In online reviews of lawyers, one word counts most
Take some time to peruse the words above. Those in the legal profession: ignore them at your peril.
This collection is the distillation of our poring over 19,324 Google reviews of law firms in the largest U.S. cities in the 10 states with the densest concentration of attorneys, plus the District of Columbia. They say much about client satisfaction.
For Google reviewers of attorneys, size matters
You’re looking at a word cloud analysis at the top of this page. In our evaluation of one- and two-star reviews (out of five maximum), the larger the font size of each word, the more often it appeared in the harshest online reviews of attorneys and law firms.
Note that the text size for call is the largest, followed by unprofessional, rude, email, and speak. Get the picture? Clients don’t hear enough from their lawyers.
At least one of the words below appeared in 73.9% of one- and two-star reviews.
Top ten words in critical reviews
Here, in descending order of frequency, are the ten most frequently appearing words in the most critical reviews.
- call
- unprofessional
- rude
- speak
- contact
- talk
- professional
- clear
- respond
What clients really want: R-E-S-P-E-C-T
The word call appeared in more than one-third (36.2%) of the total one-star and two-star reviews (out of a maximum of five stars, indicating the least satisfaction). Other frequent words point to recurring dissatisfaction with the tone of law firm communications with clients: unprofessional, rude, and professional.
“Respect is the big takeaway issue,” said Ron Harman King, JD, MS, CEO of Vanguard Communications, a 31-year-old digital marketing and management consulting firm for attorneys and physicians.
“Clients not only want frequent updates on their cases – they want them delivered courteously and not from under-informed law firm underlings. Anything else feels disrespectful.”
A common complaint was that law firm clerical staff returned client phone calls and emails in an impatient tone and were often insufficiently knowledgeable about their cases to address their questions satisfactorily.
A characteristic shared more by attorneys than physicians
Online data suggest that law firms fare much worse than healthcare providers in communications skills. According to an earlier Vanguard study of heathcare experiences, a significantly lower 53% of patients’ customer-service complaints related to communications.
Data from separate studies suggest that law firms fare much worse in online reviews than healthcare providers.
However, perhaps most encouraging to the legal profession, clients generally rate their experiences with attorneys and firms favorably. Approximately four out of five reviewers (79.0%) gave four and five stars to attorneys and firms.
That ratio bests that of patient reviews of doctors in the earlier study by Vanguard, in which only 66% of reviewers gave four and five stars. Similarly, a lawyer is 72% less likely than a doctor to receive a 1-star online review.
Among the cities surveyed, Trenton, New Jersey, earned the lowest share of four and five stars, at 70.0% of the total, while Boston scored the most pleased legal clients, at 87.3%.
Real talk about communication and client retention
Lawyers and doctors are well versed in talking to others in their profession, but often not so good at talking to their patients and clients. A few thoughtful strategies can help avoid communication catastrophes.