B2B Blog

Maintain Your Listings 

First and foremost, claim your listings and complete your profiles. If anything changes, such as your address or phone number, then keep your listings up-to-date.

Respond to Reviews 

Whether a review is positive or negative, you should always respond to it. By responding, you are demonstrating that you are actively engaged with your clients and that you care about your online reputation.

Responding to Positive Reviews

Responding to positive reviews is easy.

Responding to Negative Reviews 

Of course, the best way to avoid a negative review is to give your client’s the best service possible. In other words, in time, you are bound to get a negative review.

When responding to a negative review, don’t let your pride get in the way of responding professionally. Also, invite the reviewer to contact you privately to address their concerns.

Responding to “Black Hat” Reviews

For some of our customers, we deal with “black hat” reviews from persons who are not genuine clients of the lawyer or the law firm. These persons pose as a client to leave bad reviews.

Some of these persons may be the party on the other side of the case or their friends or family.  Sites such as Yelp and Facebook aren’t very helpful in removing black hat reviews. If you can’t get the review removed, then here is a sample professional response to a black hat review that alerts other readers that the review isn’t genuine.

You can’t stop people from saying things about your practice online, and if you ignore that feedback and the existence of review sites, you leave an open door for naysayers to destroy your reputation. It’s true that people tend to only send feedback and write reviews after a negative experience.

The following steps for managing and controlling online reviews will work — if you follow the steps religiously.

Step 1: Assess Which Reviews Matter Most to Your Firm

Naturally you want to know what reviews are out there, and which directories already include your firm. More important to your strategy, however, is pinpointing which directories are most influential in your geographic area and practice area.

Step 2: Claim Those Directory Profiles

In “Take Control of Your Firm’s Local Directory Strategy,” I discussed the importance of claiming your profiles. It’s especially important for online reviews, because once you claim all the profiles that allow for reviews and “own” them, some sites (like Google) will allow you to respond to positive and negative feedback.

Step 3: Monitor the Online Reviews

You can’t improve something you aren’t tracking. Here are sites that can help automate this process:

• GetListed.org.

GetListed doesn’t send you email notifications, but it shows reviews across major sites. (Free.)

• ReviewPush. 

ReviewPush is great for a multi-location practice. It sends email alerts and tracks trends. (Paid.)

• GetFiveStars. 

This is a brand-new service that has major promise for law practices, especially those with multiple locations. It’s designed to help you with the process of getting reviews and monitoring them.

Step 4: Make Reviews Part of Your Daily Routine and Client Process

It’s always easier to achieve a goal if you incorporate small steps into your daily routine. But there’s another reason why you shouldn’t save your online review activities for one big push: It can set off alarm bells on the Internet.

Step 5: Rinse and Repeat

If you get just one review per month on Google with this method, in five months you will have enough reviews for stars to show up next to your business listing — and those stars will help attract more clicks on your listing.

It’s important to get your client reviews on attorney review sites that your prospective clients know about and visitHigher web traffic suggests that the site has lots of users.

And this suggests that it would be quick and easy to leave a review—having no need to go through a lengthy registration process.

Avvo

Average Monthly U.S. Visits: 4,897,796

You’ve heard of Avvo. And while you may not have the happiest of feelings about the site, your clients use it. And you should too.

Avvo also makes leaving reviews really easy—no registration is needed.  And the site also has attorney endorsements.

Lawyers.com

Average Monthly U.S. Visits: 1,209,218

Lawyers.com boasts having over 1 million lawyer reviews—they combine these reviews with our number five pick, Martindale-Hubbell ratings. The site also has a an easy-to-use “Ask a Lawyer” section where local attorneys answer user’s legal questions.

FindLaw

Average Monthly U.S. Visits: 6,905,129

FindLaw is a resource for both clients and legal professionals—helping clients not only find a lawyer, but also providing content from them to learn about the law.

Legal professionals are also able to search for cases, contracts, and articles on the site’s “For Legal Professionals” area.

LegalMatch

Average Monthly U.S Visits: 679,680

LegalMatch works a bit differently from the previous three listed. LegalMatch has the user post about their case, answering various questions based on the category of law of the case.

Leaving a review is not as easy on this site, as you have to go through the entire process in order to leave a review.

