Client Listening Programmes in 2021
Client Listening programmes are embracing scale and automation to keep up with evolving client needs. Being able to hear and respond to clients quickly is proving a competitive advantage. Firms sticking with traditional feedback systems and manual analysis are increasingly feeling left behind. Our recent Voice of the Client benchmarking study, spoke to senior decision-makers across 29 law firms to get a glimpse at how they are working to future-proof their firm to compete on experience.
How are firms looking to evolve their client listening programmes in 2021, to ensure they can continue to compete on experience?
We recently asked this question of senior decision-makers at 29 law firms. Between them, they are working to improve all 6 key areas:
COLLECT – “we don’t collect enough feedback”
Traditional client listening programmes have focused on key clients and/or periodic research. This made sense when human resources were limited and feedback had to be collected, analysed and reported manually.
But there are now platforms that automate these steps, enabling firms to scale up their client listening.
AGGREGATE – “we need to join up what we’re hearing”
Traditional feedback processes lead to data getting stuck in silos and scattered across the firm. From files with individual transcripts to conversations stored in people’s heads, joining up all sources of feedback is a big focus in 2021.
ANALYSE – “we need a robust system for analysing client views”
Unstructured text comments are a goldmine of potential insights, which is why many firms use interviews as part of their client listening programmes. But these firms have been manually scanning and tagging verbatim comments. It’s a slow and subjective process that doesn’t scale.
To solve this problem, firms are turning to dedicated AI solutions that can instantly make sense of their client’s views.
SHARE – “we need to be sharing feedback across the firm”
Without a robust way to collect, analyse and summarise client feedback, firms find it hard to regularly share the insights with the Senior Management Team. As a result, feedback stays ‘local’, and is focused on fixing specific issues rather than discovering root causes and new opportunities.
DECIDE – “we need to improve how feedback informs service delivery”
The last 18 months have seen a big shift in client needs and expectations. Digital transformation has swept every industry, with early adopters setting the standards that clients now expect all suppliers to meet.
Firms are telling us that being able to respond to clients quickly is a competitive advantage. But making informed decisions requires them to have an up-to-date view across the whole client base.
IMPLEMENT – “we need to start delivering what clients want. Not what lawyers think clients want”
Ultimately, the point of listening to clients is so the firm can take action. This could be celebrating great feedback, improving service consistency or adapting to new client expectations. But this can only happen if senior decision-makers are willing to be client-led.
So we’re seeing that implementation is as much about culture as process. For every firm hungry for client feedback, there’s one that’s not ready to listen. That’s why feedback is a loop.
Future-proof client listening programmes
Collecting and responding to feedback at scale is now a simple process. For example, MyCustomerLens can automatically collect, aggregate and analyse client feedback in real-time. Through a combination of AI and modern databases enables firms to focus their existing resources on action not analysis. But only if the firm wants to listen and take action on what their clients are telling them.
Do you want to future-proof your firm to compete on client experience? You can get in touch with us here.