How “digitally mature” would you say your law firm is? Based on a survey of the top 100 law firms in the world, Ultimedia’s 2022/23 Digital Maturity Report for the Legal Sector finds that more than half of these businesses have increased their use of technology over the past two years. However, the leading law firms in the world are not keeping up with the digital transformation. Although these results are cause for concern, they also present an excellent opportunity for law firms to evaluate their online profiles and determine their strengths and areas for improvement.
After a brief introduction, we’ll dive into the report’s key findings and discuss what they mean for your law firm’s digital transformation based on data from the 2022/23 Legal Sector Digital Maturity Report.
Why is Digital Maturity important for law firms?
The findings of each year’s edition of our Legal Trends Report highlight, without fail, the significance of technology to the overall performance of law firms as well as the level of client satisfaction experienced by those firms. In addition to the obvious advantages that digital data security presents for legal practices, adopting a tech-forward approach to your practice can assist legal practices in generating new leads, saving time through automation, and providing an experience that is centred on the client. It is not an option to avoid becoming digitally mature in this new era, which is heavily influenced by technology.
What does the 2022/23 Digital Maturity Report cover?
The term “digital maturity” was developed by Ultimedia and is defined as a measurement of “how effective and innovative a law firm is based on their adoption and implementation of digital marketing and technology.” In order to generate a digital maturity score for each law firm that was evaluated, the report measures performance across ten different areas. These areas include the effectiveness of the website, email marketing, and the use of social media.
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Key findings from the 2022/23 Digital Maturity Report for the legal sector
According to the findings of the 2022/23 Digital Maturity Report, the top 100 global law firms have made significant progress toward improving their digital maturity; however, they are not keeping up with the expectations of their clients or the rapidly evolving digital landscape. Notably, not a single company scored higher than 66% on their digital maturity score, which suggests that the legal industry has a long way to go before it reaches its full potential in terms of technological advancement.
The following is a list of some of the most important findings that were found in the 2022/23 Digital Maturity Report:
Only three percent of the law firms that were evaluated have any signs of personalization on their websites, despite the fact that eighty percent of respondents said they are more likely to do business with companies that offer a personalized content experience.
In spite of the fact that 82% of respondents to a survey prefer brands that have a “content presence” (such as videos, blogs, images, and infographics), only 52% of the law firms that were evaluated make use of video content on their websites.
Only 17% of the law firms that were tested followed search engine optimization (SEO) best practices, despite the fact that online searches for law firms are conducted by 80% of people.
Despite the fact that paid searches account for 58% of website visitors, only 13% of legal practices engage in paid search marketing.
In addition, the majority of law firms (74%) performed poorly on the audience size test because they targeted a known audience rather than casting a wider digital net in order to attract new clients. The vast majority of the law firms that were examined also fared poorly on accessibility and load speed tests conducted on their websites.
These findings imply that there is a disconnect between the ways in which prospective clients evaluate and access the services of law firms online and the methods that the most successful law firms use to attract clients.
What Ultimedia’s key findings mean for law firms
The findings of Ultimedia’s study reveal a great deal of room for improvement in the manner in which law firms approach digital maturity.
To begin, a great number of companies made sizeable investments in various website platforms. Nevertheless, the findings imply that many businesses do not exploit the full potential of the technology stacks they already possess. When formulating their digital strategies, law firms would do well to keep in mind the importance of capitalizing on the technology they already possess.
The need to prioritize one’s customers is the single most important thing that can be learned from reading this report. It will be easier for you to provide an experience that is centred on the customer and attract new clients if you optimize your digital presence and make the client journey as painless and immersive as possible well before the customer discovers your website. Any law firm can plot a course toward digital transformation if it takes the time to learn from the best law firms in the world, both in terms of what they should do and what they should avoid doing.
Are you starving for further legal understanding? You can learn more about the current state of the legal industry and the ways in which legal technology is assisting firms in thriving by consulting the 2022 Legal Trends Report.
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