SMS Resources for Lawyers - Best Practices Guide
Case management communications, made easy.
Your law firm spends a lot of time on case communications. Getting clients to remember paperwork and court dates is not an easy task. Plus, your team has to manage incoming lead queries and client scheduling. Use text messages for law firms to more easily engage with clients and leads. In our SMS resources for lawyers guide, you’ll learn:
- What text messages for law firms are
- Benefits of law firm SMS
- How SMS is transforming legal services
- How text messaging for law firms improves workflows
- How to grow your law firm with SMS
- How to stay compliant with law firm SMS
- What law firm SMS templates look like
- Law firm SMS best practices for legal professionals
First time learning about business SMS? Head to our business text messaging terminology page to review industry terms. Otherwise, read on to explore our SMS resources for lawyers.
How Do Text Messages for Law Firms Help Legal Professionals?
Law firm SMS is a convenient channel for clients and leads alike. They’re far more likely to read your texts than your emails. Text messages for law firms can increase your recipient response rates and engagement. Plus, law firm SMS platforms can streamline your team’s workflows, reducing administrative workloads and expediting your client communications overall.
Should Law Firms Use Omnichannel Messaging?
The average person uses three messaging apps each week, and you should meet those users on their platforms of choice. Allow clients to contact your firm through popular messaging services like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Google’s Business Messages, and Apple Business Chat. Answer these messages in your shared inbox to achieve a seamless omnichannel messaging strategy.
Benefits of Law Firm SMS vs. Traditional Communication Channels
Law firm SMS works well alongside emails and phone calls. Consider sending long-form and sensitive content from those traditional channels as well as your firm’s client portal. Send texts for short-form, day-to-day content like reminders and alerts. Texting comes with many benefits, including:
Increased client satisfaction and faster resolution times, since leads and clients interact quickly through SMS
Easier legal compliance, since your SMS platform can sync client SMS to your practice management software
More streamlined workflows, since law firm SMS integrates with practice management apps (e.g., Clio)
Statistics on Law Firms and SMS Usage
Law firm SMS is the ideal channel for texting leads and clients. Need proof? Check out the stats.
How Can Legal SMS Transform Your Legal Services?
Emailing or calling your law firm may be difficult for busy leads and clients. With legal SMS, they can text you for basic information and receive fast replies. They can receive administrative updates and complete basic administrative tasks right from their phones. Accessible, fast communications make your legal services more accessible for clients in need.
How Can Text Messages for Law Firms Improve Your Workflows?
Your team—especially your administrative workers—has to manage repetitive workflows. They send the same reminders and answer the same questions every day. Law firm SMS empowers them to streamline or automate these communications, saving time while maintaining a personal touch.
Maintain Accurate Client Data
You have to maintain accurate contact information, but contacts often update personal data. Case information can change, too. By integrating your law firm SMS platform with your practice management software, you can allow data to sync between the two platforms immediately whenever it is added or adjusted in either platform.
Expedite Lead and Client Communications
Your leads and clients text in with similar questions. They may ask what your hours are, how they can get quotes, or where your office is located. With a law firm SMS platform, you can automate answers with an auto reply. Simply select keywords, then create matching SMS templates. The platform can send the templates when it detects the selected keywords.
Simplify Reminders and Alerts
Your team probably spends a lot of time sending paperwork reminders and court date alerts. With a law firm SMS platform, you can automate these communications. Add clients to SMS drip campaigns that automatically send regular reminders. If clients answer any of these texts, replies will land right in your shared inbox, where any team member can reply.
How Can You Grow Your Law Firm with SMS?
The easier it is for leads and job candidates to contact you, the more likely it is that they’ll do so. Advertise your SMS channel across your website and social media channels. Let both leads and job candidates know that your team can answer any basic queries and even schedule meetings via text. You’ll increase engagement—and make valuable connections.
How Can You Achieve SMS Compliance with Texting for Lawyers?
Law firm SMS platforms make SMS compliance easy. Just be sure that clients opt in to your SMS services before you text them. While you should send confidential case information through your firm’s encrypted portal, you can use legal SMS to send conversational customer engagement, conversational marketing, and administrative content. Your platform will:
- Empower team members to use your firm’s existing business numbers, instead of personal cell phone numbers, to ensure client data is under your firm’s control
- Log all client SMS to your practice management software, where it is securely stored for auditing purposes
- Unsubscribe customers who text in with opt-out keywords, ensuring TCPA compliance
Sample Law Firm SMS Templates
SMS templates can drastically speed up client communications. Use them to quickly answer frequently asked questions or personalize mass texts. You can also use them to automate replies or create SMS drip campaigns. As part of our SMS resources for legal professionals, we’ve included a variety of SMS templates. Feel free to adjust and use them.
- Hello, you’ve reached Bay Area Law after hours. We’re in the office from 9-5pm, Monday through Friday. Expect a reply within 1 business day. Text STOP to stop receiving texts.
- Hi there, {{client name}} Jack from Pound & Crawley here. As we discussed in our {{last meeting date}} meeting, I’ll need the {{paperwork type}} paperwork by {{paperwork due date}}. It’s in your portal. Let me know if you need help logging in! Text STOP to unsubscribe.
- Hey, {{client name}}. West Side Legal team member {{case lawyer}} will meet you outside {{court location}} at {{time of meeting}} for your {{case number}} court appearance. Please check your portal for details. Text STOP to stop receiving texts.
Law Firm SMS Best Practices
Law firm SMS platforms are intuitive, so you’ll be able to start texting right away. But for the best possible performance, keep these law firm SMS best practices in mind as you start connecting with leads and clients through the channel.- 1 Get leads and clients to opt in before you start texting, and offer them opportunities to opt out.
- 2 Review messages for proper grammar and syntax to remain professional.
- 3 Avoid abbreviations and acronyms to lessen the chances of recipient confusion.
- 4 Use integrations and automations to streamline your team’s repetitive workflows.
- 5 Use SMS for casual, administrative information; use your business’s portal to share sensitive data.
