Insight6 Names Top Manchester Law Firms for Client Experience

A collaborative study between Client Experience specialists, insight6, and The Manchester Law Society has revealed the top three Manchester law firms in Client Experience.

The overall results have shown that Manchester law firms are ahead of the curve when it comes to providing client experience.

The Manchester Client Journey Project 2018 measured how law firms in Manchester compared with the rest of the UK when it comes to handling enquiries.

Chris Lowe, Client Experience Director at insight6, commented:

“By 2020 it is believed that Client Experience will overtake price and product quality as the key brand differentiator. With that in mind we wanted to look at how Manchester firms compared to the rest of the UK in that all important first impression when making an initial enquiry”.

In total, 450 enquiries were made into 70 carefully selected law firms across the UK including 71 enquiries into 21 Manchester law firms.

Each Client Experience Review was conducted by individually trained insight6 researchers and tailored to assess each firm on their ability to manage the enquiry process. A detailed report was created for each experience using in depth scenarios such as property purchase, rental agreements, wills and probate and commercial business structure.

Each researcher noted down a number of observations about each enquiry to provide revealing statistics in a number of key performance areas, including follow ups, selling skills, speaking with the receptionist and the ease of using each firms’ website.

Which firms scored best?

Each report completed by the researchers asked a number of questions about each experience, such as whether the firm followed up, whether the receptionist asked their name, and whether they were informed about who they would be talking to.

Each of the answers were weighted with different scores, meaning it is now possible to reveal the top three law firms in Manchester who provided the best client experience:
1st Aequitas Legal
2nd Express Solicitors
3rd DWF

Sucheet Amin, Managing Partner at Aequitas Legal, explained what providing great client experience means to the firm:

“For us, it starts with building a relationship based on trust. It is vital that we begin a relationship like any person would meeting someone for the first time – get to know each other,” but he knows that finishing top doesn’t mean the journey is over.

“Despite being classed as the highest performing firm in Manchester, we have learned where gaps in our approach can be easily plugged to push us to deliver and offer more to our clients. I am incredibly proud of our team here and they deserve recognition for their achievements.”

For James Maxey, Managing Partner at runners up Express Solicitors the process is also about the improvements that can be made afterwards, praising the depth of the insight6 reports, he said:

“Whilst being delighted with our performance, we were really keen to see how we could improve the way in which we handled both online and phone enquiries.

“The reports gave us a real insight into what our potential clients are thinking and also how they are feeling at different touch-points during the enquiry process. We have already implemented changes as a result and see this as part of an on-going journey to improve.”

How did Manchester Legal firms compare?

UK wide: only 7% of all initial conversations were followed up with a subsequent phone call or email. This means a shockingly high 93% of all potential business is lost at this initial stage.
Manchester law firms: performed above the national average with 10% of all phone enquiries receiving a follow up.
Not only were more calls followed up by Manchester firms, the study also showed that they were also better at selling themselves. 47% of all researchers had the benefits of using the firm outlined to them in Manchester compared to just 28% across the UK.

Fran Eccles-Bech commented:

“The results are very encouraging for Manchester law firms and show that we are still leading the way! We recognise the opportunity for further improvement and we will continue to support our members to achieve even better results next year”.

Overall the results show that while Manchester firms are scoring above the national average across the board there is still a lot of work to go to improve the client experience.

To download the full results and also identify how you can improve client experience within your firm, visit the insight6 website

The Manchester Client Journey Project 2019

insight6 are now recruiting firms to take part in the 2019 project.
The project is free of charge and all specific data will remain anonymous, so that the firms are the only ones to view their personal results and reports.

If you would like more information or would like to take part, please contact Chris Lowe or by phone on 07818 015317.

Or contact Fran Eccles-Bech or by phone on 0161 241 7470.