The user experience, or UX, for your website is a direct reflection on how potential clients perceive your law firm.
One of the keys to a website’s success is its ability to provide a good user experience, or UX. If you have poor law firm UX it will immediately raise red flags with potential clients, severely limiting one of your most important avenues for new leads. That’s why it’s important to partner with an agency that has a proven track record for producing effective UX design for law firm websites.
Here are six keys to ensuring that your site conveys the look and feel of a top-notch law firm while making everything simple to use and engaging for your website visitors.
1. Mobile is as Important as Desktop
Recently, mobile searches surpassed desktop for the first time. This trend will continue as more and more people have their initial experience with your law firm’s website through a mobile phone, tablet, or other mobile device. Responsive design is critical in order to convey the same look, feel, and ease of navigation no matter what device is used to view your site.
2. Good Design Leads to Repeat Visitors
If you have a poorly designed website, the numbers are stacked against you. 68% of people leave a website due to bad design and 88% say they won’t return after a bad user experience. Start with a layout that is simple, fluid, and engaging, presenting your law firm’s offerings in a clear, concise manner. You want to direct attention to the information you most want your potential clients to see—your contact information, client testimonials, attorney profiles and areas of practice. That way, your firm will remain top of mind when it comes time to retain legal services. Gather analytics and data to find out which of your pages are working best and why.
3. Content Is Not Everything
About 70% of websites miss one of the most crucial factors for engaging visitors: a clear call-to-action. Make sure your website directly asks for further engagement. Ask people to call, sign up for a newsletter, fill out a form on a topic of personal interest, or sign up for a free consultation. Every page on your site should allow visitors to take some kind of action.
4. Content Is Still Important
Exceptional law firm UX should provide easy navigation and accessibility, but without any compelling content to convey your firm’s personality and authority in particular areas, there is no reason to explore and learn more. Offer a dynamic mix of content to engage visitors from all walks of life. Include everything from relevant, helpful articles to quick infographics and explainer videos. This way, visitors can find something useful whether they have half an hour to spend reading or are looking for a quick two-minute overview of a topic.
5. One Second Load Time
This has been a mantra for years, but now, it’s more important than ever. Site loading time is major factor in Google’s rankings, but even more crucially, almost half of site visitors will immediately click to another website if yours takes longer than three seconds to load. Make sure your website beats this deadline. Ideally, it should take less than one second for the first page to appear on your visitor’s screen.
6. Profiles Are Key to Attracting New Clients
On a law firm’s website, the profiles of the attorneys are read more than anything else on the site. Potential clients want to be able to see and have a feel for who they will be dealing with before they make an appointment for a consultation. Good profiles, compete with descriptions of each attorney, their education and experience, and professionally-taken portrait photos, will give potential clients the confidence they need to take the next step.
If you want to learn more about compelling, effective UX design for law firm websites, contact Kirkpatrick Creative at 866-864-9425 and let us help you generate new business. We specialize in law firm website design, advertising, and marketing.
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