Martindale-Hubbell

Average Monthly U.S. Visits: 382,308

Martindale-Hubbell is considered by some as the “gold standard” in attorney ratings. Martindale-Hubbell provides potential clients peer and client review ratings, and they make it easy to do so. Potential clients can also chat with attorneys directly while perusing reviews.

As a lawyer, you will want to have reviews on some platforms so that you can reach as many people as possible who may need your services.

Google Reviews

First, what is the number one search engine on the internet? You’ve guessed it – Google, which means that you want to have a positive Google reviews that can help you build your client base. Local business ratings are the first thing that shows up when you do a search for businesses on Google.

Facebook Reviews

Facebook is the largest social network in the world, so you will want to make sure that you have an online presence there as well. 

Yelp Reviews

You are probably also familiar with Yelp reviews. They are extremely common for reviewing a restaurant, but they are also great for law firms that need to bolster their review site presence.

Other Lawyer Review Sites

Finally, there are lawyer specific directories like FindLaw and Avvo which are online marketplaces that are designed specifically for lawyers to build their client-base.

As a lawyer, you will want to have reviews on some platforms so that you can reach as many people as possible who may need your services.

Google Reviews

First, what is the number one search engine on the internet? You’ve guessed it – Google, which means that you want to have a positive Google reviews that can help you build your client base. Local business ratings are the first thing that shows up when you do a search for businesses on Google.

Facebook Reviews

Facebook is the largest social network in the world, so you will want to make sure that you have an online presence there as well. 

Yelp Reviews

You are probably also familiar with Yelp reviews. They are extremely common for reviewing a restaurant, but they are also great for law firms that need to bolster their review site presence.

Other Lawyer Review Sites

Finally, there are lawyer specific directories like FindLaw and Avvo which are online marketplaces that are designed specifically for lawyers to build their client-base.

You can’t stop people from saying things about your practice online, and if you ignore that feedback and the existence of review sites, you leave an open door for naysayers to destroy your reputation. It’s true that people tend to only send feedback and write reviews after a negative experience.

The following steps for managing and controlling online reviews will work — if you follow the steps religiously.

Step 1: Assess Which Reviews Matter Most to Your Firm

Naturally you want to know what reviews are out there, and which directories already include your firm. More important to your strategy, however, is pinpointing which directories are most influential in your geographic area and practice area.

Step 2: Claim Those Directory Profiles

In “Take Control of Your Firm’s Local Directory Strategy,” I discussed the importance of claiming your profiles. It’s especially important for online reviews, because once you claim all the profiles that allow for reviews and “own” them, some sites (like Google) will allow you to respond to positive and negative feedback.

Step 3: Monitor the Online Reviews

You can’t improve something you aren’t tracking. Here are sites that can help automate this process:

• GetListed.org.

GetListed doesn’t send you email notifications, but it shows reviews across major sites. (Free.)

• ReviewPush. 

ReviewPush is great for a multi-location practice. It sends email alerts and tracks trends. (Paid.)

• GetFiveStars. 

This is a brand-new service that has major promise for law practices, especially those with multiple locations. It’s designed to help you with the process of getting reviews and monitoring them.

Step 4: Make Reviews Part of Your Daily Routine and Client Process

It’s always easier to achieve a goal if you incorporate small steps into your daily routine. But there’s another reason why you shouldn’t save your online review activities for one big push: It can set off alarm bells on the Internet.

Step 5: Rinse and Repeat

If you get just one review per month on Google with this method, in five months you will have enough reviews for stars to show up next to your business listing — and those stars will help attract more clicks on your listing.

Most advertisements for legal firms tout the attorneys’ prowess in court, their determination to win a case, and their length of service in the industry.

Reputation is of the highest importance to attorneys, because it drives a big portion of their demand among clients.

Client Reputation

People want to be known for using the best. They want a nice vehicle, name-brand clothing, and a home built by a renowned builder in a prestigious neighborhood.

High Stakes

While minor legal work is sometimes of minimal importance, most people are in real peril when they interact with the judicial system.

Whatever the case may be, there is a lot at stake for the client. It could be money, property, business success, or even freedom.

Client Vulnerability

Generally, the most legal education that people normally have is whatever they retain from their various interactions with the law, be that a speeding ticket, a real estate purchase, or service as the executor of an estate.

