Having to deal with non-tech savvy clients can be a real pain for law firm owners.
This comment was posted in my exclusive Facebook Group called Savvy Lawyers the other day:
It says: “I love to leverage technology. My issue has been more figuring out how to work with clients who resist technology. I’ve started just turning them away as clients – it’s inefficient for me to run two systems.”
When you’re putting in the work to digitally transform your law firm, it can be off-putting when clients who aren’t good with tech won’t use your new systems properly. Or have a million questions about how to use your amazing new digital system. It can feel like it defeats the purpose of digitalising your law firm in the first place!
But the good news is that this is totally normal. I had to deal with this a lot in the earlier days of digitalising my law firm, and lots of the law firm owners we work with do too. As a result we’ve learned a lot about how to get clients, even technophobes, using digital legal services with ease.
Here are my 7 tips for dealing with non-tech savvy clients:
- Teach clients how to use it. If a client is open to using digital legal services, teach them how to use it. Take a minute to show them how to read and answer questions, or how to watch video explainers and read the helpful information guides, or how to contact you if they have any questions. You don’t have to meet with them to do this, but if you can help them get used to your new way of doing things with a helpful video tutorial or quick guide, it will only make things easier for everyone going forward.
- Keep your explanations simple, use plain English and skip the jargon. You may be enthusiastic and comprehensive when explaining all the things in your new online, digital system, but you won’t get the response you want if your clients don’t understand your questions and explanations. Understanding words like “executor” may seem like second nature to you, but a lot of clients have no idea what it means. Providing clear examples of possible answers is also super helpful.
- Use video. As a client moves through your digital legal services, use explanation videos to guide and empower them. Place the videos at important points during the process so clients can understand important legal terms and concepts – just as they would if they were sitting in a room with you. You don’t need a videographer or any flash video gear – get your iphone out and start recording.
- Demonstrate how digital legal services relate to the client and the benefits they bring. Show them that using tech can speed up your productivity and get them the result they want much sooner and more efficiently and conveniently, and empower them to understand the law more readily — and maybe even save money for both you and the client, or it allows you to make pricing of legal services clear and transparent.
- Share resources that clients might not know about. For example, give them a glossary of unfamiliar terms that they can read; share guides that explain various tasks or steps in the legal process; send them some of your favourite links — they can be fun and entertaining as well as legal-related.
- Choose a niche that is more likely to be tech savvy. Some types of clients are more likely to be tech savvy than others. For example, if you help online business owners, you’ll likely run into few clients who have trouble using your digital legal service.
- Make it clear to potential new clients what level of tech savviness they need to work with you. As part of your marketing and communications with potential clients, you can make it clear that you only work with clients who are willing and able to use tech. It’s important to do this in a positive way that demonstrates the benefits to the client of doing it your way. This will help you attract even more of your ideal clients.
Doing these things made all the difference in my own law firm and in many other law firms offering digital legal services that we work with.
So with this, I hope I’ve helped to reduce your fear and frustration of dealing with non-tech savvy clients as part of your law firm’s digital transformation!
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