Conversion Rate Optimization for Law Firms Part 1: What is Conversion Rate Optimization?

Date: June 21, 2022

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How many times have customers clicked on your website only to exit it a few moments later? While getting traffic to your website is an important first step, you want them to take the next one. 

For each business, this next step could look different. You might want your website visitors to submit a contact form or sign up for a newsletter. No matter the desired action, the process of completing it is known as conversion. 

If your law firm website is getting visitors but no contacts, it might be time to look at conversion rate optimization and how it can help your website. Keep reading if you would like to learn more about what that process looks like. We’ll also tell you more about how to calculate your website’s current conversion rate and what rate you should strive to achieve.

What is Conversion Rate Optimization?

Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is the process of improving your website so that you can increase the number of users who are taking your desired action. As we mentioned before, these actions could include opting in to receive emails, requesting a quote through a contact form, or calling your office for more information. 

The number one goal with conversion rate optimization is to enhance your website in a way that will turn passive visitors into active users. Changes to your homepage, landing, biography, service, blog or contact pages can all lead to an increased conversion rate, so those are generally the places you would want to start. 

These changes can range from updated website copy to new site structure and organization. It’s important to know that the specific steps will depend on your current website and your target audience. What is stopping visitors from contacting you? Is it the form? Do they leave as soon as they reach your landing page? 

These questions will help you to identify a CRO plan. We’ll get more into the strategy of conversion rate optimization in part two of our series.

Why is Conversion Rate Optimization Important for Law Firms?

Learning how to increase your website’s conversion rate is especially important for law firms. It allows you to:

  • Learn about potential clients
  • Increase your revenue 
  • Reduce client acquisition costs
  • Improve SEO
  • Generate warm leads

Learn More About Your Customers

Researching your current conversion rate allows you to get a better idea of who your visitors are and why they are on your website. By looking at what they engage with most, you’ll get a better idea of what they want and what they are looking for. For example, you might find that something is sending traffic away from your website. As you research, you’ll start to notice what you should avoid or how you can change it.

Not only will this insight allow you to improve your conversion rate in the future, but it can also help you in the process of turning that warm lead into a client. For example, if you’ve noticed that your clients are most interested in learning about your trial experience, you can create a web page that highlights past cases. It will also give you an idea of what topics you should focus on in your consultation with leads. 

Increase Revenue Through Website

The more clients you take on, the more revenue your law firm will bring in. If you can find a way to convert your website visitors into clients, you’ll be able to increase your firm’s revenue through your website alone. As your website starts to make you more money, you’ll be able to invest that money back into making even more website enhancements. 

Lower Costs Associated with Client Acquisition

As a lawyer, you know that it is less expensive to retain a current client than it is to bring on new ones. However, there often comes a time when you need to replace clients you’ve lost or need to gain more to grow. In these cases, having a website that converts more prospects into clients can help you lower the costs you would otherwise spend on client acquisition.

Increase Rank in Search Engines 

If you are working to improve your CRO, you’ll simultaneously increase your SEO. Some of the factors that search engines look at are how long customers stay on your website and how much they interact. Therefore, you’ll be sure to rank higher on SERPs as you make changes to your website to encourage engagement among your visitors.

Generate More Leads for Your Firm

The most significant benefit that you can expect from CRO is an increase in warm leads. If you are able to carry out a solid strategy that increases contact form submissions, you’ll be able to reach out to more people who are interested in your services. These people are much more likely to be converted into clients than if you were pursuing cold leads. 

How to Calculate Conversion Rate

In order to see how much you need to improve your website, you must know what your current conversion rate is. Fortunately, it’s relatively easy to calculate. The hard part is figuring out how to increase it.

If you want to get a better idea of your website’s conversion rate, you need to start by choosing a specific time frame. You could look at conversions on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. We suggest looking at your monthly conversion rate to start, as it will give you a good overview of how people tend to interact with your website.

Once you’ve set a time frame, you’ll need to look at your website data and analytics in that period. With that data, you can divide the number of visitors who contacted you (or took another desired action) by the total number of visitors. That number will then need to be multiplied by 100 to give you a percentage for your conversion rate. 

What is a Good Conversion Rate?

Now that you’ve calculated your conversion rate, you might be wondering how it compares to other websites. What’s considered a good rate? Do you have a lot of changes to make? Have you already done an excellent job with your website? Are there still areas where you can make improvements?

If you’ve calculated a small percentage, don’t freak out just yet. While the goal is undoubtedly to have a higher number, the average landing page conversion rate is just 2.35%. In fact, just 25% of websites achieve conversion rates higher than 5%. Even fewer are hitting numbers above 10%. If you want to break into the top 10% of high converting websites, you’ll need to achieve 11.45% rates or higher.

Learn More About the Importance of Conversion Rate Optimization for Law Firms 

We know that those numbers can sound daunting if you are struggling to hit just 2%, but you don’t have to stress over how to improve your conversion rate. At 9Sail, we work with law firms to enhance websites for both SEO and CRO.

Our experience has helped us to develop efficient strategies to reach realistic goals. If you would like to learn more about how we can help improve your website, we encourage you to get in contact with us right away. We are happy to provide you with more information over the phone, or you can submit your contact information through our simple online form.