Part III: The Decision Stage (Middle of the Funnel)
Contents
Last Updated on June 1, 2021 by
The Decision Stage (Middle of the Funnel)
Once a law firm has captured information about their leads, it’s time to make sure that the leads are ready to become clients.
In some cases, leads will need more time and information. In others, the leads were only mildly interested, and don’t plan on getting in touch with the law firm.
However, lead qualification and nurturing throughout the decision stage are crucial.
The goal of this stage is to convince leads that the law firm whose lead magnet they got is the best option.
Convincing Prospects
Once the leads’ information has been captured and the lead magnet has been sent, it’s good to automatically subscribe them to the mailing list.
Again, it’s all about commitment.
Micro-commitments like downloading the lead magnet or engaging in a social media conversation have a compound effect. Micro-commitment after micro-commitment, and they’ll be ready to make the ultimate commitment: booking a consultation.
And the more trust they develop in the law firm throughout their middle of the funnel stage, the quicker will they become clients.
Engagement is key.
And the best way to engage leads and turn them into customers is…
Email Marketing
Once the email addresses have been captured, it’s time to engage customers. Social media is fickle when it comes to nurturing leads towards conversion.
Email marketing, on the other hand, reaches potential clients where it counts: in their inboxes.
Inboxes are not as crowded as social media feeds, and they’re more personal. They open up the chance for extended communication, education, and discussion.
For example, a law firm can use email marketing to educate customers about the process of filing a personal injury claim. They can send them a list of documents they should have in order to do so.
They can even start a conversation with prospects, asking them more about their unique case.
Automated drip campaigns
Automated drip campaigns are sets of emails that are sent out on a schedule.
Typically, drip campaigns are used to reengage leads and offer them enough value to make the purchasing decision (in this case, booking time with an attorney).
For example, a law firm can schedule a follow-up email sent to a lead after they’ve downloaded the lead magnet.
The trick is in spacing out the drip emails properly with the goal of staying on the top of leads’ minds.
For example, after the immediate follow-up email, a second email could be sent two days later with the list of best blog content.
Five days later, a video with testimonials of satisfied clients.
The stakes are raised and raised, until it all tips over and the lead decides to book a meeting.
In the hands of a good marketing agency, drip campaigns can be optimized to perfection; from customization on the basis of open rates, to audience segmentation.
It’s important to remember that the key to lead nurturing is providing personalized and relevant experiences.
While there may be no mind readers, drip campaigns’ ability of scheduling and predicting customer needs is as close as it gets.
And it results in a much higher conversion rate.
Social Proof
Middle of the funnel prospects are in the consideration phase. They’re aware of their problems, and they know they have to do something to solve them.
Naturally, they want to find the best option for their needs (and their budget).
Ideally, they’ll be qualified by that point (which includes budgetary means). The only thing left to focus on will be providing social proof – a track record of success in similar cases.
Potential clients are looking for testimonials from people who share similar struggles.
This is where psychographic information comes in handy once again.
People who need a personal injury attorney because of a work injury want to hear from people who’ve sued for work injury compensations, and so on.
If a law firm is also using email marketing and has gathered enough demographic and psychographic information on their target audience, they can use that to tailor the social proof they send their leads.
Social proof can be:
- Quotes
- Video testimonials
- Links to newspaper articles
- Case studies
Retargeting
Finally, if a law firm wants to reach the visitors who haven’t filled out the form the first time they were on the landing page, it’s possible with the help of retargeting.
Typically, retargeting is performed through ads.
When a law firm installs an advertising pixel (commonly Google Pixel and Facebook Pixel), visitors will be “tracked” across the web and served with highly-targeted reactivation ads.
It’s a good option for law firms whose landing pages aren’t converting at a good rate, or which deal with subjects that require more lead education.
In that case, retargeting ads can be used to direct “lost leads” to useful content or simply give them an incentive to share their information with the law firm.
Again, the more specific the law firms are, the better. It’s not enough to just know what the leads need.
In order to attract them, law firms have to create personalized experiences which cater to different types of leads and customers.
All of this will successfully usher the potential customers towards the ultimate decision: the decision to hire that law firm.
Drew is an avid photographer whose images have won many awards.In fact, all of the images on this site were taken by him.
When he is not helping Nimbletoad's clients stand out online you'll find him surfing, hiking in the mountains, or fishing off the coast for yellowtail.
He lives in Vista, located at the northern tip of San Diego, with his wife Brooke and their three dogs Nora, Oliver, and Fin.
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