The item that caught my eye this time round was however written on a topic that has the capacity to do as much harm as good -- the provision of online facilities for your clients to review your practice. This item, by Daniel Kidd ("Why customer reviews are so important", which you can read here), looks at various service review packages and opens reassuringly with the words
"Getting your firm reviewed by customers is extremely easy and cost effective and has the potential to improve your search rankings as well as your click through and conversion rates".Indeed, this is the case. There are however plenty of matters arising. These include and are therefore not limited to the following:
- what to do about client reviews that are rightly or wrongly pejorative?
- the effect of a client's accidental or deliberate mis-use of a law firm name (eg "Berwins" might refer to a firm of solicitors in Harrogate, to "Berwin Leighton Paisner" or to "King & Wood Mallesons", and Simmons & Simmons might emerge as "Summons & Summons")
- the (non)portabilitiy of reviews where a practice dissolves and the solicitors go their different ways, whether to different firms or as soloists
- the risk of reviews disclosing information that was not meant to be made publicly available
- the need to develop a routine and a set of in-house practices for monitoring client reviews and dealing effectively with matters arising.
Do any readers of this blog have personal experience of client review software that they can share with us?