Call tracking software can help you optimize you marketing strategies across multiple channels. This guide discusses the tools and best practices of call tracking for lawyers.
On average, it takes eight touchpoints to convert a potential customer into a paying client – and that’s only if you’re using the right marketing strategies.
If you’re not, you’re losing customers to law firm rivals and wasting money on ineffective marketing tools that aren’t converting leads.
To spot trends, implement successful touchpoints, and build smoother customer journeys, you need a simple yet powerful law firm marketing tool to help you understand where your clients are coming from.
That’s where call tracking for lawyers comes in. This tool helps you:
In this article, we’ll look at how call tracking for law firms works, what its benefits are, and what to look for when choosing the best tools.
If you need immediate help choosing legal call tracking software, jump ahead to see our top five picks.
Call tracking is a process that captures data from inbound calls, which you can then use to check how effective your marketing campaigns and customer service are.
For example, it can help you determine which ad campaigns drive the most phone calls and win you the most clients (conversions).
Call tracking is becoming more popular, meaning it’s worth looking into just to keep up with your competition:
Call tracking software helps you trace where a call came from, how a caller found your practice’s number, and even why they called.
Traditionally, you’d need to ask your caller how they found you and record the details manually, either on paper or on a spreadsheet.
A call tracker does all of this for you by using dynamic phone numbers.
Dynamic numbers change depending on your callers’ behavior. For example, people see different numbers to call when they:
Trackers create different numbers to build unique marketing profiles for each caller, so you can see when they called, where they started their journey with you, and what piqued their interest.
Call tracking gives you valuable insight into how to turn callers into clients, leading to a number of benefits.
Here’s why call tracking makes all the difference to your law firm marketing campaigns.
| Benefit | Why it matters |
| Improved marketing attribution | With call tracking data, you know which marketing tactics are successful and which ones to ditch |
| Better visibility into client intake trends | You can understand why converting legal clients call your firm and focus your marketing strategy on the right niche (and their specific needs) |
| Better marketing return on investment | You can focus your marketing budget on channels that produce the most conversions, e.g., Google Ads or email marketing |
| Improved conversion rates and fewer lost leads | Call tracking helps you follow up on repeat or missed contacts – you have potential clients’ phone numbers and insight into what led to them call you |
Using call tracking software offers huge benefits for law firms, but there are still a few potential drawbacks to consider.
These are the potential pitfalls to look out for when call tracking – and how to bounce back from them.
| Potential drawback | Why it’s a problem for law firms | How you can overcome the issue |
| Could impact your search engine optimization (SEO) if you use online directories | Google requires that name, address, and phone number details are consistent across directories; if they’re not, your online visibility could decrease | Use dynamic number insertion (DNI), which only changes the call tracking numbers on your website after the page loads, meaning Google only sees one number |
| Conversion data might be inaccurate | Not all calls are potential conversions – some people might use ads to seek legal advice | Use call tracking software to set specific conditions for calls to count as conversions, such as repeat calls from particular numbers |
| Data captured might violate privacy policies and compliance | You need to ensure you handle data in accordance with local and federal regulations | Choose software that observes data compliance regulations for your area |
| Clients might get confused | If your numbers keep changing online, some people might get suspicious | Give clients a single office number after their first call or after conversion |
There’s a variety of software offering call tracking for legal services, so it’s wise to narrow down the best tools for your specific needs.
Always prioritize:
Let’s break these down.
Overcomplicated software adds more time to your already busy schedule.
Look for software with clear tutorials, simple interfaces, and integrations with other tools.
Then check reviews and ratings on websites like Capterra or G2, which break down usability and features based on user experiences.
Budgeting is likely one of your chief concerns when choosing marketing tools, but don’t head for the cheapest options.
It’s worth paying a little more for extra features, as they save you marketing dollars and increase conversion rates in the long run.
Look at what users say about value for money, not just outright pricing.
