PHONE IS STILL KING FOR LEGAL CUSTOMERS ACCORDING TO NEW RESEARCH

The telephone remains the most popular way for customers to contact US legal service providers, despite the boom in portals and social media, according to new research.

Commissioned by the world’s leading outsourced communications provider, Moneypenny, the research, titled ‘The Inbound Phone Call’ reveals that calls to law firms have increased by 26% over the last five years. The research also shows that 35% of all calls to legal firms result in a new business inquiry.

Highlighting the commercial necessity of professional and efficient call handling, the research also reveals that these new enquiry calls equate to a staggering US$266m^[1]for small business law firms across the US.

The report goes on to show that 48% of the legal firms surveyed cite customers’ desire for reassurance and to talk to a person as the main reason for the increase in calls, followed by business growth (43%) and customers calling to verify their online research (40%).

Mel Carlen, VP of Operations US at Moneypenny, said: “Viewing telephone calls in relation to their new business value helps to reiterate just how critical efficient call handling is to business growth, as well as maintaining market share and offering a positive customer experience.  We know that missed calls cost business and that when callers reach an answerphone, they just hang up and move on”

The report credits the ubiquity of smartphones for driving a phone call renaissance and in particular, the increasing use of Google’s click to call feature – which allows cell phone users to call directly from their search results.

Mel added: “Even with so many different customer communication channels available, the phone is still king. It delivers instant gratification for time-poor customers and provides the all-important reassurance of knowing your inquiry is being handled by talking to someone directly.   The legal sector may be focused on new tech-enabled and digital solutions, but answering the phone well remains a law firm’s fundamental secret weapon.”

Moneypenny’s research confirms the phone’s position as the most popular way for customers to contact legal service providers, closely followed by email (46%) social media (33%) letter (27%) and live chat (24%).

Moneypenny is the world’s leading provider of telephone answering, outsourced switchboard, Live Chat, and customer contact solutions. Moneypenny works with businesses of all shapes and sizes, from small business owners right up to multinational corporations.  Moneypenny has over 1000 staff based in the USA and the UK. The company was founded by a brother and sister team in 2000 and currently handles over 20 million calls and live chats for 21,000 businesses.  Moneypenny now includes award-winning VoiceNation and NinjaNumber.

Notes to Editors

Moneypenny commissioned a report conducted by Censuswide Consultants who surveyed 143 US law firms between Nov 15th and 29^th, in 2019.

For contact:

justask@moneypenny.com
Ph:+1 844 364 6623 (US)
Ph:+1 866-202-0005

^[1] An average US law firm receives 294 calls per month –  35% of these calls result in a new enquiry (103) with a mean value of US$1591 per call and 157,000 small business law firms operating in the US.

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