Conveyancers need to get social

Speaking at his firm’s annual conference today myhomemove’s chief executive identified three key trends in the market which he said conveyancers must respond to: restless transparency, the multiscreen world, and the new friends and family.

He suggested that consumers now display “restless impatience” with the average person checking their phone every six and a half minutes.

He said: “Customers want greater transparency – and for us that means enabling them to check the progress of their case from offer to completion, reassuring themselves that their expectations will be met.

“Some lawyers might describe that as unreasonable. Well we need to get used to it. It’s the new normal and these are our customers of today.”

Crawford added that the average household now has 7.4 internet connected screens and called on conveyancers to react to the need to give customers access on mobile, tablet and PC technology.

Finally he said there was a “new friends and family” which was changing the way consumers made their purchasing decisions.

He added: “Word of mouth is as old as time. But 80% of people research online before purchasing and 30% trust online customer reviews as much as personal recommendations.

“Great service is more important than ever in building business success. Amazon sets the bar – don’t expect to be judged against your competitors.

“People are judging us against the whole market. To deliver a market leading customer journey you need market leading systems, process and people.”

Crawford also revealed plans to pilot a new version of myhomemove’s “eway” e-conveyancing service over the summer months with a full launch due in September.