Good reviews are the gold standard for generating new business. Each good review is a personal referral that anyone can see. While it may be true that a law firm has to get a lot of good reviews to generate one new client, if a law firm gets just one bad review, it may lose a lot of potential clients.
Law firms that want to minimize the risk of negative reviews must stay on top of client relationships to avoid or mitigate bad client experiences. Client complaints tend to develop from misunderstandings and can often be prevented with awareness and clear communication.
When a bad or fake review is left on a review site, an attorney or law firm can take steps to have it removed. However, the decision to delete the review is within the discretion of the hosting site. Even if a review is not removed, there are ways to minimize its impact and potentially achieve a positive result.
Who is Reading Law Firm Reviews?
According to the ABA Journal, 95% of all legal consumers use law firm and attorney reviews to help them decide who to hire. Almost 85% of legal consumers say reviews are the first thing they look at when trying to find an attorney.
Whether the review is on your Google Business Profile, Facebook, or industry-specific sites such as Martindale-Hubbell or Lawyers.com, your potential clients want to see how you compare with competitors offering similar services.
The good news is that something less than all 5-star reviews will actually win over prospective clients, who are more likely to trust reviews when they see a variety of mostly positive comments and a few less-than-positive ones. Ratings in the low to mid-4s are actually preferable because they appear more authentic to readers.
Why Law Firms Get Bad Reviews from Clients
Managing client relations is one of the most important elements of business development for a law firm. Purchasing legal services has become a buyer’s market, and keeping the buyers happy is essential for long-term success.
Clients who are unhappy with a law firm and likely to leave a negative review do so for three main reasons.
1. Lack of or Poor Communication
The biggest complaint and reason for dissatisfaction with an attorney or law firm is that a client feels unheard or uninformed. Client communications can be improved by establishing communication protocols early in the representation, outlining the legal process and key deadlines, and providing regular updates to keep the client on board and in the loop.
2. Unmet Client Expectations
An attorney needs to ensure a client has a realistic understanding of the legal process and the potential outcomes of the representation. Failing to properly prepare a client for all possible outcomes can lead to client frustration and dissatisfaction when there are unanticipated delays or when the final outcome is not as successful as the client desired.
3. Excessive Legal Fees
Your fees may not be excessive, in fact, but the client’s perspective is what can lead to a poor review. There is a widespread perception that legal fees will be expensive. The way to get ahead of this with clients is to be very transparent about fees and costs, keep clients regularly informed as fees and costs accrue, and respond immediately to questions or concerns about billing.
Attorneys must also keep in mind that while legal matters may be routine for them, legal issues can be overwhelming and emotionally stressful for clients who really need to feel cared for and reassured during what may be a very difficult time.
What to Do if a Client Leaves Your Law Firm a Bad Review or You Get a Fake Review
No matter how careful you are to keep clients happy, something is bound to slip through the cracks eventually, and you or your law firm will receive a review expressing a client’s frustration. You should respond to all negative reviews.
When a negative review is called to your attention, you may remember the experience and have a very different interpretation from the client. The comments may sting because you feel you did your best, and the review is neither accurate nor fair in describing your services.
The important thing here is not to respond defensively. Take a moment to try to understand where the client might be coming from and how things could have gotten off track. Remember, other people will be reading the review, so your response must be thoughtful.
Let the following suggestions guide you as you prepare a response to a negative review.
- Respond promptly – don’t let a negative review sit out there unanswered
- Keep your response cooperative and concise.
- Acknowledge the client’s feelings and apologize for the poor experience
- Explain where mistakes were made, or misunderstandings could have occurred
- Express remedial steps that will be taken to avoid similar experiences in the future
- Keep in mind ethical considerations like client confidentiality
- Offer to connect with the client in a private exchange if it seems more appropriate
Even if you think a client was way off base in their review, it will only be removed if it violates the site’s content policy. Therefore, it is best to respond as though the review will remain on the platform and then try to have it removed.
