Janet, Janet & Suggs is a reputable law firm with a 40-year track record of successful jury verdicts, resulting in millions in compensation for their clients — including impressive settlements in some of the nation’s highest-profile sexual abuse and medical malpractice cases. As a national firm with locations in 13 cities across the United States, they are competing in multiple large and highly competitive markets.
JJS had a history of investing substantially each month on their paid search through Google Ads, which is not unusual for a national law firm. However, their rate of conversion was very low, so subsequently their ad spend per lead was incredibly high. Essentially, they just weren’t getting enough bang for their buck.
They sought the assistance of an agency with specialized experience in law firm marketing that could help them reduce their spend on pay-per-click advertising. After hiring Neon Ambition, JJS saw not only a drastic improvement in ROI from their PPC budget but also an exceptionally higher conversion rate.
JJS specializes in medical malpractice and sexual abuse cases. Clients coming to them for legal advice are likely uncomfortable turning to friends or family for referrals, as they might for a personal injury or tax attorney. Because of the sensitive nature of these cases, potential clients often find Googling to be a discrete and convenient way to identify qualified law firms.
This is where PPC campaigns come in. Pay-per-click ads are extremely effective in the legal field because they can identify and be shown to people at the precise moment they’re searching for an attorney. And because they are featured prominently in Google search results, ads provide a simple, direct route to expert advice, particularly for firms offering free consultations.
However, PPC is not without its challenges — especially when it comes to law firms. Competition for keywords is extremely fierce because each law firm in a given area is bidding on the same search terms for highly valuable cases which results in incredibly “expensive” keywords (I’ll note that the term expensive is relative. They are only “expensive” b/c the potential return is so much higher. If we were selling t-shirts the CPC’s would be lower). In fact, it’s not uncommon for some law firms to spend $50,000 to $100,000+ per month on Google and Facebook Ads. Additionally, a national law firm like JJS has the added challenge of targeting multiple markets across the country.
What’s more, attracting qualified searchers can be difficult, especially with Google’s limited demographic targeting capabilities. Many firms lack the comprehensive keyword, ad copy, landing page and bidding strategies that are critical for PPC success, resulting in wasted clicks and an inadequate ROI.
Despite the many challenges, Janet, Janet & Suggs knew that PPC would be a critical channel in substantially growing their business. Given their high ad spend, however, they worried that without a more cost-effective Google Ads strategy, PPC marketing would quickly become unsustainable for their firm. So they turned to Neon Ambition for help.
After auditing the existing account structure and doing exhaustive keyword research and analysis, Neon Ambition identified a three-pronged approach to drive qualified leads to the JJS site. We began by using in-market audiences, which allowed for connection with prospects that were actively in the market for their services across the Google Display Network. Next, we created a stronger negative keyword set in order to tell Google which keyword phrases their ads should not be showing for. As a result, JJS would save vast amounts of money by no longer paying for unqualified leads or users whose needs did not align with their practice areas and expertise.
These first two steps helped generate enough conversions to enable automated bidding. Once automated bidding was enabled, we implemented a “maximize conversions” strategy to drive more conversions at a lower price. By strategically testing it on one campaign at a time, we drastically reduced the overall cost per lead.
In a 12-month time frame, the PPC campaign delivered results well beyond JJS’s goals. Since implementing our recommendations, the firm’s Google AdWords campaigns have generated 550% times more conversions, with a reduced cost per lead down a whopping 85%. These two metrics on their own would be impressive but I’m happy to say we achieved this huge increase in leads while spending 10% less as well.
By leveraging real-time data and a strategic keyword campaign, Neon Ambition was able to block out dead-end leads that were wasting money and resources, while effectively capturing leads for the right people — at the precise moment they needed legal services. Check out our PPC guide for law firms to learn more about how Neon Ambition can help.
We are a Google, HubSpot and Bing partnered digital marketing agency with a senior level staff averaging nine years of experience. We help established businesses generate high-quality leads with proven marketing strategies. We strive to develop long-term relationships with established businesses rather than burning through clients like so many other agencies do. Learn more about who we are, connect with us on your favorite social media circuit, or call us at 512-872-3108
