December, 2020 | Article
The Impact Of Fees On The Client Experience
My client and I walked out of the elevator, down the plush carpet lined hallway and through the thick glass doors. We were in the offices of a Toronto law firm. My client stood silently at the entrance. Her eyes took in the oak trim, the Persian rug covering the marble floor, the Victorian style sofa, antique coffee table, and of course the drink station outfitted with a variety of hot and cold beverages, cookies, and candy filled jars.
She turned to me, the look of fear in her eyes, and asked “What have you done? I can’t afford these guys.” The fact that she didn’t know their rates didn’t matter. The décor said it all – this was an expensive law firm.
As it turned out, the cost was far lower than what she thought it would be, in large part due to my relationship with the partners. However, she was technically correct. This was an expensive firm. The partners knew it. In fact, they presented their fee schedule with pride. “The kinds of clients who choose to work with us and we choose to work with would not consider a lower priced firm to have the resources they need,” one of the partners once told me.
Then the partner admitted to me that every firm has essentially the same resources. But the higher fees resonated with clients who embraced the mantra that “you get what you pay for”.
And this is what makes fees one of the most impactful marketing tools in the legal industry. There is a perception, be it right or wrong, that the more expensive your lawyer, the more skilled they are. Celebrities going through litigation will often brag that they have hired the most expensive lawyers. It is estimated O.J. Simpson’s legal team in his 1995 murder trial cost him tens of millions, with defence lawyer Johnnie Cochran alone earning more than $5 million.
In many professions and with numerous products, price (or fee) plays a significant role in creating a perceived value. Higher prices bring better service, premium quality, and in this case, lawyers that are more skilled. But is that true? And does it need to be?
In many ways, fees are just another marketing tool, much like the design of a logo, a website, or a television commercial. However, each marketing tool has its own unique trait and abilities. For the most part, the purpose of any marketing campaign is to create emotions and ideas that lead to action. For law firms, this action would be to reach out to them for a (perhaps free) consultation.
But marketing also accomplishes something else on a much deeper, almost subconscious level. It establishes expectations. When we buy a product, visit a restaurant, or walk into a law firm, we bring expectations. And while these expectations are unique to each of us, they can in large part be influenced by marketing. After all, marketing essentially tells us what to expect by showcasing specific advantages such as quality, service, price, convenience, status, or luxury.
When we hear these marketing messages and the advantages they promise, they get processed in our brains through what is referred to as association. That means we try to make connections with other events or experiences we’ve had in order to create a clearer picture. We may also seek advice from others who have had similar experiences. As humans, we do this whenever facing a new situation. Essentially, it’s an evolutionary mechanism going back 200 thousand years designed to help us make decisions that keep us safe.
When we experience something new, we take the information we received through marketing, combine it with previous experiences or relevant stories from others, then compare them to what we encounter. If the experience compliments or confirms our expectations, then we are more likely to see it as a positive one. If there is a disconnect, then we may become confused or frustrated, both of which can have a negative impact on the experience we receive.
This is why we can have dinner at a fast food place or a premium steak house, and still have equally fulfilling experiences. Walking into each place, our expectations are different pertaining to the service we receive, the way the food is prepared, and the price. Because these traits aligned with what we expected, it confirmed our expectations. That’s one reason why we will happily pay twelve dollars for french fries at a steak house, but no more than $2.99 for the exact same fries at the fast food joint.
When it comes to legal fees, this are just one piece of the marketing puzzle. Regardless of the fees your firm charges, they must be in alignment with every other trait. Thinking back to my client, although her fees were reduced, the firm needed to, at the very least, have relatively high fees. The image these fees conveyed reinforced their external marketing such as print ads, and their internal marketing including the décor and atmosphere.
Of course, service is the biggest factor in creating positive experiences. Higher fees bring higher expectations. Beyond winning the case or expediting a deal, how the client is treated, communicated with, and informed is key.
With any service, it’s not the fees that impact the experience as much as the value received. Marble floors and drink stations are just the reminders.