Why your firm should send a client survey

Many law firms are uncomfortable doing client satisfaction surveys, a key step in writing a marketing plan.  It often takes time to convince recalcitrant law firm partners that only good comes from asking clients how you can improve your firm and service.  I mean “good” as in seeing increased referrals from clients that we can often track after a survey and “good” as in being assigned additional work soon after a survey of existing clients.

Here’s a redacted email general counsel of a Fortune 500 company sent to one of our clients recently.  It was sent unsolicited after the in-house lawyer had completed an online client satisfaction survey we sent on the law firm’s behalf:

“I just did the survey that was sent to me.  While I was ‘thinking’ on the two of you, I wanted to make sure – if I hadn’t already – that I told you how great I think you both are and what a wonderful job you did on the ———- litigation.  I work with a lot of outside firms and can tell you that I was quite impressed with your team.  So…thank you.  And I hope we get the chance to work together in the future.”

Receiving emails and personal comments like this is the rule, not the exception, when doing client surveys.