Survey Shows Quality and Service is What Consumers Value Most

Quality is the main thing clients want from their legal services providers, with the cost sinking in priority when consumers receive the right service and advice, new research has found.

Peppermint Technology surveyed 1,000 consumers, 150 businesses and 150 law firms, looking into what clients want from their legal services providers. The findings, announced at the Legal Futures conference earlier this week, show that 82% of consumers (and 85% of those over 35) consider quality of advice to be most important, with quality of communication in terms of service delivery and information on progress being their second choice.

When clients get the right advice and service, the price they have to pay is not so important, according to the conclusions of the legal software firm. While price is still the main factor for winning new clients, service quality and effective communication is what helps retain them, the survey showed.

Quality of advice was rated higher than price by corporate clients too, with nearly nine out of ten businesses emphasising the importance of good advice and less than 50% citing price as one of their two reasons to use a new provider. The other important factors listed by business clients include good value for money, quality of staff, speed of service and quality of communication.

Demand for legal services is set to grow, the study shows, with 88% of business respondents saying they expect to spend more or at least the same on legal work in the next two years.

The survey also found that alternative and fixed fees are well received with clients, with law firms increasingly rising to meet this demand. Some 90% of legal service providers said they offered fixed fees and 82% and 72% of lawyers said they offered capped and success-based rates, respectively.