Engagement of clients is a general term. You’ll get many different answers if you ask a group of legal professionals to define these two words. Some of these responses will depend upon the individual’s work and their closeness with clients. The culture and approach of the law firm will influence some answers. Some will answer based on current capabilities and what they want to do for client engagement.

It’s almost impossible to keep up with everything. Is responsiveness the key to client engagement? Customer service? User experience? Legal service delivery? Marketing?

Download our whitepaper, Building client-centric law Firms: Client engagement in the modern practice.

These (and other) things are essential to clients and firms. They’re not created equal. Some are more realistic than others. Some are more critical to the client. Some are more urgent than others; if not addressed, they could affect your bottom line. A disciplined approach is needed. A framework that firms can use to organize client engagement elements and define the behavior and technology required to move forward.

The AAA framework for client engagement is one such approach: Access, Awareness, and Action.

Accessible

Remember the days when you had to wait for paperwork that was sent your way? You might have owned it, but you couldn’t access it. The client’s legal team and the client are separated by an opaque curtain when they lose access to important information and data. This is the opposite of engaging. It’s a schism.

By allowing easy and reliable access to your company, your staff, and your client’s work, you can eliminate blind spots in legal matters. It takes away the mystery of your work and builds a stronger relationship between you and your client. Access makes it easy for clients and their legal teams to communicate with each other when needed. Documents can be shared, reviewed, signed, or rejected in real-time. You can easily understand what’s going on without asking for an update.

Awareness

Consider awareness as the currency of client engagement. Digital technology is a hot commodity for customers around the globe. After you have a FedEx tracking code or Uber ETA, it is hard to return to the “wait-and-wonder” approach. This is because the technology in these examples provides peace of mind and builds anticipation. This creates an emotional connection to the status of your purchase. Don’t you believe us? Track your order by ordering a pizza. Soon you’ll understand the joy of watching your dinner’s status change from “preparing” to “baking.”

These examples may seem insignificant, but they open up a new dimension of client engagement by educating your clients about their legal issues. Even valuable services such as yours still represent a large expense on the client’s account. It is important to provide that value in an obvious and consistent manner. It should be evident to the client. Consistent because it builds trust and loyalty in a highly competitive market.

Take Action

Do you want to engage your clients in a meaningful way and get a return on investment from your digital tools and portals? Make these places functional. Having access and awareness is important, but you need more than that for effective client engagement. Action is required. The legal technology available to you allows you to make your vision a reality.

Access to the information discussed above may overlap with your firm’s actions in front of your clients. The first thing that comes to mind is document management and signatures. today’s flexible and robust platforms are capable of so much more. Imagine customized toolkits and workflows that align your firm’s capabilities with client needs. Interactive document builders and legal self-service experiences are delivered as a digital experience to reflect today’s remote workers.

Saying that client engagement is an intense experience would be an understatement. No single article or blog can tell you everything about success in this area. If you are looking for ways to engage clients, especially in a digital world, then consider the AAA method: Access, Awareness, and Action. If you can hit these three targets, your law firm will be well on its way to success.