KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are the caped crusaders of the business world, guiding companies towards success one data point at a time. There are thousands of potential KPIs businesses can track to monitor performance, including hundreds tailored specifically to law firms. But who has time for that? Not your busy legal practice, Ace. That’s why we’ve cut the fat and compiled our top ten list of superpowered KPIs every law firm should track now.
Advertising KPIs
You want to grow your firm. So, you muscle through a slew of advertising and marketing options, both digital and traditional, to determine what will work hardest to grow your brand and convert new clients. Well done. Once you’ve nailed down your strategy and your campaign is up and running, it’s time to sit back and watch your marketing work its magic. But how will you know what’s working? Enter KPIs. By monitoring the following essential metrics, you can track exactly where your firm’s ad strategy is and isn’t working and adjust accordingly.
- Reach is all about brand awareness on social media and comes in three basic flavors:
- Total reach — the number of unique users who’ve viewed your content
- Total impressions — the number of times your content has been viewed
- Share of voice (SOV) — the number of times your brand is mentioned vs competitor brands
- Engagement is how consumers interact directly with your brand through actions such as clicks, likes, comments and shares. The average engagement rate across social platforms is one to four percent. Over six percent means you’re engaging out the ying-yang. Over forty percent means you are Southwest Airlines and have no business on this page.
- Cost per click (CPC) is the price you pay an online publisher (e.g., Google, Amazon, Facebook) each time someone clicks on your pay-per-click (PPC) ad. CPC = total ad cost ÷ total number of clicks. Easy peasy. And why so uber-important? Because it affects your ROI, that’s why.
Website KPIs
Want to understand your law firm’s real performance over time? Track your website’s data. Here are four important KPIs you should be measuring to determine your site’s effectiveness and see more cases coming your way. A good web analytics tool (we recommend Google Analytics) can do the tracking, provide an in-depth comparison of sources and mine tons of other useful data.
- Traffic by sources measures — you guessed it — which traffic sources are driving visitors to your website. The three main traffic sources are direct (user goes straight to your URL), referral (user follows a link on another website), and search (user finds your URL via a search engine such as Google). Your website may also have traffic from campaigns such as banner ads or paid search.
- Pageviews are the number of views your website gets over a given period. As a rule of thumb, a website needs at least 50 pageviews/day to be profitable. Not unreasonable considering pageviews get counted every time someone loads a page from your website. Setting up pageview tracking helps you assess the popularity of your website content and see how users are interacting with it. It can also tell you which pages are most liked and how long users are staying on them.
- Average time on page (ATOP) can be calculated by dividing the total time users spent on a page by the total number of pageviews, minus the number of exits. Better yet, let Google Analytics do it.
Average engagement time per session (AETS) is a similar metric that shows the average time users spend actively engaging with your website or app per session. (An engaged session must last longer than ten seconds, have a conversion event, or include two or more screen/pageviews. Anything less is just a fling without a ring.) Here again, let Google do the heavy lifting.
According to HubSpot, the average time spent on a website page is just 54 seconds, so make sure your site loads fast and is crazy engaging. Just so you know, 56 percent of law firm clients use websites to compare their attorney (you) to the other guys.
- Events & conversions track the number of users who complete a specified objective on your firm’s website. For example, say your firm offers free checklists, forms, or brochures to help clients understand their legal challenges better. In exchange, your goal is to get names and email addresses. Users share their info; you email the goods. Boom, conversion completed.
Business KPIs
It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that cha-ching. Practicing law may be your passion but running a successful law firm is your business. Without a thriving client base, Atticus, you’re looking at limited revenue, reduced profitability, and increased competition. Once again, KPIs to the rescue.
- Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) is an individual who’s shown interest in your firm, based on your marketing efforts. This might include actions like filling out a form, downloading content or engaging with your website or social post. MQLs are considered more likely to become clients compared to other leads because of their higher level of engagement and interest. Once marketing has identified MQLs, they can send them along for more in-depth analysis.
- Conversion Rate (MQL to SQL) – While MQLs are leads that have indicated more interest than others but are not quite ready to fully commit, SQLs (Sales Qualified Leads) are MQLs that have been thoroughly analyzed and are deemed ready for a full-fledged conversion effort. The average MQL-to-SQL conversion rate is about 13 percent. Did we mention KPIs are all about acronyms?
- Marketing-Generated Client Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) tracks the cost of acquiring a client through a specific advertising channel, i.e., the fee your firm will pay for an ad that results in a conversion. Keep a (legal) eagle eye on this KPI as it indicates your marketing ROI and helps inform decisions about future budget allocations. In 2024, your firm should be earmarking about $1,000-$2,000 monthly per client acquisition via marketing.
About Roux Advertising
Eric Morgan is President of Roux Advertising, a full-service agency that increases law firm case volume through distinctive marketing campaigns. Roux uses a strategy-first process that positions law firms uniquely in a marketplace and crafts the ad messaging, media buying, and analytics to capture brand awareness and drive qualified cases. Learn more at rouxadvertising.com
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