so greatly increases client satisfaction. The following blog details how firms can provide their clients with an avenue of direct involvement with their legal matters, ensuring fewer phone calls, questions, emails, and admin requests.
Before searching for a client portal software, firm's must consider the needs of their clients. Ask questions like:
What functionalities does the client need? What type of questions does the firm receive on a fairly regular basis?
What are the top pain points for clients?
Does each client have a different comfort level with technology and access?
These guiding questions help direct the firm when looking at available options. It will also help gauge the needs and wants of the firm's clients, providing guidance towards choosing the client portal that elevates their satisfaction the most. While this is a start, be sure to be open to other benefits that the current client base may or may even be aware of.
The best client portal option maximizes the benefits for clients and the firm. Compare the client functionality with the functionalities it provides the firm. Here are few features that client portals can offer:
Summary Page: Shows upcoming appointments, tasks, chat messages, intake forms, invoices and easy access to each aspect of their matter
Full Matter Information: Allows clients to view their legal matters, create notes, add documents, view assigned tasks, fill and submit intake forms, view upcoming appointments, and pay invoices.
Calendar Page: Clients can see all appointments where they are involved in one quick view
Tasks Page: View their assigned tasks in real time.
Matter Requests: Lets clients request a new legal matter right through the portal.
Invoice Payments: Gives clients immediate access to securely view and pay their invoices through the law firms integrated online payment provider. Some programs, like SimpleLaw, provide clients with the ability to create a custom link if their firm doesn't use one of the pre-entered options.
Ease of access: Providing clients with a simple avenue to use these features.
The client portal reduces the demands on the firm and gives clients the option to be as involved with their legal matter as they want. For most clients, legal issues are the exception, not the norm. Giving them a client portal gives them 24/7 access to their matter so they wonder less. The more features provided by a client portal, the more likely clients will be satisfied. Satisfaction often leads to retention, meaning the determining the best client portal comes down to determining which one has the highest chances of elevating client retention.
No matter how powerful the software is, its' adoption will be failure if no one supports it. This is especially true for legal programs designed to help both the firm and the clientele. Here are a few steps to follow in order to secure those key buy-ins:
Involve clients and employees early: Engage key staff members—attorneys, paralegals, admins— in demos and discussions. Let them ask questions and raise concerns.
Highlight benefits to everyone: Show clients how they'll benefit from adopting this software. Then explain how the clients benefiting will in turn help support their legal matter.
Address the anxieties regarding change: People often fear adopting new technologies will create confusion and disruptions. Explain to employees and clients how the switch to a simplified, accessible portal that allows clients to take a more involved role in their legal matters will save the firm time and increase the odds of client retention in the long term.
Nominate a project lead: Choose someone inside the firm to lead the adoption efforts, preferably someone who is familiar with the technology and can rally both employees and clients behind their efforts.
By ensuring early support from key players in the law firm, the odds of successfully adopting a client portal program will greatly increase.
Having chosen the best client portal and gotten key buy-ins, the next step is to create a system adoption that will guarantee success.
A good implementation plan should include:
Quickly and efficiently embedding the use of the portal into the daily operations of the law firm and introducing it to clients will maximize the chances of successful adoption.
Ensuring the successful adoption of a client portal means incorporating it into the daily operations of the firm.
Here are some steps to help streamline the integration process:
Introduce clients: Provide clients with an introduction to the portal, showcasing the features they can utilize.
Encourage use: Have employees utilize the portal when managing client matters such appointments and invoices.
Built-in training: Automatically introduce new hires to the portal as part of their on boarding process. Using it from day one will elevate employee familiarity and efficiency.
Do away with the old: Emphasize the portal will be the new standard. It will be the only way clients can view appointments, fill out intake forms, or submit inquires to employees.
Embedding the system into the firm's operations and culture creates familiarity, consistency, transparency, and efficiency in a way that elevates the client experience.
Even after fully rolling out the client portal for everyone to use, it still requires time to determine if the adoption is successful. Regularly monitor the portal's use and how it affects the firm's operations and interactions with clients?
Ask questions like:
Have client retention rates increased since adopting this software?
Has the amount of inquires from clients regarding legal matters decreased?
Has involving clients with their legal matters removed some of the administrative burden from the firm?
Has the time it takes to for employees to communicate with clients noticeably decreased?
Be sure to collect feedback from users. Continue to refine the ways employees and clients utilize the portal. Staying updated on new features also helps because many legal tech platforms release updates that can further streamline operations and add new automation capabilities. After all, software isn’t static-so why should your operational procedures be?
Adopting a client portal can be tricky, especially since it requires involving the needs of clients to maximize chances of success. If done well, it can greatly:
Involving clients with their own legal matters will greatly benefit both them and the firm. It elevates the client experience by providing them access to the answers for questions they could have, and improve communication with firm employees. This in turn elevates client retention through involvement and satisfaction. In an increasingly digital world, law firms should meet the needs of their clients to best serve their needs.
SimpleLaw makes it easy with an all-in-one case management solution designed for law firms that want intuitive document management and powerful automation tools—all without the learning curve.
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