Chat, instant messaging, and text messaging are becoming some of the most popular communication methods for current generations.
In fact, 97% of Americans send or receive a text message at least once every day.
As more and more people turn toward instant messaging, direct phone calls and slower communication options like email have lost their traction.
It’s officially the age of the digital chat service! Live chat on websites and “chatbots” have become popular options for customer service and quick problem resolution.
Live chat services allow customers to text in instant time with a customer service rep, who will be able to answer their questions or solve their account issues during the chat.
“it’s not realistic to have a 24/7 live chat service”
However, it’s not realistic to have a 24/7 live chat service – you’d need to employ a squadron of customer service reps, and they need to eat and sleep on occasion.
Enter the loyal chatbot, a simplified artificial intelligence you can program to answer the most basic questions about your business.
When you’re a busy attorney, it can be costly and time-consuming to dedicate phone time to menial questions that could have been answered by a quick trip to your website’s FAQ.
A chatbot offers an excellent way for potential clients to get answers to quick questions – and an even better way for you to capture qualified leads you can follow up with when you have more time.
Chatbots can only answer the questions that you have programmed into them.
They are essentially trained to recognize keywords, identify common questions, and provide the corresponding pre-programmed answers.
These pre-programmed questions and answers are called a chatbot script, and can be limited by your programmer’s time, or sometimes, the maximum number of questions your chatbot plug-in allows.
With so much information available to your potential clients, and only so much time to decide on a chatbot script, it can be difficult to decide which questions your chatbot should be ready to answer. So we did it for you!
Here are the five main things a law firm’s chatbot should be able to do:
1. Collect your prospect’s contact information.
Many chatbot services require customers to enter some basic information before they can start the chat. This is a great opportunity to collect the client’s contact info, like their name, email address, and phone number.
If they’re a prospect for your law firm, now your team has a way to follow up with them after the chat closes. If they’re a current customer, your team knows the client had some questions, and can clarify any information during their free consultation.
This feature is often overlooked, but information collection makes chatbots an incredible tool for an attorney’s lead generation!
2. Answer 3-5 of the most common questions
Answer 3-5 of the most common questions your prospects ask during their first call or consultation with your law office.
Think of the chatbot on your attorney’s website as an interactive FAQ. In order to make your chatbot as useful as possible, include answers to every question you get asked on a regular basis.
A helpful activity here is to think of the questions that drive you bonkers – what questions do potential clients ask that you feel like are “no-brainers,” or have been asked so often you want to scream the next time you hear them?
Your chatbot can answer these questions and more – as many as you can think of, even if the answer has to be something general. “Rates for wills start at $150, but increase depending on the number of provisions needed” is a far better answer than “Give us a call to hear about our rates for wills.”
3. Identify if the client needs to talk to a real human, and give them a way to do so.
The main drawback of chatbots is that they are limited to the questions they have programmed into their digital personalities – if a client asks a question specific to their account or case, a chatbot won’t be able to provide that answer.
You can avoid customer frustration by giving your chatbot qualifying questions early on in its script, like, “Is your question related to an existing case?”
If the answer is yes (or if the chatbot comes up against another specific question it’s unable to answer), the chatbot can provide your firm’s contact information or another way of getting in touch with a “real human” who can help your potential client.
4. Your firm’s address and contact info.
This may seem like a no-brainer with the topic above, but many chatbot script-writers forget to include contact information for the law firm itself – like the address, phone number, and general email address – particularly when the client’s questions have been answered and they’re ready to sign off.
Your chatbot’s closing script is critical to capturing potential leads, and there’s nothing more frustrating than needing to speak to someone further and having no way to do it.
It’s also human nature to take the path of least resistance – why take the time to look up a firm’s contact info if their friendly chatbot can find that info for you?
5. “Can I schedule a free consultation for you?”
Say it with me: LEAD GENERATION.
If you remember nothing else from this article, remember this – your chatbot is a perfect way for your law firm to generate clients without lifting a finger.
There is an unwritten rule in sales and marketing that says you should always lead a person to the next step in the process.
For attorneys, the logical next step is a free brief call or in-person meeting to evaluate the client’s situation. To that end, one of the last questions your chatbot should ask is, “Can I schedule a free consultation for you?”
The chatbot can also remind your potential clients that an experienced attorney can answer their questions more fully and in details specific to their case – something our chatbot friend can’t do himself.
These are the most basic categories that your chatbot script should cover…
…but like any marketing tool, your chatbot’s specifics will vary according to your law firm’s specializations, practices, and interests.
At TitleTap, we began offering a chatbot for attorneys after we saw the incredible impact they can have on your firm’s workflow.
Don’t have time to write the script yourself? No problem!
A draft script is included with TitleTap’s chatbot service for attorneys, that can easily be modified to include your firm’s information.
Request a free demo today to learn more about getting a Chatbot for your law firm.