Video Transcription
Avoid Free Accounts
What is the email address for your law firm? If it ends with gmail.com, bigpond.com, or yahoo.com, you need to change it immediately.
If you want to appear as a reputable and trusted advisor, you must get all the finer details in your business sorted, this includes your email address. The difference between a successful law firm, generating new leads daily and one that struggles to get the phone ringing, is how your brand is perceived by potential clients.
It’s not branding your Law Firm
Given that Gmail, Bigpond or Yahoo accounts are free to create, it means anyone in the world can open an account. How this comes across to your potential clients can be the deciding factor between choosing you or your competitors. Meanwhile, an email from your domain can only come from you.
It means clients can associate your brand with your email. It gives client’s the opportunity to find your website and see you as a trusted law firm. It may be a small thing, but the little things matter in developing a strong brand.
More Control
Having a free email account can give you little control as your law firm grows. Your employees will need their own email address set up from the firm’s domain, which gives you more control if they decide to leave.
If your staff uses a Gmail account for your firm, all email communications with clients also leave when they leave. Meanwhile, email addresses on your domain, are in your control. You can redirect any emails to your inbox if the staff takes extended leave or resigns.
Privacy Concerns
Free email accounts also open up the risk of hacks and security breaches, which means client data is vulnerable to being compromised. Google themselves have disclosed in a court filing, that Gmail users have no “reasonable expectation” that their emails are confidential. On the contrary, having your law firm’s email setup on your own domain provides added security measures and reduces the risk of cyber-security attacks.
Losing Clients
If the previous points don’t move you to action, then this will: having a free account such as Gmail, Bigpond or Yahoo puts you at risk of losing clients. Potential clients are more likely to communicate with a law firm that appears credible and trusted, and free email accounts do not portray this. A free email account may turn clients away from your firm.
Act Now
Your law firm may never be able to accurately measure the impact of having your own firm’s domain, however, many successful law firms will attest to it. If you currently have a free email account, take action to purchase a domain that is reflective of your firm’s brand.