How Client Stories Can Help Your Website

Today’s modern, competitive marketplace has made it essential to build a top-notch law firm website. In order to stay in the game, your website must introduce your company and its services, while at the same time declaring its brand, creating user-friendly content and inserting sound marketing principles. Even websites that check off all of these tasks can look surprisingly bland and similar to one another. One way to inject power into your website is by adding unique client stories. Client stories?can help your law firm’s website?draw attention from visitors, engage clients and assist you in your marketing efforts.?

Why Should Your Law Firm Website Use Client Stories?

Including client stories adds a dash of fresh authenticity to your website, and they offer validation to interested visitors. Client stories take website users on a journey from the beginning of a troubling legal problem all the way to a satisfying solution.?

When supported by real data and infused with a call to action, client stories can bring casual website browsers to the next phase of action. Although client stories have been used for years, today’s technology has made it possible for businesses to insert them easily and effectively on a website or other chosen platform.

Types of Client Stories on Law Firm Websites

Once you realize the impact that client stories can make, you can get creative with how and where to use them. They can take various forms, depending on your desired goals and target audience.?

Text-Based Client Stories?

Client stories written in text on a website take the form of a traditional, written case study, and are often told as a third reader to a suitable conclusion. To make a text-based story more user-friendly, it helps to break up paragraphs with images, charts or other visual data.?

Video Client Stories

Any?client stories can help your law firm’s website, but video can make these stories incredibly powerful.?Video content is becoming an incredibly popular choice to illustrate just about anything, including an individual’s personal legal journey. It makes sense that law firms are using video to illustrate the stories of their clients, since it is easier than ever to create and post. Video content that illustrates a client story packs a visual impact and can be more powerful than one which is text-based, but quality is essential to optimize its effect.?

Interview Client Stories

An interview format is another compelling way to introduce a client’s story, and this can happen through a text-based or video interview. Either format requires a few steps in order to optimize your client story:?

• Interview your client to gain all of the basic information. It may help to use both handwritten notes as well as a recording device.
• Organize and review the data. Check spelling and grammar if this is to be written out on a website.
• Edit as needed to narrow down the focus.?
• Choose and highlight compelling client quotes.?

5 Ways That Client Stories Can Help Your Law Firm’s Website

Since each client story is unique, client stories make a powerful impact on your law firm’s website, and they offer a fresh perspective that you cannot generate on your own.

Client Stories Offer Social Proof

When individuals browse law firm websites, they are typically drawn first to the attorney bios and often next to the client testimonial pages. Prospective clients need solid proof they can trust you before they will hire you, even with your professional reputation and expertise. There is nothing like a peer recommendation to add clout to what you claim; client stories are some of the best advertising you cannot buy.

Client Stories Show the Personal Side

Client stories show another component of your law firm: the personal touch behind the professional front. Potential clients want to know what it is like to work with you, and there are some things that only clients can say on your behalf, such as:

• “All my fears melted away when I heard her in the courtroom.”
• “I almost cried when I realized that at last I had someone on my side.”
• “He is really nice to work with, even though he has a reputation for being an aggressive lawyer.”

Client Stories Display Familiar Situations?

It is important for potential clients to see the successes your law firm has experienced, with individuals just like themselves. Website visitors can relate to people who have endured similar legal issues and they may find themselves inside another client’s story. A client can illustrate their journey and successful outcome in a relatable way, and without legal jargon or unfamiliar terms.?

Client Stories Remind Past Clients About Your Law Firm

One extra perk of asking past clients is that it helps them recall their positive experiences. The best advertising often comes through the referrals of past clients, and contacting them to give a testimonial reminds them that you are still here to help them, or anyone who needs your legal services.?

Client Stories Add SEO

When your law firm includes client stories on its website, this is yet another opportunity to add to your SEO goals, so consider the following when using client stories:

• Choose a keyword-based title
• Pick long-tail keywords
• Craft a meta description that adheres to the client story topic
• Add alt text to photos
• Include links to any related website articles

5 Tips for Using Client Stories?

Asking past clients for a testimonial can feel awkward, but the potential advantages are worth a little initial discomfort, and if they are willing to do it, they often feel honored you asked. Your business relies on positive reviews and generous referrals, and client stories are a good way to promote your company without tooting your own horn. Here are 5 tips to assist you in creating solid client stories and testimonials:?

