Yes, with a short survey and the right timing. Send three questions two days after a consultation that did not become an engagement, and read the answers monthly. In GoHighLevel a survey can be embedded, sent by link, and started by a tag. The bottom line: a firm that never asks why people do not hire it is guessing, and prospects are most candid soon after the meeting.
What the evidence suggests people care about
Clio's secret shopper study, as reported by the Oklahoma Bar Journal and the ABA Journal, found that many firms are slow to answer calls and emails, which means responsiveness may be a reason prospects choose another lawyer. A LegalShield study, which is a vendor survey, found 76 percent of people preferred a live conversation with a lawyer for estate planning. Caring.com found that 43 percent of people without a will said they simply had not gotten around to it. None of these tells a firm why its own prospects did not hire it, which is why a firm survey is worth doing.
The three questions
| Question | Type |
|---|---|
| What was the main reason you did not hire us? (price, chose another firm, decided not to proceed, timing, did not feel comfortable, other) | Multiple choice |
| Was there anything we could have done differently? | Short text, optional |
| May we contact you again in the future about your matter? | Yes or no |
Do not ask about the facts of the legal problem. The survey is about the firm's process, and asking for case details creates the same Rule 1.18 issues as the intake form. If the firm declined the matter, send a lawyer approved non engagement letter first and skip the survey.
Build it in GoHighLevel
A third party guide describes GoHighLevel surveys as embeddable, multi step questionnaires, and the help page on conditional logic in forms and surveys describes actions that respond to answers.
- Create a survey with the three questions and a short thank you message.
- Build a workflow that starts when the tag Consult held is present and the tag Retained is not, after a Wait of 2 days.
- Send the survey link by email, and by text only if the person agreed to texts and the firm's state allows it.
- Add an If/Else on the answer to the first question, so price answers create a task for the managing attorney and a comfort answer creates a task for the consulting attorney.
- Tag the contact Survey completed and stop the workflow, and add Stop on Response.
- Read the answers once a month and record one change the firm will try.
Survey, phone call, and no follow up compared
| Method | Strength | Weakness |
|---|---|---|
| Three question survey | Consistent data from many people | Low response rate |
| Call from a partner | Candid, and can win the client back | Does not scale, and reaches few |
| Nothing | No effort | No learning |
The survey is best as a supplement. Use the survey to gather patterns, and let a partner call the few prospects who said they would have hired the firm if one thing had been different. Keep both separate from marketing: a survey that turns into a sales pitch will stop people answering, and in some states it may count as advertising.
Worked example
For example, if 50 consultations a month do not convert and 15 people answer the survey, that is 15 responses (50 times 0.3). If 6 say price and 5 say another firm called back faster, the firm knows what to fix first.
Mistakes to avoid
- Asking about the case. Ask about the firm's process.
- Sending it to declined matters. Send a non engagement letter instead.
- Ignoring answers. Review monthly.
- Sending a long survey. Three questions is enough.
How this was handled before
Firms rarely asked. A partner might call a prospect who did not sign, and most did not. A short survey gives a consistent view of why people go elsewhere.
What to measure after launch
Track surveys sent, answers received, and the top reason for not hiring. Record one change per month and check whether the reason count moves.
Check before you switch it on
US text messages sent from a standard 10 digit number need A2P 10DLC registration. The HighLevel support portal says registration is required for texts to US recipients from 10 digit long code numbers and that toll free numbers do not require it. HighLevel's opt in guidelines also say a person cannot be forced to agree to text messages in order to submit a form, so keep the consent box optional. One compliance guide separates informational texts, which need documented consent, from marketing texts, which need prior express written consent. Ask your attorney which category your reminders fall into. A survey sent by email or text to someone who did not hire the firm may count as marketing in some states, so confirm consent and your state's advertising rules. This is general information, not legal advice.
Questions people ask
When should the survey go out?
Two days after the consultation is a reasonable start, while the person remembers the meeting.
Should it ask about the legal problem?
No. Ask about the firm's process, since case details can trigger Rule 1.18 duties.
Can it be started automatically?
Yes. A workflow can start from the Consult held tag and stop when the person retains the firm.
Ready to try it yourself? Start a GoHighLevel account here.
You can also see this in action in our GoHighLevel capabilities demo.