Ouch! Bad News for Law Firm Alerts & Newsletters

Larry Bodine, reporting from the Marketing Partner Forum in Phoenix, shared this insight from two General Counsel who were panelists at the Forum:

Neither in-house lawyer like law firm alerts. “I want a one-paragraph email, not a glossy newsletter,” Rodner (GC of Medicis Corp) said. “There have only been a couple of times that the first firm that sent me an alert told me something I hadn’t already heard.”

Larry immediately contrasts this with the following snippet:

A good experience Rodner had with a lawyer came in a cold call. “I got an unsolicited email from a lawyer who clearly addressed the emotional impact of a patent dispute on us, clearly addressed the legal issues, and came up with a plan to make the most efficient way to handle our patent, which was being challenged. It was the only time I jumped on a cold call because he specifically addressed my needs,”

Data from our PracticeView database shows that last year AmLaw 100 firms produced nearly 25,000 (yes twenty five thousand) legal alerts and newsletters, and our analysis suggests that much of that content mirrors the statements above in that it is reporting “news” that is reported elsewhere in business or legal media (or by other firms) and is not providing analysis and practical specifics insights and clear recommendations for what clients or prospects might do. Indeed 44% of these alerts aren’t even specific to an industry. Many of these alerts and newsletters are in effect “news you can’t use”.

Now developing individual customized alerts for each client or prospect may sound like an insane level of work, but given this kind of feedback (and it’s not the first time these kind of statements have been heard), what’s the cost and ROI on mass mailing a general newsletter versus developing say five highly tailored e-mails to five carefully targeted clients and prospects?

Discussion & Action Points

• What do recipients of our alerts and newsletters really think of them?
• What would they really like to receive?
• How can we make them more useful?
• What would it take to develop customized e-mails for highly targeted clients and prospects?

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