Is data analytics the silver lining of COVID-19?

Many agree the global pandemic will change how law firms carry out business development. Time, therefore, to look afresh at data analytics because – even more than ever – they may present at least some of the answers.

Tracey Rodgers, Head of Client Intelligence, Harneys

Tracey.Rodgers@harneys.com

Alex Helling, Digital Technology Manager, Harneys

Alex.Helling@harneys.com

Less time spent on travel and more on fee earning work, corporate entertainment replaced by evenings spent with family and friends has made elements of the Covid scenario appear to offer (at least in some respects) a tempting future.

At Harneys, our lawyers turned to Zoom in the early days of the lockdown to connect with clients, then webinars and virtual conferences as we quickly adapted our MBD technology. We also looked at ways to entertain through virtual cocktail parties, fantasy football and online cooking lessons, as our lawyers aimed to create a sense of fun and camaraderie in an otherwise challenging time.

Is there a silver lining of lockdown?

There has always been the challenge of capturing who lawyers met at events and then recording the key information into a CRM system to try and establish ROI. Since the cancellation of all in-person activities and with 12 months of data to analyse, we have been able to measure and evaluate the impact of the traditional networking events on new business.

One of the advantages is the digital footprint from virtual marketing; we are better able to passively capture the data points that measure ROI. If we can track that first engagement with our brand, clicking on a Google search result, to the downloading of a podcast, attending a webinar, a call with a lawyer, a quote, through to opening a matter then we can advise on how best to allocate budget, and more importantly, a fee earner’s time.

Will the virtual world finally give us accurate ROI?

If we use the standard sales funnel as a guide, we can start to categorise activities and identify data points to measure against. The trick is to be able to capture and link these points without manual intervention.

Awareness

At Harneys, our lawyers turned to Zoom in the early days of the lockdown to connect with clients, then webinars and virtual conferences as we quickly adapted our MBD technology. We also looked at ways to entertain through virtual cocktail parties, fantasy football and online cooking lessons, as our lawyers aimed to create a sense of fun and camaraderie in an otherwise challenging time.

Interest

As prospects start to engage with us, they are registering for our newsletters, completing our enquiry forms or attending our webinars. Calls and meetings are the precursor to the opportunity to quote or pitch.

Decision

How many quotes, proposals or pitches were sent out and what is the win rate? Whereas BD can record all the pitches they have been asked to work on, it has been challenging to ask lawyers to log every quote. We have started using Time records and it is proving an effective way for lawyers to log opportunities.

Action

Number of clients and matters opened. The linking of matters to the quote or opportunity can automate the win/lose ratio and, if linked back to time records, provides the time invested in pitching for the work.

Linking data for ROI

One challenge that support teams, HR, marketing and BD (MBD), compliance and finance face is that they each capture our data in separate systems, but they are each only capturing one set of data or one part of the journey. The ambition is to link all the data sources to automate flow and enrich the story as we follow the path from prospect to client.

“Marketing and business development teams must take what they have learnt over the past 12 months to efficiently capture and report on the client journey to demonstrate the value of data intelligence.”

Bring data into one view

The intelligence is when a reporting tool visually combines the data across all departments and systems to provide insight not just to MBD but to the lawyers and management.

There are barriers to being able to take the steps from knowing what needs to be done to actually being able to do it. Technology, master data management, collaboration and expertise are required to join the data points as it flows through the firm’s databases on the journey from prospect to client.

Ensuring the data captured is accurate and relevant has been the CRM challenge for decades with each new generation of technology promising better. Investment in new technology has a long lead time and linked with historic underutilisation of current software is always a daunting, challenging task. Therefore, approval for new products can be challenging.

But before any purchase of new software is undertaken, progress can be made with what is already in place. An audit of current data sources, integration software and reporting platforms is key to understanding the current data capturing landscape, shortfalls and areas that need attention. Collaboration between business teams and a management team that values data driven decision making, is the foundation upon which an initiative such as this can be built upon.

Will the future be virtual?

Listening to our lawyers, they miss that personal interaction. One partner who turned his New York trip into a virtual set of meetings - including a virtual drinks party – said it just didn’t feel it had the same impact; the human connection that he valued was missing.

The numbers continue to show work is still coming through the door even though our lawyers are not out at physical meetings, drinks or conferences. We have put our focus to developing new relationships through social and digital media, virtual conferences and content.

Post Covid, there is an opportunity to use the data that was collected to be critical of past spending and use 2020 to support budget planning for 2021 and beyond.

The investment in technology and activities that can measure ROI should become a core budgeting focus, as continuous innovations in the market give the ability to capture and measure data more effectively, easily and autonomously.

Working from home will become more common and lawyers and BD team are becoming more dependent on virtual activities to develop new markets, build new relationships and strengthen clients’ relationship.

MBD teams must take what we have learnt over the past 12 months; work with IT, compliance, HR, marketing and finance to efficiently capture and report on the client journey to demonstrate the value of this data intelligence.

Capturing data for analytics

What are some of the data points we can capture?

Digital Media

Website

Organic search

Paid advertising

Social Media

E-Marketing

Content

BD Activities

Contacts

Relationship strength

Meetings & calls

Conference/seminars

Webinars

Hosted events

Trips

Opportunities & pitches

MBD Budget/Spend

Estimates

Expenses

Costs

Budget vs actual

Time

Activity type

Hours

Value

Financial

Quantity

Value

Source

Payment

Feedback

Emails, calls, meetings

Surveys

Referrals

Directory references

External providers

Spotlight on Digital Media

Traditionally digital marketing activities have predominantly been part of the awareness phase of the sales funnel – driving awareness of services and offerings to the broader market and never really linked to further sales funnel activities.

With the move to measuring a client’s journey or a customer’s lifecycle, digital marketing can provide a wealth of data points and measurements from awareness through to decision and possibly even action.

The key is to ensure the data points needed for full client journey recording have been mapped out and implemented via tagging and analytics across all core identified digital platforms.

Some core tracking required, specifically for the law industry include:

Digital Media

Action click tracking

Specific page analytics

Page funnels

BD Activities

Keyword search volumes

Keyword click through rate

Search result positions

MBD Budget/Spend

Advertisement performance

Cost per acquisition/action

Social Media

Platform follower growth

Messages received (related to business)

Content posted engagement

E-Marketing

Data accuracy

Opening rate

Click through rate

Content

Authored content amount

Content specific page analytics