Some tools allow monthly or annual payments, so compare options that fit your budgeting model the closest. Look for guarantees and free trials so you can back out easily if you need to.
Your law firm needs may vary, but it’s worth looking for a few core tracker features.
Moreover, don’t always assume you need the most feature-heavy software. Look at individual features and consider how they could help you specifically.
Some of the best features include:
Don’t choose call tracker software meant for smaller firms if you aim to grow your business.
What if your team of 10 employees triples in a few years? You’d need to change software.
Scalable software offers extensive user logins and data storage, meaning you can keep the same tools as you grow – and you only need to train employees once.
Ready to explore some options?
Here are five of the best call tracking software options we’ve tried and tested for legal industry clients.
| Call tracking software | Best features | Free trial? | Pricing (as of October 2023) |
| 1. WhatConverts | Built-in data visualsLots of software integrationVery easy to use | Yes (14 days) | Between $30 and $160 per account per month |
| 2. CallRail | DNI function helps support SEOHighly scalableArtificial intelligence call transcription | Yes (14 days) | Between $40 and $145 per account per month |
| 3. Phonexa | Lead and call tracking all in oneIdeal for high volumeGreat customer service reputation | No, but free consultation available | From $100 per month |
| 4. Invoca | AI call categorizingStaff call trackingEasy to adapt to | Yes (30 days) | Price on quotation |
| 5. RingCentral | Predictive call queuingExtremely feature-richFlexible for remote users | Yes (14 days) | Between $20 and $45 per account per month (for RingCentral MVP™) |
WhatConverts’s core features include keyword call tracking to help capture data from pay-per-click ads, chat and form tracking from websites, and detailed report generation.
You don’t have to use a separate dashboard or CRM to break down the data WhatConverts produces, though it integrates easily with other software.
User ratings:
Pros:
Cons:
Pricing (as of October 2023):
CallRail is a popular tool in law firm marketing because it offers complete oversight of client journeys. It tracks incoming calls, website activity, and search terms.
It enables law firms to create user profiles from numbers listed in physical ads. The software’s DNI system also prevents any clashes with your SEO strategy.
The suite uses AI to transcribe inbound calls and highlight keywords, helping you tag client conversations for future analysis.
User ratings:
Pros:
Cons:
Pricing (as of October 2023):
Phonexa’s tracking software is simple and customizable, helping you scale and produce unique reports with minimal effort.
This software’s automation and self-service features help users organize leads based on the insights it provides.
The suite has built-in email marketing tools, behavior analytics, cloud phone support, and accounting recordkeeping.
User ratings:
Pros:
Cons:
Pricing (as of October 2023):
Invoca combines call tracker features with data visualizations, which help you understand where calls are coming from, how long they last, and which topics people talk about when they speak to you.
This user-friendly software lets you break marketing efforts down into keywords, campaigns, web pages, and specific channels.
The AI onboard even helps measure your call quality, client interest, call volumes, and source data.
User ratings:
Pros:
Cons:
Pricing (as of October 2023):
RingCentral is an all-in-one communications platform that offers what it refers to as its RingCentral MVP™ Analytics.
This software helps you see real-time tracking patterns, and it’s scalable across in-office and mobile devices with weekly status reports.
The tool helps you measure queued calls based on why clients want to speak to you, and it’s easy to route calls based on physical locations.
User ratings:
Pros:
Cons:
Pricing (as of October 2023):
Ready to start working with call data?
Here are some great ways to use your new call tracking tools to your advantage:
Drilling down into data helps you understand your potential clients more closely from an objective standpoint.
Data helps you fine-tune how you manage your digital marketing strategies, such as deciding which keywords to target and which groups of clients need more nurturing.
For instance, you could use your call tracking platform’s integration with Google Ads analytics to break down your campaigns’ financial values.
You could then calculate sale values from each Google Ad conversion and thus decide which campaigns drive the best return on investment.
Here’s an example of how CallRail breaks down calls by searched keywords and custom advertising campaigns:
The data above shows you can also measure calls on specific keywords by duration. It’s easy to see which search terms are driving the most productive calls.
