Leading law firms are failing online

The country's top firms are ignoring the significant power of video to attract clients, a new report has suggested.

According to mmadigital, only 28 per cent of content is read on an average web page, compared to video which typically holds the attention of a viewer for two minutes. Firms with video on their websites are 50 times more likely to appear on the first page of Google.

Dez Derry, CEO of mmadigital, said clients now wanted to find legal services online and were doing it more while on the move.

"Having a basic web presence is not enough anymore," he said. "Law firms need to establish well thought-out digital marketing strategies that reflect the way clients want to buy and interact. This means embracing mobile technology and using video rather than pages of text to promote their services."

mmadigital examined the firms' websites between 18 July and 4 August, 2014. They looked at:

• whether the website is mobile responsive;

• does the website have a load time of less than four seconds?;

• does the website have video content on its home page?;

• is the website compatible with Google Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari; and

• is the website compliant with regulators' website standards?

The report examined the website effectiveness of the UK's top 200 firms, and found over half of leading firms do not have a mobile responsive website, despite two million online searches for legal terms being made in the UK every day. A third of all searches were made using a mobile or tablet device.

Derry said if firms could be accessed from a mobile device and had short videos instead of text, potential clients would be more likely to choose you for their legal work as it matches the user experience they are receiving in other parts of their online lives.

Compatibility and compliance

Firms did however fare better on compatibility. Almost all websites demonstrated compatibility with Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and Safari, while 94 per cent of websites loaded within four seconds, the recommended load time by search engine Google.

Despite this, firms will want to examine their own compliance as mmadigital's research discovered only 18 per cent of firms were fully compliant with the SRA Code of Conduct, E-Commerce Directive, the Companies Act and the Business Names Act.