There was a time when a consumer’s purchasing needs and opportunities were restricted: when the shop closed, so did their ability shop. Business and shopping hours were finite and limited.

Inevitably, with technological advancements, our shopping experience has transitioned now to 24/7. Whilst the expectations of consumers has increased so has their accessibility to products and services. Through the exponential explosion of online services, we now live in a fast-paced, internet savvy, media consuming, on-demand culture. Access to information is immediate, as is the consumer expectation. We no longer stroll to Blockbuster video, we directly download or stream when it’s convenient for us.

Our instantaneous information, box-set binging mentality has become the cultural shift of the 21st century; law firms must adapt, or they will perish. The habits of consumers are similar in any circumstance, even when choosing a law firm. Consumers are spoilt for choice, enjoying price comparison sites for too long to allow legal service providers the privilege of providing opaque and clouded information. Research supports this view with 70% of consumers looking for conveyancing quotes online.

Yvonne, Hirons, CEO of Perfect Portal UK, said: “Home movers have evolved in their behaviour which is actually driven by technology. If you consider how we consume things today, for example, we want information up front.

“The main challenge is to continue thinking ahead and helping firms to remain relevant. We need to give them the tools to succeed. It is easy to stop listening and observing; once you do stop, you can quickly become irrelevant”.

Price and service transparency should no longer be viewed by legal firms as a compliance regulation, they are a fundamental, non-negotiable consumer requirement. From the consumer’s perspective, they search for houses online at a time that suits them. During their search, information including house details, images and videos are accessible to the consumer. Therefore, it is logical to ensure that legal services are also easily available. What does that mean for law firms? Failing to embrace change will result in your business being overlooked.

Yvonne, Hirons, CEO of Perfect Portal UK, continues: “If we look at how price transparency and technology will attract new business, clients are looking to find and book legal services outside of business hours, especially evenings and weekends.

The first thing the home movers will do after finding a property is look online for a conveyancing quote. If a firm has not got the cost and service information readily available on their website then the potential client will move on to the next firm's website who can provide that information.

Research suggests that by 2020, consumers will select providers based on experience over product and price. Perfect Portal allows a firm’s clients to enjoy transparency and engagement from picking up the phone/laptop and requesting a quote, to completion of the case.”

If you are looking for a technologically driven way to remain relevant, adhere to transparency regulations and improve conversion rates, register for our upcoming joint InfoTrack webinar Transparency drives best practice.

Richard Jones

Richard is National Manager at Perfect Portal and has a passion for exploring how technology can make life easier. He has worked in the fields of both legal and healthcare technology for over 20 years across Europe, Asia and now Australia. His number one focus right now is delivering technology solutions to the legal industry to streamline and eliminate manual processes and drive efficiencies within law firms and conveyancers.

Share this article on social