We know that client engagement is important in building lasting relationships, and strong client relationships are integral to the success of a law firm. The people in your firm are an important part of building relationships and their profiles on your website can help this process. Don’t underestimate the time website visitors spend viewing staff profiles – a powerful tool for law firm websites.
In today’s high pace digital world this engagement initially takes place with your website as this is often the first form of interaction your law firm has with customers. Your Staff Profile page, also referred to as the ‘Meet the Team’ page is your law firm’s opportunity to showcase your team’s expertise, personality and talents.
It is well known that a website visitor needs to ‘buy you’ before they buy your services. So many staff profiles we see have little or no scope about the depth of experience a solicitor has in their areas of practice. Whilst we are not suggesting your law firm staff profiles should be boastful, the majority of examples we see, generally, gloss over any detail and are too meek.
Here is an opportunity to ‘sell without selling’ and proudly set out the scope and breadth of your experience. You can highlight the complex and challenging work you have done whilst also mentioning your interest in doing all work both big and small, as you don’t want to turn away straightforward matters either.
Anecdotally, many website owners report that their Staff Profile page is the second most visited page, after their Home page, giving support to the fact that your clients want to know about your team, their successes, and their capabilities. This is further supported by evidence of low bounce rates on pages with law firm staff profiles, indicating that your visitors actually do take the time to read the information about your team.
Tips for a Compelling ‘Meet the Team’ Page
Names & Job titles
Publish names and job titles alongside a photo. For ease of contact, but to avoid spamming, include a ‘contact me’ link on each profile that directs to a form for the client to complete, rather than showing personal email addresses. Once contact is made, personal details can be provided to clients for future communication.
A Short Biography
Include a short biography about each person. Use the opportunity to ‘soft sell’ the talents and accomplishments of each member of your team as this allows your prospective clients to connect with the person that best matches their needs and personality too.
Capabilities
Set out the scope and breadth of each person’s ‘story’ keeping it at a high level, intriguing and timeless e.g. don’t mention how many years someone has been involved in a certain speciality as this becomes dated quickly – rather say ‘since 2003…’. A biography isn’t intended to showcase a person’s CV but is rather a reflection of their capabilities.
Keep It Real
Experienced lawyers are likely to have a more colourful biography than an inexperienced lawyer and that’s okay. Allow these members to have a longer biography, provided it remains relevant – but be careful not to undermine those with less experience.
Interests & Passions
For inexperienced lawyers talk about their interest and passion for the industry, subject to it supporting the interests of your law firm.
Expanded Profile
If a team member has a compelling background of cases worthy of mention, use an expanded profile with a ‘click more’ link to cover the relevant details, rather than having a lengthy ‘Meet the Team’ page.
Highlight Knowledge
Don’t be shy to highlight knowledge, expertise and successes in such a way that it gives your clients a sense of trust and comfort in your law firm’s competencies but be wary of coming across as being arrogant.
Consistent Style & Length
Ensure the style is consistent across all profiles and that it aligns to your law firm’s brand and image. Decide upfront if members are to include personal interests or not. Including personal interests is an effective way of displaying the personality and character of your staff – but be cautious with including the names of favourite sports teams as this borders on the risk of discussing religion and politics!
Have each staff member write their own profile at a length slightly longer than you want for your website, as it’s easier to trim excess content than it is to try and create something that is scarce in detail.
Tell a Story
For those team members who struggle with writing about themselves, ask a colleague to write it on their behalf and tweak it until it represents a compelling story.
When personal contact is integral to the success of a business, Staff Profile pages are an essential element of a website. Writing an effective Staff Profile page that highlights your team’s accomplishments, allows you to portray the skills and expertise within your law firm as well as creating a ‘feel good’ opportunity for your staff members to feel proud of their achievements.
Changing the staff profiles from time to time is also an opportunity to review your website content content and keep it up to date. Updating profile images is not difficult and can help with an incremental freshen up of the website.
Don’t underestimate the power of a well-written Staff Profile page in building credibility with your clients and its ability to foster long-lasting relationships.
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