1. How do people find and
hire lawyers?
What’s important to them?
What are they likely to do?
What they’re saying they
want from you.
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2. Recently, Moses & Rooth, Attorneys At Law created a
Google Consumer Survey exploring how people start their
search for lawyers, what’s important to them and what
they’re likely to do first when searching for a lawyer.
If you’re a lawyer, this survey provides some valuable
insights into the minds of your potential clients.
We’ve detailed some of our interpretations from the survey
and what we think these survey respondents are trying to
tell you.
We hope you find this helpful.
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3. When you need to find a specialty lawyer
how would you start your search?
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4. Learning from how people start their
search to find a specialty lawyer
• Even today, most people begin their search for a
lawyer by asking people they trust.
• Search engines are playing a significant role in how
people start their search for specialty lawyers.
• ~ 34% of the respondents used some internet tool to
start their search.
• Search engines were significantly more popular than
social networks in this survey.
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5. When 25-34 year-olds need to find a
specialty lawyer how would they start
their search?
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6. Learning from how 25-34 year-olds start
their search to find a specialty lawyer
• 25-34 year-old respondents were slightly more likely
to start their search via a search engine than by asking
a friend.
• People of this age group were more likely to look for a
lawyer on the internet than in offline directories like
yellow books.
• Even the 25-34 year-old respondents to this survey
were not likely to use social networks to begin their
search.
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7. 25-34 year-olds chose search 2x more
than those aged 55-64
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8. What they’re saying they want from you.
• They want to hear good things about you from the
people they trust. A reputation for doing good work
remains most important.
• They want to find you in search engines. If you’re not
appearing in search engines, many of these folks
simply won’t find you.
• They want their lawyers to refer you to them. Build a
reliable professional network.
• They want to find you in a variety of places online. You
need to grow visibility across different sections of the
web.
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9. If you search for a specialty lawyer on the
internet what is most important to you?
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10. Learning what is most important to
people who use the internet to search
for lawyers
• The most important thing to the respondents was
finding information about them elsewhere on the
internet.
• Reviews and endorsements, especially those on
Google were also very important to these
respondents.
• Yelp reviews were not as important to these
respondents.
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11. What they’re saying they want from you.
• It’s important to them that they’re able to find
information about you on a variety of web sources.
Don’t take a one-dimensional approach to your web
marketing.
• They want to see what your clients and colleagues are
saying about you online. Encourage happy clients and
referral sources to leave reviews of you online.
Especially on Google.
• They want to see reviews of you on other sites too.
Don’t just send happy clients to Google. Send them to
other popular sites that allow for reviews (i.e.
Facebook, Yelp, Avvo, etc).
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12. If you searched for a specialty lawyer on
Google, what would you do first?
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13. Learning what people who search for
lawyers online would do first
• While the impression a lawyer’s website makes was
not that important to these respondents, most are still
likely to visit the lawyer’s website first.
• Again, the importance that reviews play is undeniable.
• Most people are likely to spend time researching the
lawyer first, as opposed to, calling immediately.
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14. If 25-34 year-olds searched for a
specialty lawyer on Google, what would
they first?
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15. Learning what 25-34 year-olds who
search for lawyers online would do first
• For this group, reading Google reviews is the first thing
that they would do.
• Almost half of this group would read some kind of
online review first!
• Office proximity appears to be less of a priority for this
group.
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16. What they’re saying they want from you.
• They’re screaming at you about the importance of
reviews. Make your clients happy and help them
understand how they can appropriately sing your
praises.
• Make your website informational. They want
information about your knowledge, skill and
experience. Share it. Don’t hide behind nebulous
marketing copy.
• They want to talk to you. Answer your phone. Don’t
let a machine be your potential clients’ first
impression of your firm.
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17. Giving them what they want.
People who use the internet to search for lawyers and
information about lawyers have clear expectations.
They expect to find information about you and your practice.
They insist that you demonstrate your knowledge, skill and
experience. They also expect to be able to see what your
clients and colleagues have to say about you.
While there’s no doubt that the majority of people start their
lawyer search with people that they trust (i.e. family, friends,
their current lawyer), many of these people will seek
additional information about you before even contacting you.
At this point, there’s little doubt that if you’re invisible online,
you’re losing out on potential clients. And it’s likely that you’ll
never even know about the opportunities that you’re missing.
Today, more than ever, it’s imperative that you supply your
potential clients’ demands for information about you, your
practice and the news and topics related to your practice.
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18. Thanks & Feedback
Thanks for tacking the time to read our thoughts on this
important survey.
We encourage you to leave questions, comments and
feedback below.
You’re also welcome to contact us directly:
info@attorneysync.com OR (877) 619-5775
Thanks,
Team at AttorneySync
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