Top 3 Tips on Conducting Client Surveys

As an attorney, client surveys can provide invaluable feedback for your firm and for your own legal practice.

Are you curious to know if your clients like you? If they are happy with the work you've done? Some lawyers are skeptical about surveys, thinking that clients might think that they're just one extra hassle.

However, giving clients the opportunity to give you feedback can actually be a positive thing for clients. Clients may want to have the option to give more input on the services they have been receiving.

Here are the top 3 tips for conducting client surveys:

Client Survey Tip #1: Decide if you want to have the survey done in writing, face-to-face, or over the phone. If you're looking for detailed information about specific cases, conducting the survey through a face-to-face interaction is probably the best way to get information. However, if you're looking for a large amount of quantitative data from a large number of clients, sending out a written survey can probably achieve the best results. And, of course, when sending out the written survey, keep the survey short.

Client Survey Tip #2: Find out what your clients want to give feedback on. This might require asking a select group of clients in a focus group what they would like to be asked, but coming up with a tailored, tight list of questions to ask clients is more worth the time. And, if there is a specific area that clients want to give your firm some input on, it would be well-advised to put that somewhere in the survey.

Client Survey Tip #3: Thank your clients, and give them feedback on the survey results you collected. Having an attorney in the firm write up a short thank-you e-mail or note can go a long way to fostering good client relations. After all, your clients took time out of their schedules to answer a survey about your firm's services - it's best if you somehow acknowledge their sacrifice. And, of course, to make it seem like it was all worthwhile, offer some feedback on the survey results.

For a law firm or a solo attorney, client surveys are a great way to keep in touch with your client base.

Related Resources:

• Tips On Conducting Client Surveys (FindLaw)
• Starting a Solo Practice: Top 3 Initial Marketing Moves (FindLaw's Strategist)
• Critiquing a Small Law Firm's Website: What Not to Do (FindLaw's Strategist)