Are you keeping track of those review websites to see what’s being said about you? If not, you should be. According to a new survey by FindLaw, two-thirds of consumers are more likely to hire a lawyer with online reviews. This is especially true of millennial consumers by a ratio of 71 percent compared to 49 percent for baby boomers.
What’s even more interesting is that most consumers are searching for attorney reviews on Yelp as opposed to more traditional attorney review sites such as Avvo, Lawyers.com, and Martindale.com. In her blog, Susan Cartier Liebel comments that lawyers should be focusing on “crowd-sourced” review sites such as Yelp because “consumers are actually congregating [there] and seeking out advice.” The other review sites mentioned above have a very small market share for lawyer review searches compared to Yelp’s 58 percent. This is why attorneys should start there first to build their reputation and then move on to sites such as Avvo.
One way to build up your reputation is to “encourage satisfied clients to post reviews,” says one expert. Another tip is to “engage clients who are having issues rather than avoid them.” Better that clients air any grievances to you than post them online. Below are a few more tips for managing online reviews.
- Respond to all kinds of reviews. When you respond, you show clients that you value their feedback. “Responding also drives engagement,” says Crystal Shuller in her blog.
- Always respond to a negative review. Use it as an opportunity to let all the other readers understand and be impressed by your firm's brand and mission, advises Nathan Chapman. For example, if the negative review talks about how the client’s calls were never returned, perhaps the response is something like, “We can sometimes be slower at returning individual phone calls than we would like. It’s our mission to stand up for the average working guy against big insurance companies, so that does take a lot of time.”
- Consider using a reputation management service. See Best Online Reputation Management Services 2017. This list includes service providers for both individuals and businesses.
- If all else fails, consider a lawsuit. There may be times when a review is defamatory. This past June, Yelp was ordered to remove a review following a California lawyer’s default judgment against a former client who was accused of posting defamatory reviews of the law firm.