Lack of Preparedness

Certain legal actions that we must take are on a fairly slow schedule. We reach retirement and decide it’s time to assemble a will, so we talk to a few friends to get some suggestions on what lawyer will do a good job with our final plans.

Knowing how to respond to online reviews both effectively and ethically is key. Here are some concrete steps you can take to help you do just that

STEP 1: Follow What’s Being Said About You and Your Firm

Monitor online chatter by creating Google alerts for discussions about you and your law firm. Once you create the alert you’ll receive emails whenever new matching results are located.

STEP 2: Be Aware of What’s Being Said on Online Review Sites

The sites clients use to find lawyers are often the same sites where they later leave feedback about their experience. That’s why it makes sense to track what’s being said about your firm on those sites.

STEP 3: Request and Track Feedback

One way to manage online feedback is to encourage positive comments from happy clients. Then, at the conclusion of each case, consider including a request for positive comments in your closing communications. Make sure to include a link to relevant sites to make it easier for your clients to leave comments – and for you to track them.

STEP 4: Augment Positive Reviews

When your clients leave positive reviews about your law firm, make the most out of them. Highlight them by adding them to your law firm website’s client testimonial section.

Sharing good reviews engenders trust and encourages potential clients to retain your firm’s services.

STEP 5: Manage Negative Reviews

Hopefully, you’ll never receive a negative review. But if you do, you need to carefully and thoughtfully respond to the former client’s feedback. And finally, counteract the negative review by encouraging other clients to leave positive reviews on that site.

Here are some best practices and techniques to help you achieve the best results and optimal response rates.

Request reviews via email

One of the most effective ways to generate new reviews is through review request email campaigns.

The campaigns usually take on the form of customer feedback surveys; other times, the email message is much simpler and more straightforward, containing a link to a page where the recipient can write a review.

Review request templates

Not sure what to write in your review request messages? Here are some subject line and message ideas that hopefully will give you some inspiration for your review request templates.

Review or feedback SMS templates

Here are some actionable feedback SMS templates to inspire your text surveys and review request campaigns via SMS.

Design landing pages for collecting reviews

In order to generate new reviews and collect valuable customer feedback, more and more businesses and marketers are creating their own dedicated landing pages for reviews.

It’s a great way to encourage customers to be more vocal about their experiences.

Get reviews at the point of sale

A more immediate, personal, and direct way to ask customers for reviews is to make the request at the point of sale or care.

Use review request or review generation tools

If you’re managing a business with multiple locations, an efficient way to ask customers for reviews is by using review request or review generation tools and software.

The Ask Tool from ReviewTrackers, for example, allows you to generate new reviews through email campaigns, SMS, on-site kiosks, and customizable landing pages.

Automate your review requests

For the efficiency-minded, a little automation can help get more review generation work done faster. Customers who automate their review requests can often double or triple their review volume — minus the time and resources spent on manual work.

1)    Do your homework. 

Make sure your retail store has a presence on all of the major social sites that shoppers look at to read reviews – or create reviews – of your business. Beyond Google, consider obvious sites like Facebook, Yelp, and also Bing and Yahoo.

2)    Make it easy for them. 

As I left Heathrow airport customs, they had this simple machine which sought to easily let them know customers’ experience. In an email to your customer, you can do the same.

3)    Reward them.

Zappos hands out 100 points or about $10 credit to those who write a review. Offer incentives to gather reviews – especially at the start. Consider offering points in your customer loyalty program or entries in a quarterly drawing.

4)    Send a follow-up email. 

Etsy sends a text message or email asking buyers to write a review. They reported to the WSJ that 25% of purchases result in a review as a result.

5)    Ask quickly …but not too quickly…after purchase.

Those online, post-checkout popups are annoying. Imagine leaving the counter of a store with your purchase and someone jumps in front of you to ask you for a review.

6)    Ask for help. 

In your email newsletters, you can add a Help with a Question section to get purchasers to respond to your most popular shopper questions. Highlight these answers on your store’s homepage next to the product.

7)    Survey them. 

Three to five simple questions is easy. Stars as answers are also easy. A blank text box will seem like work, and you won’t get any responses.

8)    Tell reviewers exactly what you want.

If you want longer answers rather than stars, give a 2-point review worded exactly like this, “Please review your purchase and:

1.     Tell shoppers why you bought the product
2.     Did it do what you wanted and would you shop with us again?”