A record 44% of legal services consumers shopped around before choosing a provider, according to the Legal Services Consumer Panel's 2025 tracker survey of 3,750 people. In 2019 the figure was 28%. For a small or mid-sized law firm, that means almost half of new enquiries are also talking to someone else.
Most firms respond with more marketing. The larger gain is in conversion: what happens between the first enquiry and the signed engagement letter.
What clients say they want
The same survey asked what mattered when choosing a provider. Three factors led:
| Factor | Share citing it as important |
|---|---|
| The provider is regulated | 89% |
| Reputation | 86% |
| Price | 84% |
A further finding matters for how you package work: 21% of consumers chose unbundled services, the highest rate the survey has recorded. Clients are increasingly willing to buy part of a service at a clear price.
An earlier edition of the tracker found that only 61% of consumers found it easy to locate information on services, staff or likely timelines on solicitors' websites. Many firms lose the comparison before the phone rings.
Where enquiries are lost
Follow one enquiry through your firm and time each step. The usual leaks are these.
- Slow first response. A web form answered the next afternoon has often been answered by a competitor that morning.
- No price indication. "It depends" is true and unhelpful. A range with the factors that move it is better.
- Handover gaps. Reception takes a message, the fee earner is in court, nobody owns the callback.
- No follow-up. A quote is sent and never mentioned again.
- Friction at onboarding. Identity checks by post, forms as attachments, days of delay.
None of these is a marketing problem. All of them cost more revenue than a quiet month of advertising.
A conversion process your team can run
1. Respond within the hour in working time. Give one person or a small team clear ownership of new enquiries. Acknowledge immediately and book a call.
2. Use a short, structured first call. Ten minutes: the situation, the outcome wanted, the deadline, who else is involved. Record it in one place.
3. Send a clear written quote the same day. Scope, price or range, what could change it, likely timeline and who will do the work.
4. Follow up twice. Two days later and a week later. A polite call, not a chaser email. Ask if anything is unclear.
5. Make starting easy. Digital identity checks, e-signature and a single onboarding link. Tell the client what happens in the first week.
6. Track the numbers. Enquiries, quotes sent, instructions won and time to respond, by department and source.
Firms that measure this for the first time are usually surprised. A conversion rate of one in four that moves to one in three is a third more work from the same marketing spend.
Show that you are regulated, reputable and clear
Match your website to the three factors clients cite.
Regulated. Display your regulatory status and what it means for the client: insurance, complaints routes and client money protection. Most firms bury this in the footer.
Reputation. Recent reviews on independent platforms, specific to practice areas. Named fee earners with photographs and plain biographies. Results where you can share them.
Price. Go beyond the minimum transparency requirements. Give worked examples: "A straightforward lease extension typically costs between X and Y, and takes around Z weeks."
Package services for how clients buy
With unbundling at a record level, fixed-scope products are worth testing. A document review. A one-hour strategy session. A fixed-fee first stage. These lower the barrier to a first instruction and often lead to full retainers.
Check each product against your professional obligations and make the limits of the retainer explicit in writing.
Build referral relationships on purpose
Recommendations still drive a large share of legal instructions. Treat referrers as a pipeline.
List your top twenty: accountants, financial planners, estate agents, mortgage brokers, HR consultants and other law firms without your specialism. Meet two a month. Tell them exactly which clients you help and how quickly you respond. Then report back on every introduction, within the limits of confidentiality.
Prepare for AI-assisted search
Clients increasingly ask AI tools for recommendations as well as searching. Those tools draw on reviews, directory listings and clear website content. The same work that helps a shopping client compare you helps an AI assistant describe you accurately.
Keep compliance in the loop
Marketing claims, pricing statements and client care information must meet your regulator's rules. Design the process so your compliance lead reviews templates before launch. Done once and done properly, it speeds everything after it.
FAQs
How many legal clients shop around? Forty-four per cent, according to the Legal Services Consumer Panel's 2025 tracker survey, up from 28% in 2019.
What do clients look for when choosing a solicitor? Regulated status, reputation and price were the three most cited factors in the 2025 survey.
How can a law firm improve enquiry conversion? Respond within the hour, quote clearly the same day, follow up twice and make onboarding simple.
Should law firms offer fixed fees? Where scope can be defined, yes. Clear, fixed-scope services match how a growing share of clients prefer to buy.
Sources
- Legal Futures: more consumers than ever choosing unbundled services
- Legal Futures: ten lessons from the Legal Services Consumer Panel tracker survey
- Legal Services Consumer Panel: research and reports
This article is commercial commentary, not legal or regulatory advice.
Next step: read business development in regulated firms, or take the Growth Score.