Why Payment Options Should Be Part of Your Legal Marketing Strategy

The 2020 annual benchmarking study conducted by the Australasian Legal Practice Management Association (ALPMA) has identified revenue growth, cashflow and lock up as the main financial challenges for law firms, with work in progress (WIP) and debtor days often exceeding 90 days.

As clients seek certainty in fees and flexibility when it comes to payment, many firms had to move away from traditional billing, looking into alternative to ensure their practice’s profitability. With the impact of COVID-19 and many clients accessing Government stimulus and Job Keeper programs, it is now, more than ever, time to rethink your
payment collection strategy.

Consumers are making decisions based on their favourite payment methods, so offering greater flexibility can help you convert more prospects. Best of all? It’s incredibly easy to include payment options in your legal marketing strategy.

 

4 Easy Steps to Showcase Your Payment Methods

Step 1: Offer alternative payment methods.

Want to really stand out from the competition? There are several flexible payment
frameworks offered on the market. If you are seeking a client-centric approach with payment plans specifically created for legal services, QuickFee offers solutions adapted to your client’s needs. Here is a list of the different payment solutions currently offered:

• Non-recourse, interest-free and credit risk free monthly instalments – for firms of all sizes
• Generic legal fee funding services – for firms with a revenue over $1M
• Disbursement funding – for firms with a revenue over $2M
• Family law funding – for firms with a revenue over $3M

Step 2: Create a dedicated payments or pricing page on your firm’s website.

Did you know that pricing and payment pages tend to be the most visited spots on websites? All you have to do is add an online payment portal link or payment landing page to your site’s navigation bar. It’s not the only thing prospective clients will consider, but it might help get them in the door. See an example here

Step 3: Give your clients a payment link at every single touchpoint.

Online payment methods are appealing because they’re convenient. Increase that convenience by adding your online payment portal everywhere. That means including it on invoices, flyers, and any other communications so that the link will always be available.
As a bonus: This can also help reduce your accounts receivable over time.

It’s a good idea to include your payment link(s) in all the following places:

• Invoices
• Emails
• Web pages
• Banners
• Table tents
• Flyers

Step 4: Include payment methods in your call-to-action.

If your firm is already committed to a strong legal marketing strategy, it’s even easier to start promoting payment options in your PPC campaigns. Add “Now accepting flexible payments” to every call-to-actions, on your forms or web pages.

Five things businesses can do in lockdown

At some point, we all go through a challenging time, and these are especially exacerbated during lockdown. Here are five things you can do during a lockdown or testing times with your business.

 

 

1.  Continue to connect and engage with your team.

The pandemic is completely redefining the way teams communicate and work. It is important for businesses to continue and connect with team. Some ways teams can engage online can be activities like Pino and Picasso and team zoom online drinks.

 

2.  Taking a break

Sometimes we get caught up and working long hours. Whether it be going out on your lunch break and taking a walk in the sunshine or taking it a step further and taking a day of annual leave or a couple of weeks of leave, it gives you time to reset and comeback reinvigorated.

 

3.  Look after your customers

Now is the time to build loyalty with your customers. After all, these are people whom you have worked so hard to get on board to become your clients. It can not only build a stronger relationship, but it can become a better business environment.  It may be as small as a check-in phone call to see how they are going or holding a virtual event with them.

 

4. Utilise technology

We live in a technology-driven world, and many of these platforms can help streamlines your business. For example, Slack is used both within QuickFee and to connect externally with people outside of the business and can be used across many different platforms too.

 

5.  Block out time for creative thinking

While working remotely has many advantages and can save you time, it can mean you lose some of the valuable time you may have previously used for creative thinking. Such as during the drive to and from the office. Ensure you block out some time in your diary or calendar to have time to yourself and allow creative or inspiring thoughts to develop.