A chatbot is an application that aids or replaces in-person client communication by using either a rule-based system or artificial intelligence.
Legal chatbots are an excellent tool for law firms to maximize efficiency and customer satisfaction. Increasing your overall efficiency in the legal industry is key to becoming a data-driven lawyer.
You can save time and create strong client relationships by incorporating new technology and communications practices.
What is a Legal Chatbot?
A legal chatbot is an application that helps manage client communication tasks on law firm websites and social media pages.
Chatbots can help offset client management tasks and accommodate website visitors for smaller firms. Chatbots are also valuable tools for larger firms. They can easily collect client data and provide clients with quick answers to common questions.
By providing quick client communication, attorneys can avoid extensive phone calls and time loss from direct human contact.
Many firms are beginning to utilize legal chatbots to allow employees to focus on legal research without jeopardizing client communications and relationships.
How Does a Chatbot Work?
Chatbots replicate human responses to simple questions or customer requests without jeopardizing the client-centered experience.
Three processes are the groundwork for chatbot technology: rule-based processing, AI decision-making, and hybrid interaction.
1. Rule-Based Chatbots
The most traditional form of chatbots is rule-based. Rule-based chatbots use a script of anticipated inputs, behaviors, and responses to them to communicate with clients. Rule-based chatbots can provide yes/no solutions or answer complex questions.
This method requires a business to establish language rules, including synonym usage, word structure, and problem-solution combinations. This process can be time-consuming and requires manual maintenance.
2. AI Decision-Making Chatbots
Artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots use natural language processing (NLP) to learn language tendencies over time. AI chatbots tend to have far greater communication capabilities as they can adapt. These chatbots can also track previous client interactions, allowing for client-specific context.
AI chatbots require time to collect information and data. Although extended time is required, AI chatbots can provide client-centered interactions. Using AI chatbots is a great way for larger firms with higher volumes to interact with clients.
3. Hybrid Interaction Chatbots
Hybrid interaction chatbots provide opportunities for chatbot communication alongside human interaction. These chatbots can help limit the need for lawyer assistance without removing it as an option.
Hybrid interactions can filter client questions to reduce communication time and meet client expectations.
The hybrid interaction process first utilizes a chatbot to answer client questions. A representative can respond directly to clients through a legal live chat if a client needs cannot be met via a chatbot.
Chatbot Methods
There are several different ways your business can choose to communicate with clients through a chatbot.
1. Voice Bots
Voice bots identify speech patterns and signals to automate human-like responses. Voice bots can create a more personalized experience for clients as they typically utilize a more conversational tone.
2. Menu-Based Bots
Menu-based bots require clients to select from a menu of options by clicking a button. The chatbot assesses the selected options until it can provide the most appropriate solution for the client.
3. Transactional Bots
Transactional bots are utilized for conducting transactions without human interaction. Customers can pay for services or sign documents through a transactional bot.
4. Skills Bots
Skills bots are designed for the completion of specific tasks. These chatbots create a quick and progress-oriented experience.
What can a Chatbot do?
Chatbots work to help automate your law firm to handle client management tasks that interfere with law firm efficiency. A chatbot allows clients to contact a firm outside of typical business hours.
Utilizing chatbots allows law firms more time to focus on cases while responding to essential client management needs. By incorporating chatbots in your law firm, you can communicate effectively with clients and create a secure firm-client relationship.
Virtual law firms use a variety of chatbots to help scale their business.
Chatbots offer a wide variety of client communication services.
1. Provide Customer Service
An excellent customer service experience enhances client satisfaction and company success. However, hiring employees with customer service skills can be expensive for law firms.
Adding a chatbot to your law firm website can automate customer service tasks. While they are imperfect, chatbots can answer 80% of standard questions. Chatbots can help define and filter the issue when human interaction is needed. This filtering process increases company efficiency.
2. Direct and Onboard Customers
Your site needs to have plenty of business-relevant information. However, an overloaded site can make it difficult for clients to find the necessary resources and information. Chatbots can help direct clients in the right direction, decreasing the chance that they leave your website to search elsewhere.
Chatbots can collect intake forms from new clients to quickly gather contact details and legal documents. These client intake forms ease new clients’ onboarding process and can provide them with solutions relevant to their specific situations.
For customer needs too complex for client intake forms or AI services, the chatbot can direct users to a human customer service representative.
3. Monitor Social Media Responses
Monitoring social media accounts often becomes forgotten in the day-by-day operations of a business. While it may not seem important, data suggests customers expect a response to their comments on social media websites, such as Facebook.
According to the 2022 Sprout Social Index, 13% of US consumers expect brands to respond within the first hour of reaching out on social media, while 76% expect a response in the first 24 hours.
Chatbots can help to enhance the firm-client relationship by providing automated social interactions.
4. Qualify Leads
Chatbots can be a great tool for filtering and qualifying leads before human interaction. This can save both you and your potential client valuable time. Chatbots can also help direct leads to an online client intake form to further qualify.
Common Chatbot Challenges
Like other tools, it is essential to take time to understand the unique challenges that come with chatbots. While chatbots are excellent at automating certain asks, they cannot fully replace the nuances of human customer services.
1. Interpreting Messages
AI chatbots with NLP can eliminate most misinterpretation issues; however, they do not have the skills to adapt to unique instances of human communication, like slang, spelling errors, unique sentence structure, or abbreviations.
2. Limited Personalization
Communication with a chatbot can remove the personalized experience that some customers prefer. While you can create a unique “personality” for your chatbot to make it seem less robotic, some users can still tell that they are conversing with a robot.
3. Chatbot Maintenance
While a lot of freedom comes with automated customer service, it is impossible for a business to become fully hands-off. A business needs to maintain and optimize chatbots to meet customer needs best.
Legal Chatbots Help Clients
A well-maintained chatbot can do wonders for your law firm’s efficiency and productivity. Additionally, they help customers get the answers they need and can help connect clients with the correct legal representative.
For example, a chatbot can help an accident victim get in touch with an experienced personal injury lawyer.
Conclusion
The seamless chatbot system is speeding up how law firms are growing and engaging their customers. From time to time answering, to resolving queries, automated legal chatbots are becoming not just effective but also assisting new visitors in gaining understanding just over a simplified chat procedure. Providing your client’s the right directions is made possible with the help of virtual chatbots.