1. Share an interesting story.?Outline the facts in a compelling way.
2. Stay objective.?Make sure that the client story tells about their positive experience without going overboard to promote and without bias.
3. Keep it short and sweet.?Text-based stories should be limited to 900 words, and may include user-friendly images to break up the text blocks. Videos should stay within three to five minutes in length.
4. Utilize quotes.?Pull out quotes that will create an impact, and spotlight these in a larger font to the side where they can attract reader attention. Use quotes on video, too.
5. Add a call to action.?Finish up with a persuasive pitch that will propel the reader or viewer to the next step of contacting your law firm.

Ethical Considerations

Always keep in mind best practices when sharing client stories on your law firm website and remember to follow?ethics guidelines?and your state requirements.?

What Is a Client Story?

Client stories for law firms refer to online content that involves quotes from satisfied clients who discuss the excellent work that the law firm carried out. This content normally involves active and positive language, and it is important to note that it is necessary to gain the client’s permission to share their story before publishing it. Also known as a customer success story, you can present this content in numerous ways, including via testimonials, client interviews, or case studies. Usually, this type of content outlines the client’s problem and then states the solution provided by the law firm before explaining what happened as a result of these solutions.

The length of a customer satisfaction story can vary, depending on how much information the client is willing and able to provide, and this usually dictates how long the content is. Generally, though, client stories are between 250-1,000 words long.?Client stories provide law firms’ potential clients with helpful and positive insight regarding the firms’ legal services, which helps give firms credibility and leads to improved sales.

How Do You Present a Customer Success Story?

According to?digitalmarketing.org, customer success stories help law firms to gain new clients and retain existing ones. Below, you can find out how to effectively present a customer success story.

Craft a Compelling Introduction

Start your client story by introducing the customer, providing details regarding the client’s background, and mentioning what the client hoped to achieve. While you can do this solely via text, this often makes it more challenging for the reader to process, which may lead to them quickly losing interest. To create an effective introduction for your customer success story, consider using visual presentation methods instead, such as an infographic, which concisely summarizes the above information.

Mention the Client’s Issue

After completing your introduction, follow this up by clearly outlining the client’s legal issue. This involves mentioning the problem faced by your client before your firm assisted them. Usually, this issue directly conflicts with the client’s goals listed in the introduction section.

State the Provided Solution

In this part of your client story, state how the client resolved their legal issue by utilizing your firm’s services. When writing this section, make sure the focus remains on the client. Outline how your legal services were essential in resolving the issue, rather than discussing how great your firm is.

Explain What Happened

Finally, complete your customer success story by explaining what happened to the client. In this section, use facts to support this content and try to include some client quotes, as this helps to emphasize how the client benefited from hiring your firm. Additionally, try to involve the client while formulating the customer success story. This helps ensure that you do not exaggerate any details and that the client’s story is as authentic as possible. Doing this is particularly crucial for managing the expectations of prospective clients, and reduces the chances of them feeling disappointed with your services after reading an over-the-top client story.

How Law Quill Can Help?

At first, it may seem awkward to ask your past clients to share the positive experience they encountered with your law firm. However, the benefits of collecting and sharing client stories are remarkable and many-faceted. Client stories or testimonials offer potential clients social proof that you are real, and that you are a reliable business. Client stories show your website visitors that other individuals like themselves have made it through difficult legal situations, and they hear the story in a language that speaks to them. Client stories in text, video or interview form are ideal opportunities to add SEO to your website and enhance your marketing efforts in a natural way. Finally, interacting with your past clients reminds them about your law firm, boosting the possibility that they will bring future business into your path.

If you would like a free marketing strategy session to learn more about how we can help you with your social media,?schedule an appointment today! You can also listen to the?Legal Marketing Lounge podcast, or check out the bestselling book?Click Magnet: The Ultimate Digital Marketing Guide For Law Firms from Amazon today!

Annette Choti, Esq. has over twenty years of combined legal and digital marketing experience. She founded Law Quill, a full-service digital marketing agency for law firms and businesses in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Annette is a sought-after CLE and keynote speaker for Bar Associations and legal events throughout North America. She creates and hosts the?Legal Marketing Lounge?podcast, and is the author of the bestselling book, Click Magnet: The Ultimate Digital Marketing Guide For Law Firms. Annette used to do theatre and professional comedy, which is not so far from the law, if we are all being honest.??