The legal service consumer views online communication as a vital tool in creating a more efficient, cheaper service.
According to a recent survey, carried out by mmadigital, 83% of respondents would opt to communicate online as opposed to face to face. Anxious of the perceived increased costs involved with meeting in person, the majority would rather utilise online means to keep costs down.
As law firms look to modernise their communication methods, the use of chatbots is a tool that more consumers would like law firms to embrace.
Almost half (47%) would prefer to use online chat sources or video conference technology if it reduced costs and increased the speed of the service. 39% also believe that more law firms should adopt the use of AI technology to help ease the burden of manual, repetitive tasks which could free up the legal service provider to work on more complex areas of law.
Whilst many are ready to embrace technology, 55% still value the personal, human understanding that only communicating in person can offer. Worried that robots and AI technologies, devoid of compassion, may dilute the importance of the service, 29% would appreciate communicating via the phone.
Dez Derry, CEO at mmadigital, commented:
“It’s clear from our research that consumers feel far more comfortable sitting behind a keyboard or a handset to make at least their first contact with a law firm.
“It’s understandable that consumers who are approaching a law firm for the first time are a little daunted or worried about costs; therefore, opt for forms of communication that they feel more comfortable with.
“What this means for law firms is that they need to ensure they review their digital presence so that they make themselves as accessible to consumers from their initial contact and beyond.
“Our experience in generating new customer leads for law firms in the medical negligence or personal injury claims market has shown that consumers who think they have a claim feel at ease accessing legal services through an online portal in the first instance. This more accessible means of reaching legal assistance is encouraging more people to enquire about legal services than ever before.”
What is your law firm doing to embrace technology? How has technology improved the experience and customer journey for your clients?
2 Responses
This is not surprising.
Communication between lay people and professionals is vulnerable to difficulties
Bots etc can be trained to do this in plain English and provide written confirmation of verbal information for the lay person to consider at his or her own speed without fearing charges by the minute.
Good to see research validating what many of us understand anecdotally to be the case. We (Legal Workflow) are shortly launching our first legal chatbot for Wills, to be followed by others, including Conveyancing.