Legal Lead Gen and It's Diminishing Value

theofferguy

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Jan 11, 2011
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Does anyone else get the feeling that this is the next vertical to really take a dive in terms of value to publishers? Seems like every network out there now has a DePuy Hip Recall, Paxil, etc, and ALL being supplied from the same vendor! I don't think I even have to mention who the vendor is. Anyone ever try getting these lead gen offers directly from the participating law firms/ lawyers themselves who are carrying out the lawsuits? My internal mail team has made a ton of money off these offers in the past, but the way these offers are whored out from network to network, if you don't know where to get them the value just isn't there. Thoughts?
 


Good luck dealing with the law firms directly. These guys have such low margins that by the time you're done dealing with the hoops to even talk to the decision maker at the firm you're going to be operating at the same cost they are. They're being brokered way too much. What, if anything, is going to happen is the attorneys are going to stop relying on these because they're getting shit cases in. Half the people filling out these forms are already misanthropic about the whole deal, and are unreliable at best.

As an attorney I know the value of a lead, especially if its for a products liability lawsuit. These can be worth money but its a hefty cost up front for some of these firms, and if they dont see a return then they'll stop generating offers this way and go in house. Actually I know a lot of the biggest firms running these campaigns, with a few of the attorneys being close friends of mine. Most will tell you that they are hiring in house SEO guys now that will also be scaling these types of campaigns.

So yea, I agree with you.
 
aaronklaw - What % of these leads are the law firms looking to close on the backend in order to achieve profitability?

OP - It seems that these should evolve into the types of leads that most other lead -gen campaigns support - i.e. shorter-forms (albeit still "long-form") lead-gen type offers, with much lower payouts. Have these leads sent to a call center operation that can essentially filter / "close" the leads before sending them onto the law firms. Am I missing something here?
 
aaronklaw - What % of these leads are the law firms looking to close on the backend in order to achieve profitability?

OP - It seems that these should evolve into the types of leads that most other lead -gen campaigns support - i.e. shorter-forms (albeit still "long-form") lead-gen type offers, with much lower payouts. Have these leads sent to a call center operation that can essentially filter / "close" the leads before sending them onto the law firms. Am I missing something here?

Depends on the firm and the offer. Some of the larger outfits could care less if they close 1 or 2, since the payouts on a single products liability lawsuit can be in the 5,6, or even 7 figure range. If you're talking non-products liability cases then again its per attorney. Plus, you're dealing with attorneys here..most of us are cheap and skittish like mice when it comes to new fangled interwebz technology.

The call center approach sounds great in theory but you'll have problems. I've seen this approach attempted several times, and while it works there are significant risks. There's a firm here that has run into problems with this year in and year out. They basically have a room full of people that are pre-qual agents that talk to you about your case. Then it gets referred to an attorney if its worth it. Its based on a car dealership model. Well, they got nailed pretty hard. State Bars aren't wild about non-attorneys talking to clients about cases.
 
Anyone ever try getting these lead gen offers directly from the participating law firms/ lawyers themselves who are carrying out the lawsuits?

Dealing with most lawyers is an absolute nightmare! Especially the cocky pricks with the massive egos that make millions in the class action niche. IMO would rather deal with the middle man.
 
#notsureifserious

If you don't know where to get these direct... I cannot believe you have made a "ton of money" with these - and it sounds like you aren't running direct.
 
Dealing with most lawyers is an absolute nightmare! Especially the cocky pricks with the massive egos that make millions in the class action niche. IMO would rather deal with the middle man.

I found it hard to talk to my OWN FUCKING LAWYER this past year... so I have no advice.
 
Sounds like you need a new lawyer

No shit!


Start small with legal leadgen, seriously. Find local lawyers through chamber of commerce events, throw them a number of free niche leads, then work up from there. These $80/180 payouts for Yaz/etc., are nice if you're an emailer or own some massive chick forum, but aren't around long enough to base larger campaigns around.

Took me over 2 years to build a base of solid and profitable local and referred customers, but the shit is gold month after month. Same with EDU.

You want a lawyer or university vice president to constantly push your invoices through, make sure they get a bottle of Johnny Blue every so often along with a cut from each referral! Works like a charm!
 
#notsureifserious

If you don't know where to get these direct... I cannot believe you have made a "ton of money" with these - and it sounds like you aren't running direct.

He said he was mailing. #ProbablyThinkingHesSerious
 
I agree with the OP. Whether they're brokered or not, the lawyers are less and less likely to be paying out these huge payouts for leads that don't even work out. Albeit they have a huge profit if they do work out - most of the time they don't. That doesn't even include the ones they scrub out (since they're not going to be $300 for a lead that they can't get ahold of).

Having said that, I have some direct relationships with lawyers that can take these leads along with ANY other niche you can think of in the legal space. We have our divorce LP out (GetADivorceToday.com) and are going to roll out the Bankruptcy and DUI n the next few months.

Hit me up with a legal leadgen offer you're running and I can get you on a revshare that would pay about 5% of their 20%. You do the math when settlements for each case can reach over $500K.