Lawyers, Do You Clearly Show Your Rates Online?
At the last Avvocating conference, one of the speakers mentioned that people expect to shop for lawyers online the same way they shop for books. If that’s the case, and it likely is, then here’s one study that shows why more lawyers ought to list their rates clearly on their websites.
Consumer ecommerce expectations
Oneupweb, a digital marketing agency, recently did a study about which factors most affect consumer purchase decisions on ecommerce websites. Here is one particularly interesting graphic (click here to enlarge):
As you can see, the number one factor that influences consumer purchasing decisions is clearly stated price information. This makes intuitive sense to anyone who has shopped online, because with so many vendors to choose from, why bother with one who hides prices?
Buying lawyers vs. books online
The above study wasn’t done with lawyers in mind, so of course some of the results are lost in translation. However, Avvo does have its own data to support that transparent pricing is important to consumers in selecting a lawyer. In fact, price transparency may be even more important when “buying” a lawyer as opposed to buying other “products” online because there is much more anxiety associated with hiring a lawyer.
It’s also worth noting that the study found B2B customers don’t place the same emphasis on transparent pricing online, so it may not be as important for corporate lawyers, for example, to show rates as DUI or traffic ticket lawyers.
August 16th, 2010 at 4:15 pm
I suppose I disagree with the conclusions suggested by this post inasmuch as legal services can or should be compared with other online products, such as you might find at Amazon.
My clients get price certainty, which I submit is something they deserve is most cases. However, providing a fee sheet because some survey says prospective clients want it reminds me of Henry Ford’s quote, “If I asked what customers wanted, they’d have told me ‘faster horses’”
Attorneys should rebel against the commoditization of legal services. Hard.