June 29th, 2022, Maria Jose Contreras
Challenge
Understand the customer journey when it comes to searching for legal service providers.
Solution
YouGov’s qualitative research team researched individual behaviors when looking for a legal provider.
Results
The research findings allowed The Law Society to respond to the Solicitors Regulation Authority consultation.
Business challenge
The Law Society, the professional association that represents and governs solicitors for the jurisdiction of England and Wales, needed to explore the customer journey when it comes to searching for legal service providers. They commissioned YouGov’s qualitative research team, along with policy and economics consultancy London Economics, to find out what could help consumers make more informed decisions.
Solution
YouGov leveraged its’ global online panel to find participants who had searched (or were searching) for a legal service provider within the last 12 months. The group contained a mix of demographics from various locations and included vulnerable people such as those on benefits and with limited or no access to the internet. The research comprised two key approaches:
- Three behavioral online forums were conducted to understand individual behaviors and choice when looking for a legal provider.
- Following this, three online focus groups and 24 face-to-face interviews were employed to understand views and deliberations. The methodology used a deliberative approach, where the interviews and focus groups took participants through the key stages of the consumer decision-making framework of access, assess, and act.
Results
The qualitative research revealed:
- Consumers’ knowledge of legal services regulation is low.
- There should be information on the identity and function of the regulators so consumers can understand the difference between regulated and unregulated firms.
- Online search is important when trusted recommendations are not available. Visits to websites, followed by phone calls or in-person meetings is the most common route.
- Advertised price of legal services plays a big part in consumer decision-making, with less attention to the smaller print. This is particularly the case with consumers in vulnerable circumstances and those in lower social grades.
The findings from the research informed the The Law Society’s understanding of consumer behavior and ultimately allowed them to respond to the Solicitors Regulation Authority consultation: “Looking to the future: better information, more choice.” The consultation publishes regulatory data on the solicitors and firms they regulate, as well as information on the legal services they provide.