Does your case management application include data-driven case acquisition tools? If not, it might be time to consider a switch. Just about every business on the planet collects data of some sort, but only the most successful know how to use it to bring in new customers.

Law is not usually an area that we normally associate with big data. But that’s only because the legal sector has historically been slow to adopt new technology. The fact is that data can be a tremendous help in the ongoing effort to grow a practice. It all comes down to understanding how a practice is performing in all areas of case acquisition.

A Few Key Questions

We will assume that your case acquisition program is not data driven. With that assumption, there are a few key questions to ask about your firm, questions that should illustrate the importance of making data part of the equation. Here they are:

• Do we know what our top referral sources are?
• Do we know how many referrals come from those sources?
• How many prospects do we expect to actually become clients?
• Among those that are converted, how much revenue can we expect to generate?
• Do we use online intake to convert prospects into clients?
• How do prospects find us online?

Believe it or not, a lot of law firm owners and managers cannot answer these questions. They do not really know the numbers behind their case acquisition efforts. They do know the bottom line, which is good, but they do not know what goes into making the bottom line what it is.

Data Provides the Answers

Hopefully you now have a better idea of why data is so important to case acquisition. It provides the answers to all of the marketing department’s questions. Data tells the marketing department where prospects are coming from. It tells them how successful they are converting prospects to clients. Data also measures how well attorneys are doing in the converting process.

By way of example, imagine your law firm works with other industry partners and website owners to exchange links. Let us also say that one of your backlinks has consistently delivered 12 to 15 leads every week. Suddenly that drops to just two or three. Your data tells you that something is wrong. Now you can go investigate and hopefully fix what is broken.

If you are not tracking referral sources, you would have no way of knowing that something is wrong with that link. You would not know to go fix it. As a result, you would have fewer weekly leads to follow up on. Fewer leads means fewer opportunities to convert prospects to clients.

Data Offers a Snapshot

Data-driven case acquisition is very much tied to marketing. But there is something else at play here: the current state of your law firm. Data helps by providing a snapshot of all the most important key performance indicators at a glance. Understanding the current state of your business makes future case acquisition efforts more productive.

For example, your case management app should be able to clearly tell you the current status of every prospect your firm is working with. Knowing that information makes responding to each prospect a breeze. On the other hand, not knowing the status of current prospects means your firm is less nimble and responsive to them.

Data-driven case acquisition is the way to go. If your firm is not using data for generating leads, contacting prospects, and converting those prospects to paying clients, it is time for a new approach.