The median response time for law firms to respond to online leads decreased 8 minutes to 13 in 2024, compared to a median response time of 21 minutes in 2023. If your response time is longer than 13 minutes, you’re slower than average.
2024 Lead Form Response Times
While response rates to online leads are at an all-time high, response times are eye-catching as well. Twenty-eight percent of firms respond to online leads in under 5 minutes, a significant increase of 10 percentage points from just 18% of firms in 2023. Thirty-five percent of firms respond in 10 minutes or less, and 56% of firms respond in 2 hours or less.
The writing’s on the wall: Law firms who focus on their intake process and prioritize fast response times to online leads are in a prime position to maximize their digital marketing ROI and dominate their market.
Trends In Responding To Online Leads
Phone calls, text, and email are the three most common methods used to respond to online leads. Use of all three when responding to an online lead is on the rise, with 2024 seeing a 37% increase in firms using all three methods when responding to an online lead than in 2023.
Consistent with previous years, email continues to be the most common reply method by law firms when responding to online leads. This year, we went a step further and analyzed the personalized nature of emails and determined just 7% of initial email responses to online leads were not personalized.
What’s driving this trend leading to 93% of email responses to leads having a personal touch? Our strategists and insights teams at Hennessey Digital have determined three probable factors:
- Improvements in email automation technology
- Adoption of AI-supported tools coming to market that interpret leads and generate responses in the voice of a live person
- Continued value placed on human authenticity and human interaction when engaging with clients, which is at the core of most client/attorney relationships
Outreach Excellence
Consistency is a proven key to success. Congratulations to the following law firms who have earned our Outreach Excellence Award by responding to online leads in under 10 minutes in each of the last four years:
- Thompson Law Injury Lawyers
- Bart Durham Injury Law
- Castle Law Office
- Terry Bryant
- Wayne Wright
- Debtstoppers
- Gould Injury Law
- Alexander Shunnarah & Associates
- Carlson Law Firm
- Mark E. Salomone & Morelli
- Gruber Law Offices
- Smith & Hassler
- Jack Bernstein Injury Lawyers
Law Firm Outreach All-Stars
Is your firm on the list? Check out this year's list of the 369 fastest-responding law firms who are quick to connect with prospective clients and respond to online leads in under 5 minutes.
- Steinberg Law Firm
- Boohoff Law
- Lawter & Associates
- Anderson & Hart
- AndersonDodson
- Ayar Law
- Bernstein & Bernstein
- Lanier Law Group
- Willis Law
- Law Offices of Michael Lamensoff
- Grewal Law
- Alex & Associates
- Frickey Law
- Cutter Law
- Burns Law
- Hupy & Abraham
- Johnson Law Firm
- McKernan Gordon Injury Associates
- Nava Law Group
- Richardson Richardson Boudreaux
- Runyon & Runyon
- Schott Mauss & Associates
- TorHoerman Law
- Troutman & Troutman
- Yocum, Krowl & Associates
- Arnold & Itkin
- Caplan & Tamburino Law Firm
- Colling Gilbert Wright
- Eichholz Law Firm
- Henson Fuerst
- Hochman & Plunkett
- James Trauring & Associates
- Jay Trucks & Associates
- Kaufman & Stigger
- Kelleher Firm
- Kogan & DiSalvo
- Kruger & Hodges
- Law office of Sam Byrd
- Mishkind Kulwicki Law Co.
