How Law Firms Can Use Lead Tracking to Determine if Their Marketing Spend Is Working

Date: March 19, 2024

With the rising costs of, well, everything these days, each penny you dedicate to your law firm’s marketing budget is precious. That is why lead tracking is so important. It is a critical piece of the puzzle when it comes to determining if your marketing spend is actually working. 

Helpful Tools For Tracking Leads 

Tracking leads is something that takes some effort to set up, but once it’s all said and done, you’ll be able to make data-driven decisions regarding your marketing spend. This will allow you and your firm to capitalize on the channels that provide the best ROI (return on investment). Let’s dive into some helpful tools that you can use to help track your leads. 

Google Analytics 

Google Analytics is essential to tracking the leads that come in through your website. Within Analytics you’ll be able to set up custom conversions with the use of Google Tag Manager so you can track the lead data that is relevant for you. Examples of this include contact form submissions, phone calls/phone number clicks, and lead magnet downloadables. 

Call Tracking Software 

Call tracking software, such as CallRail, can provide incredibly valuable insights when it comes to the attribution of your leads. For example, it can provide information about the source a user came from (Organic Search, Paid Search, etc.) and even what page on your website they called from. This can help you drill down on the top converting pages and sources. 

Another side benefit of call tracking software is that you can listen to calls for quality assurance and provide additional training to your intake people if needed. This is crucial because this is a potential new client’s first interaction with your firm and if they are a cold lead, their experience could make or break whether you get a new client or not. 

Contact Form Tracking

Contact form tracking can be set up through Google Analytics, and you should also have the option to view submissions on the back end of your website. When you set up the form tracking in Analytics, you are able to see which sources drive the most contact form submissions whether that be organic search, social, paid ads, etc. 

Calendly 

Calendly or other meeting schedulers can also be beneficial tools in the lead tracking process. For example, they often have integrations with Google Analytics so you can track where the booking/lead came from. 

How to Track Your Leads Through the Sales Cycle 

According to a survey of 600 full-time employees at law firms and legal-focused marketing agencies by CallRail, 67% of respondents say their firm’s processes to understand the impact of marketing campaigns are not efficient. 

Spreadsheets 

An old school but still effective way to track your leads is through a spreadsheet. Some simple information to include that might be helpful are: 

  • Name 
  • Date 
  • Phone Number 
  • Email 
  • Matter Type 
  • Consultation date
  • Retained 
  • Status 

If you’re unsure where to start when tracking your leads, a spreadsheet is a simple and cost-efficient place to start. 

CRM 

The most efficient and effective way to keep track of your leads is through a CRM. Some CRM software our clients have had success with include: 

CRMs often have a handful of nifty integrations as well, so you can track your leads from all sources rather seamlessly. CRMs often have lead source information as well so you can see right in your management software what marketing channels are driving the most leads. 

How Lead Tracking Helps Determine the Effectiveness of Marketing Spend 

According to the CallRail survey mentioned earlier, 70% of respondents believe their firm has wasted money on low ROI marketing campaigns in the last 12 months. With that said, when it comes to lead tracking and determining the effectiveness of your marketing spend, attribution is key! It is critical that your firm has the right tracking in place so you are able to see what marketing channels are driving the most leads for your law firm and from there you are able to make data-driven decisions about what is working best for your firm and what either could use some improvement or have the spend reallocated to a better performing channel. 

Get The Most Value Out Of Your Law Firm’s Marketing Spend 

If you want to maximize your law firm’s marketing spend but don’t have a great grasp on lead tracking, don’t worry– you are not alone. At 9Sail, we work closely with our legal clients to set up lead tracking within Google Analytics and can even help by working on lead tracking projects so that we can help you determine how to best adjust your SEO or PPC strategy to get the best bang for your buck.

Reach out today for a site audit!