Tools to Monitor Texts with Clients
Many clients want to text with their attorneys, but firms may be wary for many reasons. However, there are ways to meet in the middle. Texting reminders of deadlines and appointments, directions, and other short messages may make it easier for clients to be responsive. Attorneys also want to keep a record of these texts, especially to monitor communication between the support team and clients. What tools can you use to successfully incorporate texting into your toolbox?
Law Practice Management Systems
The best way to text clients and keep the messages associated with the client record is through your law practice management system (LPMS). If you have a SaaS (browser based) LPMS you may have the ability to send texts through the system. MyCase, PracticePanther, Clio, Rocket Matter, and others have text messaging capabilities built in. Be sure to check if these text features will allow clients to send videos or pictures if that is important. Alternatively, or in addition to text messaging, many LPMS have secure client chat through the client portal.
VoIP
Some VoIP systems will let you and your team text from the main number; thus, the messaging is transparent to other users. However, this is not common. For instance, RingCentral appears to be working on it but the feature is not there yet. Your next best option is to require that any texts sent to clients be added to the main phone line as a group message. This is not enforceable, and some people cannot get MMS (group) messages. And, while you can get email notifications from text messages in email and then save them with the client record, most systems only send notifications from inbound texts, not outbound. Explore the possibilities with your VoIP provider and write policies and procedures to cover what the system will not do.
Business Texting
There are quite a few business texting products on the market, designed to provide a variety of ways to centrally send and receive text messages for everything from communicating with prospective clients to sending automated reminders and more. Two services to look at are TextMyMainNumber and Heymarket. TextMyMainNumber, works with landlines as well as VoIP systems. Heymarket lets you create one conversation per client but multiple people in the firm have access to it, with an exportable message log. Heymarket also integrates through Zapier with HelloSign, Clio, and others.
Lead management tools like Kenect and Call Rail offer business text options, primarily for communication with potential clients and customer satisfaction surveys after representation. Some LPMS with customer relationship management features, like Rocket Matter, also have automated text reminders and send intake forms.
Email to Text
If you have a good handle on storing email as part of the client record, you can send email to a mobile phone that will appear as a text message to the recipient. There are a lot of caveats. Automatically appended signature blocks, especially those with embedded graphics, can cause issues, subject lines may be lost in translation, and you must know the recipients cell phone carrier. Plus, you only get 160 characters.
If you are a Google Workspace user there is an email to text add-on (US and Canada only). Third party tools like TextMagic have, among other text for business solutions, an email to text gateway. The cost is .04 per text. Message Media’s email to SMS offers an integration with Outlook and Gmail, as well as other business texting solutions.
Conclusion
Law firms should have a way to stay aware of communication via phone, email, or text between clients and staff concurrently and for record retention. If your firm wants to leverage the ease and convenience of texting, while documenting the conversation, you can choose a tool designed for business needs. If you decide to continue use of personal devices to text with clients, establish a process wherein staff and attorneys follow up on texts and phone calls with an email and a note in the client file for additional documentation.