- Rosenfeld & Morgan
- Sam Bernstein Law Firm
- Sparks Law
- Steiden Law Offices
- Warner Law Offices
- Lubin & Meyer
- The Umansky Law Firm
- Jetton & Meredith
- Robert J Debry & Associates
- The Law Firm of David C Chavez
- Pearson Butler
- Henness & Haight
- Kuzyk Law
- Robert Mansour
- Colbert Cooper Hill
- Top Dog Law
- Esquire Law
- Melone Hatley
- Giroux Pappas Trial Attorneys
- H&P Law
- AK Law Firm
- Jay Murray Law Group
- Pusch & Nguyen
- Deuterman Law Group
- Jamie Casino Injury Attorneys
- Jonathan Perkins Injury Lawyers
- Dunnion Law Firm
- Kerr Robichaux & Carroll
- Law Brothers
- Allen Law Firm
- Yosha, Cook & Tisch
- Flores Tawney & Acosta
- Aulsbrook Law Firm
- Carlson Law Firm
- Reaves Law Firm
- Davis, Saperstein & Salomon
- Freeburn Hamilton
- Golden Law office
- Isaacs & Isaacs
- Morgan Collins Yeast & Salyer
- O'Connor Acciani & Levy
- Gomez Trial Attorneys
- Lloyd Baker Injury Attorneys
- Richmond Vona
- Bhatt Law Group
- Charles T Hall Law Firm
- Lorenz & Lorenz
- Simmons & Fletcher
- Elk + Elk
- Daniella Levi
- McMahan Law Firm
- Rosenbaum & Rosenbaum
- Edwards Kirby
- David Shapiro Law
- Badders Law Firm
- The Doan Law Firm
- Gerber & Holder
- Heuser & Heuser
- McClelland & Associates
- Glenn Armentor Law Corporation
- Accident Law Group
- Blass Law
- Gemma Law Associates
- Schiller & Hamilton Law Firm
- Richard Schwartz & Associates
- Ryan Orsatti Law
- Distasio Law Firm
- Frankl Kominsky
- Hendy Johnson Vaughn Emery
- Kevin Crooks
- LegalGenius
- Ricci Law Firm
- The Manely Firm
- Weitz & Luxenberg
- The Skiver Law Firm
- Harold Carr
- Metier Law Firm
- Bond Legal Injury Attorneys
- Vaughan & Vaughan
- Shaw Cowart
- Lever & Ecker
- Long & Long
- Kavinoky Law Firm
- Walter Clark
- Dreyer Babich Buccola Wood Campora
- Benson & Bingham
- Bryan Musgrave
- Herrman & Herrman
- Mannis Law Firm
- Ruhmann Law Firm
- Eltringham Law Group
- Fieger Law
- Gilman & Bedigian
- Roman Austin
- David Boehrer Law Firm
- Robert & Spiegel
- Berger Lagnese & Paul
- MGM Attorneys
- Miley Legal Group
- Nicholas Perot Smith Bernhardt & Zosh
- The Bishop Law Firm
- Buckfire & Buckfire
- Thompson Law Firm
- McNicholas & McNicholas
- Chopin Law Firm
- The Flood Law Firm
- Groth & Associates
- Jason Stone Injury Lawyers
- Hope Law Firm
- J. Chad Parker
- The Law Offices of Peter T Nicholl
- KAL Attorneys
- Atlanta Personal Injury Law Group
- Becker Law Firm
- Burg Simpson
- Davis Miles
- Cutt, Kendell & Olson
- Goldberg & Osborne
- Grayson Law
- Adam M. Smallow
- Chaffin Luhana
- Whitley Law Firm
- Blade Injury Law
- Boughter Sinak
- Catalano Law
- Christensen Law
- Bart Durham Injury Law
- Castle Law office
- Goss Law Firm
- HDC LAW
- Herrera Law Firm
- John Solis
- Law office of Bobby Garcia
- Malman Law
- Meyers & Flowers
- Morgan & Morgan
- Murphy Law Firm
- Pintas & Mullins
- Powers Law
- Roberts & Roberts
- Schwebel Goetz & Sieben
- Sloan Firm
- Terry Bryant
- The Higgins Firm
- Thompson Law
- Colombo Law
- Conti Moore Law
- CR Legal Team
- Daggett Shuler Law
- Dean Waite & Associates
- Derrick Law Firm
- Drusk Lasite Tosilano
- Fenstersheib Law Group
- Fried Goldberg
- Friedman Domiano & Smith
- Gary Martin Hays
- Gerson & Schwartz
- Gervelis Law Firm
- Goldberg Finnegan & Mester
- Gonzalez & Cartwright
- Goodman Acker
- Grimes Teich Anderson
- Harding Mazzotti
- Hatfield Temple
- Horenstein Nicholson & Blumenthal
- James Scott Farrin
- Karl Truman Law office
- Kline & Specter
- Kornbluth Ginsberg
- Law office of James R. Snell, Jr.