Fake Reviews
It doesn’t happen often, but every once in a while, you might find a negative review showing up from someone who was never a client. Dealing with this type of review may depend on the review site’s policies. A quick response apologizing for the bad experience and letting the reviewer know that you have no record of a prior representation, but are willing to discuss it further, will let readers know it’s most likely a fake review.
When a Bad or Fake Review Can Be Deleted
Unfortunately, an attorney or law firm has no control over reviews that appear on a review site. Each site has its own policy on the kinds of content acceptable for inclusion in a review, though most prohibit similar types of content. If a review is posted that violates the site’s content policy, the site may decide to remove it.
The following are several popular review sites, along with steps you can take to get an inappropriate review removed from each.
Google Business Profile
Google hosts over 80% of online reviews for businesses and is by far the most popular source for getting information about local businesses. So your business profile is one place you want to monitor your reviews closely.
Google will only remove a review if the language violates its policy against prohibited and restricted content. Content that is fake, misleading, offensive, dangerous, or illegal will be removed.
You can report an inappropriate review from your business profile. If Google decides not to remove the review, you may appeal the decision one time. However, Blue Seven Content also helps clients with bad and fake review removal services. We don’t go through the regular routes for removing a review, and we have a success rate of over 90%. If the review doesn’t get removed (happens sometimes), then you pay us nothing.
Facebook will consider removing a review if it violates its Community Standards. Similar to the kinds of content prohibited by Google, Facebook does not allow content that is spammy, inauthentic, hateful, offensive, threatening, or harassing.
You can report a review that violates Facebook’s community standards directly from the review. If Facebook agrees the review violates its policies, the review will be removed.
Alternatively, you can hide a bad review by turning off the reviews feature. However, you will hide all past reviews and prevent clients from leaving new ones. You will also be removing the social proof vital to establishing trust with new clients.
Martindale-Hubbell
Martindale-Hubbell profile information appears across all members of the Martindale – Avvo network, including Martindale-Hubbell, Avvo, Lawyers.com, and NOLO, so you especially want to stay on top of reviews when there is such high visibility.
Lawyers who receive negative reviews can report them to Martindale’s customer support as abusive if they are inappropriate or false. The site will remove reviews that violate its content policies.
There is no ability to selectively hide negative reviews. All reviews may be hidden, but a message will appear indicating that the attorney has chosen not to display reviews.
Tips for Successfully Managing Law Firm Reviews
Responding to client reviews – especially the negative ones – can be an excellent opportunity for attorneys and law firms to market themselves. When you engage with reviews, you provide potential clients with additional context that helps them decide whether they want to work with you.
Managing reviews should be a top priority to increase visibility through local SEO and build trust through social proof. Practice the following tips to get the most benefit from client reviews.
- Be proactive in addressing common client concerns, and make sure clients understand when they can expect to hear from you, what to expect to happen and when, and how much it will cost.
- Let clients know the kind of experience you want them to have and how much you value an honest review.
- Encourage clients to always allow you the opportunity to correct a bad experience before they leave a negative review.
- Regularly monitor your review sites so you can respond promptly.
- If you get a negative review that isn’t removed, respond appropriately, and then focus on generating new, positive reviews that will ‘bury’ the bad one.
- Reach out privately to a client who left a negative review to see if the issue can be resolved to mutual benefit. A satisfied client may be willing to edit or voluntarily remove the review.
Clients want to feel that their attorney really hears them and sincerely cares about their situation. Empathy can go a long way toward shaping a client’s experience.
A Bad Review Can Actually Help You and Your Business Become Better
Sure, we all want to receive recognition and appreciation for doing things well. But what if we could have done better? What if a bad review is really an opportunity to reassess what we are doing and find ways to improve our service?
At Blue Seven Content, we are always open to learning better and more efficient ways to deliver our digital marketing services, and we encourage our clients to take a similar approach. A bad review is an invitation to communicate. Responding with genuine interest in making things right can turn frustrated critics into loyal clients and brand ambassadors.
