Picture this common scenario that happens in conveyancing firms and departments all over the country: You’ve been diligently working on a client’s property matter – reviewing the contracts, checking titles, running searches, and chasing down the details that will move the transaction along. You know you’re doing everything in the client’s interest, with the care and precision you would hope to receive in their situation – and yet, when the client calls you, they don’t sound happy. In fact, they sound impatient, irritated, or even outright angry.
They want to know why they haven’t heard anything from you. The honest answer is that there’s nothing to report yet, because you’re waiting for information or updates from a lender, or to get search results, or documents from someone who is three links up the chain. You, as a conveyancer, know that delays can be an unavoidable part of the process. All the client knows, however, is that they’re in the midst of one of the most stressful transactions they’ll ever undertake, and nothing appears to be happening.
How a conveyancer approaches client care – particularly in relation to communication – can be the greatest differentiator for the success of a conveyancing firm. To understand more about how working conveyancers achieve greater client satisfaction, Dye & Durham partnered with Modern Law for a roundtable, chaired by Nicky Heathcote, non-Executive Chair, Conveyancing Association, on conveyancing and client care. This article discusses how conveyancers can deliver best-in-class communication that builds client trust and the conveyancing firm’s reputation.
How Technology Has Changed the Client Relationship
The conveyancing landscape, in common with the broader economic landscape, has changed rapidly in the past decade, not least as a result of changing technology and services. While once a conveyancer and client might expect slow-moving processes, these days client expectations have been set well outside the legal sector. With the proliferation of online services, including online shopping, banking apps, delivery tracking and retail platforms that update them automatically, clients increasingly expect speed and constant communication. As our roundtable participants described, many clients arrive having already talked the transaction through in a WhatsApp group with the rest of the chain, or having picked up advice from social media.
Increasingly, a growing number of clients are running conveyancers’ explanations through ChatGPT or other AI sources, which means conveyancers are fielding technical questions that the client may not fully understand or that may not be fully accurate.
This increase in speed and instant information can clash with the typical waiting times of a conveyancing process, which means that without clear communication, frustrations and misunderstandings can grow. Our panel had some key pieces of advice that can ameliorate that issue and help conveyancers to deliver exceptional client communications and care:
- Use the first call to set out the terms. Setting out just 15 minutes at the outset of the process to chat through the communication process can make a massive difference. In this call, agree how often the client wants to hear from you and through which channel, explain what a normal delay actually looks like, and use the conversation to work out what kind of client you’re dealing with; some need frequent reassurance while others would rather only hear from you when something material changes.
- Send an update even when there’s nothing to update. The adage “no news is good news” does not apply when it comes to conveyancing! Even if there’s nothing to update, a short message confirming the file is progressing can boost a client’s confidence and reassure them of progress.
- Explain things the way you’d explain them to a friend. One great piece of advice from the panel was to avoid confusing a client with legal terminology and process-driven wording. Conveyancers at the roundtable described talking clients through enquiries in ordinary conversational language, sometimes over WhatsApp, even when dealing with AI-informed questions. Taking the time to explain, rather than defend, one’s work can pay off massively with clients.
- Treat your caseload as a client care metric. If you’re finding it difficult to communicate with clients as often as they need, consider whether this is something you need to pay attention to. Slow responses and thin communication can often be symptoms of a team carrying more than it can properly manage. If unaddressed, this feeds directly into reviews, referrals and reputation, so if workloads are too high, consider how to address this.
How Technology Can Help the Client Relationship
While the expectation of faster, more consistent communication has arisen, at least partly, from technological advancements, the good news is that technology can also meet much of those client needs. Implementing a good technological solution – including client portals, building in automated updates, and automatic digital onboarding – can stem dissatisfaction and uncertainty in a client before it starts. (Check out Dye & Durham’s onboarding solutions for an example of how this can work.)
As the roundtable panel discussed, though, technology is only one part of the client care communication gap. The human touch remains essential. Handled well, the automated updates take care of the routine reassurance, freeing up your time for the conversations your clients are worried about. Personal connection from the first conversation, plain-language explanations when something goes wrong, the judgement to know when a client needs more than a scheduled update – these are what conveyancers provide that technology is unable to replace. Get these right and better client satisfaction, referrals and reviews – along with fewer irritated or confused client phone calls – are set to follow.
This piece draws on discussion from the fourth Modern Law roundtable on conveyancing, hosted by Dye & Durham. Read the full roundtable in Modern Law Issue 82.
Go to Media