- Law Offices of Brian J. Mongelluzzo
- Law Offices of Gary Bruce
- Lytal Reiter Smith Ivey & Fronrath
- McWhirter Bellinger & Associates
- Merriman Legal
- Mike Hostilo Law Firm
- Mike Slocumb Law Firm
- Montlick & Associates
- Nurenberg Paris Heller & McCarthy
- Pfeifer Morgan & Stesiak
- Riddle & Brantley
- Sadek And Cooper
- Saiontz & Kirk
- Sinas Dramis Law Firm
- Steidl & Steinberg
- Stewart & Stewart
- WGK Personal Injury Lawyers
- Winton & Hiestand Law Group
- Yost Legal Group
- Law Offices of Dianne Sawaya
- Harris Personal Injury Lawyers
- Jamison, Emting & Cronin
- Kleczek Law
- LakePoint
- Law Offices of Steven J Klearman & Associates
- Shelly Leeke Law Firm
- Alexander Shunnarah & Associates
- Ankin Law office
- Fob James
- Hasbrook & Hasbrook
- Patterson Legal Group
- Witherite Law Group
- Farmer Cline & Campbell
- Monge & Associates
- Pond Lehocky Stern Giordano
- Stanley Law Group
- Stewart Law Offices
- Ramos Law
- Citywide Law Group
- Ellis Injury Law
- Larry H Parker
- Levinson Law Group
- Nyman Turkish Attorneys
- Mike Agruss Law
- Domnick & Yaffa
- Christian Schwaner Law
- Chisholm Chisholm & Kilpatrick
- White Law
- Arias Sanguinetti
- Crowson Law Group
- Adam S. Kutner
- Brandy Austin Law
- Debtstoppers
- Parrish DeVaughn Injury Lawyers
- Peterson & Associates
- Taylor King Law
- Cohen & Cohen
- Culpepper Kurland
- King Law
- Smith Injury Lawyers
- Hastings & Hastings
- King Aminpour Car Accident Lawyer
- Naqvi Injury Law
- The Paul Powell Law Firm
- Brad Hendricks
- Russ Brown
- DiBella Law
- Zanes Law
- Casper & Casper
- Banner Attorneys
- Pittman Dutton
- Rainwater Holt & Sexton
- Rocky McElhaney Law Firm
- The Benton Law Firm
- Emroch & Kilduff
- Greenberg & Bederman
- Gregory S. Young
- Hardison & Cochran
- Harrell & Harrell
- Hurst Limontes
- Jack Bernstein Injury Lawyers
- Law Offices of Ryan Quinn
- Matt Hardin Law
- Scott & Wallace
- The CEO Lawyer
- Warner Law Offices
- Bottaro Law Firm
- Law Offices of Mickey Fine
- Catania & Catania
- Babcock Trial Lawyers
- Brian Hodgkiss Injury Lawyers
- SiebenCarey
- Stephens Law
- Wettermark & Keith
- Dan Newlin & Partners
- Elia & Ponto
- LaBovick Law Group
- Marasco & Nesselbush
- Trial Pros
- Uvalle Law Firm
- Welcenbach Law
- Frish Law Group
- Axelrod & Associates
- Demas Law Group
- Bryant Law Center
- Berenson Injury Law
- Laborde Earles Law Firm
- Morris & Dewett
- Wayne Wright
- Cooper Hurley Injury Lawyers
- GBM Law
- Gordon & Partners
- Gould Injury Law
- Jan Dils
- Michael Kelly Injury Lawyers
- LRW
- Phillips Law Group
- De Castroverde Law Group
- Gharibian Law
- Grossman Law Offices
- Pacific West Injury Law
- Quick Law Group
- Cannon & Dunphy
- Fasig Brooks
- Miller, Dawson, Sigal & Ward
- John Michael Bailey Injury Lawyers
- The Law Place
- Kiley Law Group
- Dussault & Zatir
- Michigan Auto
- Scottsdale Injury Lawyers
- M & Y Injury Lawyers
- Charbonnet Law Firm
- Bradley Law Personal Injury Lawyers
- Goldblatt Singer
- Haug Farrar & Franco
- Gruber Law Offices
- High Rise Financial
- Sigman Janssen
- Law Office of Julian Lewis Sanders & Associates
- Marks & Harrison
- Robinette Law
- Sawan & Sawan
- Cohen & Marzban
- Dubin Law Group
- Aaron Sachs & Associates
- Caldwell Wenzel & Asthana
- Cordell & Cordell
- Kaufman & McPherson
- McDivitt Law Firm
- Law Offices of Mark E Salomone & Morelli
- Stewart Guss Injury Lawyers
- Battle Born Injury Lawyers
- Spencer Calahan Injury Lawyers
- Goff Law Group
- Jeffrey Glassman
- Sam Aguiar Injury Lawyers
- Perez Law Group
- Shook & Stone
What’s the Hangup? 3 Reasons Law Firms Don’t Respond To Leads
Missing online leads results in digital marketing waste – that’s the fact for the 27% of law firms leaving money on the table. Not responding to leads lowers the potential of your digital marketing ROI and can make it appear as if your law firm SEO or law firm PPC campaigns aren’t performing. It can also result in negative brand reputation. When speaking with law firms, they have their reasons.
