Should you have a contact form on your law firm website? Absolutely! There are many advantages, and almost no downside. Let’s talk about why you need a contact form on your site, and how to get the most benefit out of it.

Five Reasons to Have a Law Firm Website Contact Form

Many law firm websites urge visitors to “call now” to discuss their legal needs; a contact form provides an alternative way to get in touch, and in many ways, a superior one. Here’s why. 

Convenience and Comfort for Your Potential Clients

A contact form on your law firm website allows prospective clients to reach out to your firm 24/7—a real benefit for those who may not have the time or privacy to talk on the phone during business hours. But time constraints are not the only reason prospective clients may hesitate to pick up the phone and call you. 

People often need a lawyer because they are facing challenging times. They know they need to take action, but the prospect of a deep or difficult conversation with a stranger may feel too daunting. For many people, using a webform to make contact is less intimidating than making a phone call, increasing the likelihood that they will actually make contact.

Paige Silver-Dunn, Director of Marketing at The Modern Firm notes, “The more ways people have to contact you from your website, the better. It may be a generational thing, but different people prefer different contact options—like a contact option, clickable phone number, or live chat option.” 

By giving visitors to your website as many avenues to reach you as possible, you maximize the number of leads who contact your firm—in whatever way works for them.

Improved Client Experience

Being able to use a contact form is a lower-stress way for prospective clients to communicate their needs at their own pace, and provides peace of mind that when they do speak to you, they won’t have to repeat themselves. Automated confirmation messages reassure them that their inquiry was received by the firm, and when intake staff get instant notifications that a form was submitted, leads often get a faster response. That prompt and professional communication helps potential clients feel more confident in your law firm, and sets a positive tone for your working relationship.

Lead Capture and Tracking Through Integration with CRM

Using a contact form on your website means every inquiry your firm receives gets logged systematically instead of getting lost in an email inbox. You can customize your form to ask qualifying questions regarding the type of case, and whether the lead has been served with a lawsuit, to help your staff prioritize.

Contact forms help with lead tracking, and integrating these forms with your client relationship management system (CRM) helps to ensure that leads don’t slip through the cracks. When someone fills out a form on your website, the form collects data which is sent to your CRM either through direct integration or middleware tools. Once the data hits the CRM, a new contact record is created.

Integration allows your firm to track lead sources, so you can see the ROI of your legal marketing efforts. When properly integrated with your website reporting and analytics tools, your online contact form can tell you not only how each potential client found you (Google search, link from another webpage, marketing email, etc.) but which pages on your site they read, and how long they spent there, before contacting you. Significantly, it can also measure your conversion rates, so you can see which inquiries led to consultations, and which consultations led to signing a client. 

Compliance and Security

As every attorney knows, keeping private information secure is important—and so is managing people’s expectations. A contact form on your law firm website helps you do both. Sensitive information can be captured securely, encrypted, and stored in a compliant CRM. Critically, your form can also include important disclaimers (e.g. “Submission of this form does not establish an attorney-client relationship.”) and the ability to opt into communication with the firm via SMS messaging. That helps prospective clients understand what to expect, and knowing that the information they are submitting is secure builds trust.

Time to Prepare

Offering an online contact form isn’t just helpful to your potential clients; you and your practice arguably have the most to gain from the use of a form.

A contact form gives you  time and background information that lets you prepare for consultation. If the issue at hand requires research or knowledge you don’t have at hand, you’re not on the spot. That ability to prepare makes the meeting more productive, and helps you look more professional—a benefit whether the client retains you, or you refer them to another firm you’ve identified as better suited to their needs.

Best Practices for Using Contact Forms on Your Website

If you’re convinced of the advantages of using a contact form on your firm’s website, that’s great; now you need to make sure you set your form up for success. Here are several ways you can do just that:

Keep it Short and Sweet

Contact forms are, by definition, for gathering information, so there’s a natural temptation to try to gather as much as possible. Paige Silver-Dunn counsels against that approach: “Forms that are too long can overwhelm website visitors, causing them not to complete and submit the form. In addition, long forms look unattractive on a site and take up valuable space.” Paige recommends using only essential fields, such as name, email and phone number, the relevant practice area, and a text box for a brief message. 

Do use a brief call to action such as “Schedule a consultation” or “Request a case review.” Calls to action are surprisingly effective in helping prospective clients to take action and reach out to the firm.

Place the Form Prominently

The placement of your contact form on your law firm website has a surprisingly strong impact on submission rates. Paige Silver-Dunn recalls one law firm whose leads increased dramatically when they moved their contact form up higher on their home page; “Do not make people scroll to find your contact form,” she cautions. 

Paige notes that while that practice’s increase in form submission was significant, improvements in submission rates are common with a positive change in contact form placement. She recommends “above the fold” on the homepage and in the sidebar on your law firm website’s interior pages.

Integrate the Form with Your CRM

Make sure your online contact form is integrated with your law firm’s CRM, such as Clio Grow or Lawmatics. Set up automated acknowledgements to reassure senders that their inquiry has been received, and to let them know when they can expect to hear from you (e.g. “Thank you for contacting us! We’ll reply within 24 hours.”). 

Naturally, ensure that there is a process in place for your intake person to be notified of form submissions and to respond within the time specified. Few things destroy trust like breaking your very first promise to a prospective client.

Secure the Data

SSL encryption (HTTPS) is essential to make sure sensitive data is protected, but be aware that that means the form data is only encrypted from their browser to your firm’s server. It could be vulnerable to interception if then forwarded to the firm’s inbox via standard email, which may not be encrypted end-to-end. Sensitive submissions should be stored in a secure CRM or case management system, with firm staff receiving only a notification of the submission via email.

Use Spam Protections

You want your website’s contact form to be easy and convenient enough for potential clients to use without frustration, but complicated enough to deter spam submissions. Limit fields that attract irrelevant spam, such as those that permit file uploads, and consider filtering for keywords like “crypto” or “backlink” before a completed contact form reaches your intake team. 

Get the Most Out of Your Law Firm Website’s Contact Form

Used properly, a website contact form can help the people your firm can best serve connect with you and ultimately become clients. To learn more about how to help your website visitors, and your practice, using online contact forms, reach out to The Modern Firm.