While call length doesn’t always denote productivity, it’s objective insight you can use to build a better picture of what’s working and what isn’t.
Integrating CRMs like Pipedrive and Salesforce with call tracking helps push data from calls directly into your customers’ records.
Call tracking data, such as contact sources and call durations, better informs you why people call and who drives the most revenue.
By attaching a CRM to call tracking, you spend less time aggregating and managing data yourself.
For example, here’s how WhatConverts is represented as part of AgencyAnalytics’ dashboard setup:
Weitz & Luxenberg is a law firm that needed help understanding exactly where their customers came from and which channels produced the most conversions.
By using Invoca and integrating with Shuttle and Salesforce, the company found it easier to attribute data to specific channels and sources, altering its focus.
Its new strategy led to a 14% increase in conversion rates through segmenting calls via in-house specialists and a boost of 17% to online marketing campaigns.
While you can use call tracking software to run a broad sweep of data and deliver generic reports, you can also answer specific questions and find actionable insights.
For instance, your call tracker data might tell you that potential clients who read your blog posts are likely to call. However, your blog posts simply aren’t getting many website visitors. The solution might be to improve your SEO strategy to get more traffic.
From here, you might ask an expert in law firm SEO to help adjust your content so you rank higher on specific keywords.
Here’s an example of call data in action:
Michelle, a WhatConverts client, was worried a Google Ads campaign wasn’t driving enough leads for one of her clients.
The client found organic (non-paid) searches generated 5.6 times more leads than paid ads, which suggested her Google campaign wasn’t performing well.
However, using additional WhatConverts data, she found that while the third party was getting more clicks through organic search, the conversion ratio through Google Ads was much higher, and both types of leads were similar in total quote value:
Michelle was pleased to report the paid ads were producing healthy conversions.
An action to take from here would be to keep monitoring this campaign’s conversions and potentially increase advertising spending.
Consider using call tracking to test different channels of contact for your clients.
With A/B testing, you could measure two landing pages and see which drives more website conversions.
If more people call and convert from page “A” than page “B,” you could:
Another option for A/B testing is to use it to optimize your media spending.
You can do this by attributing revenue to specific channels and tracing the origin of calls. You can then double down on your most popular and profitable channels and scale back the rest.
Several call tracker tools, such as Phonexa, have a call log and recording built in.
Call recordings and transcriptions help you analyze calls where conversions are lower than expected.
You could listen to calls and find out if you need to:
Call listening – and the actions you take afterward – ensure everyone on your team is providing the quality service your online marketing promises.
Law firm marketing is costly, intensive, and often extremely trial-and-error.
Thankfully, call tracking for lawyers helps you refine your strategies and reach people who genuinely need you.
At the same time, you’re saving money, time, and effort that you can redirect back into your cases and client relationships.
It’s time to find out where your converting clients are calling from, why they’re calling, and which areas of your marketing just aren’t working.
If you need help choosing the best call tracking software or advice on how to get started with this marketing niche, dNOVO is on standby.
In the meantime, brush up on your search results visibility with our guide to local SEO for lawyers and marketing tips for criminal defense firms.
Here are a few final questions to consider before investing in a call tracker.
Call tracking software helps you track calls to specific web pages, advertisements, and keyword searches.
It creates dynamic phone numbers you can use to trace calls back to specific ads and channels, which all still dial through to your office.
A call tracking number traces a call back to a specific page or advertisement where a prospective client may have discovered you.
Call trackers use these numbers to create unique profiles and sort data based on specific channels, such as through internet advertising (e.g., Google Ads) or web pages.
Here’s more information on how call tracking works.
Call tracking software such as CallRail, WhatConverts, and Invoca all record and track calls so you can see where people contact you and for what purpose.
These tools save you from surveying callers in every conversation you have.
For more details, read our rundown of five top tools you should consider to help your law firm track calls.
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