Here are 3 common reasons law firms don’t respond to online leads – and how to turn them into opportunities.
- Leads don’t have a local area code. If you’re only responding to leads within certain area codes, odds are you’re missing valuable cases. The rise of cellular and fall of landlines means greater portability of phone numbers when someone moves to a different city or state, so don’t dismiss the quality of a lead based on the first three digits.
- Ignoring leads because of the volume of spam. Valuable new cases are overlooked if you ignore leads altogether because of the amount of spam that comes through your website. It can also tank your digital marketing performance metrics and lead to a negative experience someone has with your firm, which can result in negative online reviews. Spam overloading your lead forms is a signal that your website needs attention. If spam is making your intake process daunting and inefficient, contact us for a website audit.
- Lead submissions aren’t qualified enough. There are a few things to consider if you’re not responding because a lead isn’t a fit for your firm:
- Give the consumer the benefit of the doubt. Remember: You’re close to your industry; chances are, the person submitting a lead form is not. They did arrive at your website, though, right? A vague lead form submission without phrases or keywords you’re looking for may turn out to be an ideal case for your firm.
- Does your lead form require the information you’re seeking to easily qualify your firm? A QA of your lead form and intake process could result in incremental cases and revenue for your firm.
HD LEAD ANALYZER
An AI-supported tool engineered by Hennessey Digital, law firms are using this tool to efficiently assess leads and calls, and never miss a hot lead. Reach out and we’ll show you how it works.
How to Get More Online Leads & Convert Them Into Cases
Make your lead form stand out.
Make sure your lead form is easy to find and visible on your website. We found that many lead forms were difficult to find, weren’t included on a firm’s homepage, or had poor design and were nearly invisible!
Refine your image & messaging.
Enhancing clarity on your website can help users filter themselves out. Refine your image, branding, and website design to effectively communicate your expertise, the kinds of cases you take, and your track record of success. By adding elements such as detailed victory examples and a compelling about section, you give potential clients adequate context to understand if you’re the right firm for them.
Identify yourself in every communication.
When responding to online leads, make sure you clearly identify your firm (or the referring firm if a referral) and articulate clearly if leaving a voicemail. Not being able to understand the voicemail or not recognizing a law firm’s name will result in the prospective client wondering who you are and not calling you back .
2024 Fastest-Responding Cities
Median response times when responding to online leads
- Greater Cleveland, OH 0MIN
- Little Rock, AR 1MIN
- Oklahoma City, OK 1MIN
- Savannah, GA 1MIN
- Raleigh, NC 2MIN
- Tallahassee, FL 3MIN
- Las Vegas, NV 3MIN
- Louisville, KY 3MIN
- Prescott, AZ 3MIN
- West Palm Beach, FL 3MIN
2024 Slowest-Responding Cities
Median response times when responding to online leads
- Charlotte, NC 106MIN
- Greater Norfolk, VA 104MIN
- Syracuse, NY 68MIN
- Portland, OR 66MIN
- Boston, MA 49MIN
- Pittsburgh, PA 47MIN
- Columbus, OH 35MIN
- Austin, TX 33MIN
- Kansas City, MO 32MIN
- Denver, CO 31MIN
Response Times By City
There’s one thing these lists have in common: opportunity. Law firms in mid-sized U.S. cities are dominating the fastest-responding cities list this year, while some markets have hit the brakes, as noted on the list of slowest-responding cities. If you’re in these markets or looking to scale your firm in more than one city, tap Hennessey Digital for tailored local SEO, law firm PPC, or other digital marketing strategies to increase your visibility and help you dominate any market.
Law Firm Website Trends
For the second consecutive year, we analyzed the presence of Spanish-language versions and website translation features on law firm websites to reach and engage non-English-speaking clients. Surprisingly the number remained steady year over year, with 35% of law firm websites featuring a Spanish or multi-language translation option.
Website Translation
That number could spike next year. Here’s why:
Hennessey Digital has brought a game-changer to market with the launch of HD Translate, a one-of-a-kind AI-powered website translation tool created with SEO, search engine rankings, and engagement with multinational clients for law firms in mind. Available as a stand-alone offering for companies, HD Translate is AI-powered and human QA’d, creating web pages in any language that are also indexed on Google, so that your website appears for searches in that language. Contact us to learn more about the tool and how it’s driving leads for law firms.
Chat Tools for Law Firm Websites
Chat remains a popular website feature for law firms; however, the use of chat to engage site visitors decreased slightly in the past year, down three percentage points to 61% in 2024.
