Clients Prefer Online Fee Payments
If your firm doesn’t accept online fee payments, it’s a wonder you’re able to keep your office doors open.
That’s because 66 percent of clients prefer to pay their attorney fees online, according to the 2021 Clio Legal Trends Report. Other top preferences: automated payments and payments via mobile app.
By contrast, the least-desired method to receive and pay legal bill is snail mail.
Also disfavored by clients: having to travel to a law office to pay their bill in person.
“At this stage, clients prefer options that prioritize convenience over any direct forms of interaction,” according to the report. “Communicating by physical mail is the least favored option among consumers, which suggests that, at a minimum, firms should be prepared to offer paperless experiences for their clients.”
Read the 2021 Clio Legal Trends Report here.
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“Results from this year’s research indicate that consumers today express a much more diverse set of preferences about how they want to communicate, and that these preferences vary across touchpoints throughout a legal matter,” according to the report.
Following are some specifics from the 2021 Clio Report:
How Clients Reach Out to a Law Office
- Phone 71 percent
- In-person 71 percent
- Email 59 percent
- Text message 57 percent
- Secure mobile app 52 percent
- Website chat 47 percent
How Clients Want to Meet Their Lawyer Initially
- In-person 76 percent
- Phone 70 percent
- Video conference 58 percent
- Email 54 percent
- Text message 48 percent
- Secure mobile app 47 percent
- Website chat 45 percent
Communicating About Key Decisions
- In-person 75 percent
- Phone 71 percent
- Video conference 61 percent
- Email 57 percent
- Secure client portal 56 percent
- Text message 53 percent
- Secure mobile app 51 percent
- Website chat 44 percent
- Mail 43 percent
Receiving Status Updates
- Phone 73 percent
- In-person 68 percent
- Email 66 percent
- Secure client portal 61 percent
- Video conference 60 percent
- Text message 48 percent
- Secure mobile app 56 percent
- Mail 45 percent
Making Payments
- Online 66 percent
- Automated payments 61 percent
- Mobile app 61
- In-person 59 percent
- By mail 47 percent
- Phone 46 percent
Read the 2021 Legal Trends Report Online | Clio
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