What happens when a potential client reaches my law firm's voicemail?
By the Margin Media team · Updated
When a potential client reaches a law firm's voicemail, they usually hang up without leaving a message and ring the next firm on their list. They are calling about something private and pressing, and a recording gives them no reason to wait. The firm never learns the call happened, so the loss is invisible.
Why don't new callers leave a message?
They don't leave one because a message asks a lot of them. They would have to describe an arrest, an injury or a marriage ending to a machine, then wait by the phone without knowing when anyone will ring. Existing clients leave messages because they know you. A stranger has other numbers on the screen and uses them.
Why doesn't the firm notice?
The firm doesn't notice because a hang-up leaves almost nothing behind. There is no message to return and no name in the inbox, only a line in a call log nobody reads. An owner looking at an empty voicemail box concludes the phones were quiet. Checking that log against the voicemail box for one week is usually an unwelcome surprise.
How can a law firm make voicemail less costly?
If voicemail must stay for now, make it do more work. These changes cost nothing and can be made this afternoon by whoever records the greeting.
- Record a greeting in a real voice that names the firm and the kind of matters it handles.
- Say when calls are returned, and keep to it.
- Offer another route in the greeting, such as a number to text or a page where a consultation can be booked.
- Keep it short, so the caller reaches the tone before they lose patience.
- Check the call log daily and ring back every unknown number, message or not.
How does Margin replace voicemail for a law firm?
Margin has Mia, the AI receptionist, pick up where the voicemail would have. She answers in the firm's name, answers questions about the firm, takes the caller's details and can book a consultation. If a caller still hangs up, they get a text from the firm within a minute, once phone carriers approve the texting number. Every call is listed in the portal with its transcript. What she may say is agreed with you first.
What Margin sets up for this.
- Mia, the AI receptionist, on every call
- Missed calls texted back within a minute
- Your portal: every call, text and booking
What a business needs is decided on its audit. It is a one-time setup fee and a monthly fee, with exact numbers on the audit.
How Margin works for law firmsSee the portal with a sample business
Related questions
Should a law firm ring back callers who left no voicemail?
Yes. An unknown number in a law firm's call log with no message is very often a new enquiry. Ring or text it the same day. Some will have found another lawyer, but the ones who haven't will remember that you bothered.
Is voicemail acceptable for a law firm's existing clients?
Mostly, yes. An existing client knows the law firm and trusts that the message will be returned. The trouble is that new and existing callers share one line, so a voicemail set up for clients is also what a stranger hears.
Does a better voicemail greeting fix missed calls at a law firm?
It helps a little. A warm, specific greeting persuades a few more callers to leave a message, but a law firm's new enquiries mostly want to speak to someone now. A greeting improves the fallback. It does not replace an answer.