Text Messaging For Law Firms
A new trend driven by consumer behavior may be emerging for law firm websites. In 2024, 10% of law firms included in the study featured texting as a way to contact the firm, making it easier for prospective clients to engage in real-time with firms, eliminate playing phone tag, and potentially shorten the window between receiving a lead and signing a new client.
Our Predictions: Trends to Watch
What’s ahead, and where will law firm websites and online lead generation go from here?
- SEO and PPC are staples of law firm digital marketing. There’s a reason SEO and PPC have been strategies helping companies grow for decades. Law firm SEO involves understanding the Google algorithm and strategies that help your firm rank above your competition when someone is searching for your services. Its value speaks for itself, considering we’ve generated more than $1 billion in leads and verdicts for law firms leveraging the power of SEO. Of similar value but requiring a different approach, pay-per-click advertising gives you visibility in a competitive marketplace and gives you more control over your message and your brand. Together, these channels work in harmony to boost leads for your firm with measurable, transparent digital marketing ROI.
- Expect to see and hear more about AI and its ability to create efficiencies or opportunities for your law firm. Whether it’s streamlining processes, supporting research efforts, creating content or using AI to create custom tools that help your firm work smarter, the space is still in its infancy and products coming to market will evolve.
- Continued adoption of technology. We’re already seeing the impact technology is having on improving law firm operations and creating connections with clients. In 2024, AI and automation created a shift in more personalized, faster communication with prospective clients. Hennessey Digital clients are also benefiting from tools innovated in-house that give clients a competitive advantage with SEO campaign management, including how we’re using geospatial technology to inform digital marketing strategies and identify expansion opportunities for clients. We’ll continue to monitor and share where and how technology is helping law firms. Subscribe to our Digital Dish and bookmark our blog to stay on top of these trends.
- Human authenticity is as important as ever for law firms. While digital connections make it easy to connect anytime from anywhere, and for your business to generate leads outside of business hours, personalization, authenticity and trust remain crucial in converting leads to cases, and growing your brand’s reputation.
Top 5 Steps To Improve Your Law Firm Intake Process
Converting more leads to cases is often possible by doing a health check of your intake process and making improvements. Lawyer Mike D’Angelo, CEO of Eclipse Strategy Group, recommends these five tips for things law firms can do right now that will have an immediate impact on improving your intake and converting more leads to cases:
- Track the “right” Intake Metrics & Key Performance Indicators so the best data is tracked, measured, and used to make informed decisions to optimize your conversion rates from leads to cases.
- Audit your Intake calls and use them for training staff through role playing and implementing best practices to improve your conversion rates and increase the client experience.
- Report metrics back to your digital marketing partner as this will assist with increasing the quality of your leads. This feedback will ensure you’re receiving the best leads so your Intake Team can be more successful converting them into cases.
- Stabilize your Intake Team and play the long game by creating a career path within the Intake Team and beyond by promoting from within your firm. This includes compensating your Intake Team to motivate successful behaviors & staying engaged.
- Build and develop a referral system that is automated and adds real value and real profits to your bottom line without utilizing expensive resources.
Methodology
This study aims to better understand law firms’ responsiveness to online leads owing to its critical role in achieving optimal results from digital marketing and lead generation.
For this study, Hennessey Digital contacted 1,377 law firms in the U.S. identified from the following sources:
- The DMA Report
- The Law Firm A-List, years 2020-2024
- An independent list curated by Hennessey Digital, including law firms who have requested to be included in Hennessey Digital research
The research included the original firms contacted in our previous lead form response time studies in order to establish a benchmark comparing year-over-year response times and identify industry trends. The study was conducted in Q1 of 2024 and sampled personal injury law firms, criminal defense law firms, and other practice areas. All inquiries were sent through the online lead form on a law firm’s website between the hours of 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. in the firm’s local time zone, using a fictitious alias and story. The response time was measured between the exact time an online form was submitted and the first personal outreach from the respective law firm. Initial response times were measured if they took place within seven days of submitting a lead form inquiry. If a firm’s initial response was after the first seven days, they were considered non-responsive.
Authors & Research Design Team
Cindy Kerber Spellman Senior Director of Marketing
Amy Heigel Senior Marketing & Communications Manager
Stanislov Ivanov Data Scientist
Brandon Caballero Director of Analytics & CRO
Jasper Prince Graphic Designer
Blin Kazazi Chief Technology Officer
Scott Shrum President & COO
Special thanks to Nikka Suan, Greg Herrmann and Melodee Dacanay