Hennessey Digital’s 2024 Lead Form Response Time Study

We reached out to over 1,400 Personal Injury Law Firms to evaluate their response times.

Surprisingly, 27% of the firms did not respond to our online inquiry at all.

Curious to see if your firm was included in the study? Keep reading or click here to search for your firm.

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When a potential client hits submit, every minute matters.

When a potential client hits “submit,” every minute matters.

Online leads are a top performance metric in law firm digital marketing. But what happens after a potential client clicks submit? That’s when the clock starts ticking and every minute matters.

Our annual benchmark of lead form response times and online trends for law firms analyzes close to 1,400 law firms to give lawyers a pulse on what the competition looks like at the national and local levels, and details actionable insights to convert more leads generated from valuable marketing dollars.

Which firms dominate the market in lead form responsiveness?

We’re recognizing nearly 400 firms for their timely responses. Did yours make the list?

Digital Marketing ROI

Key Trends In Online Lead Gen For Lawyers

overall response rate

Seventy-three percent of law firms respond to online leads. While there was no change year-over-year in this statistic when compared to 2023, response rates to online leads have increased 24% since we conducted our first study in 2021.

No Response

A staggering 27% of law firms do not respond to online leads. Considering that many law firms spend tens of thousands of dollars a month in digital marketing, firms that don’t respond to online leads are missing a significant opportunity to increase their caseload and revenue.

Response in Under 5 Minutes

More law firms are responding to online leads in under 5 minutes than ever before, with 28% responding in under 5 minutes in 2024, compared to 19% in 2023, and the lowest in 2022 at 12%.

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.

Email is the most common reply method to online leads, and they’re becoming more personalized. (What do we think is driving this trend? Read on.)

Will text messaging become a valuable form of lead gen for lawyers? In 2024, texting features appeared on 10% of law firm websites, suggesting the potential for meaningful real-time engagement that could create intake and conversion efficiencies for firms.