Understanding Consumer Psychology in Bankruptcy Lead Generation

When it comes to bankruptcy lead generation through digital marketing, it’s tempting to get caught up in the technicalities of everything.

After all, there’s a wide array of tools that allows us to track, monitor, and optimize the entire sales funnel process. From Google Analytics to website heat maps, we can measure every action that potential clients take on your website. 

However, focusing too much on details like click through rates, traffic trendlines, and individual keyword rankings can distract from the basics of marketing. Such metrics are undeniably important, but they should never keep you from “seeing the forest for the trees,” so to speak.

Whether your law firm is revamping its marketing efforts or launching a new bankruptcy leads campaign it’s important to never lose sight of the basics of marketing: consumer psychology.

Here are psychological triggers that will help improve your ability to generate qualified bankruptcy leads.

To Increase Bankruptcy Lead Generation, Understand the Driving Force Behind All Human Behavior

When we get to the basics, there are two driving forces behind every decisions that we as human beings make:

1. Move away from pain.
2. Move towards pleasure.

It really is as simple as those 7 words.

The pain-pleasure principle was first popularized by Sigmund Freud. According to Freud, the pain-pleasure principle is so powerful because it is based in the “animalistic” part of human psychology. In other words, these driving forces are buried in the deepest recesses of the human psyche. All of our most basic urges and desires stem from this deep, unconscious level.

This analysis doesn’t just come from Freud.

Modern psychology and medicine agree. Studies published in the JAMA: The Journal of American Medical Association and the American Psychological Association build upon Frued’s pain-pleasure principle.

So what does this have to do with digital marketing?

When it comes to bankruptcy lead generation, it’s critical to take into consideration the current mindset of your audience.

If someone is considering bankruptcy, they may feel a combination of the following emotions: fear, panic, shame, embarrassment, failure, insecurity, grief, and hopelessness.

What do all of these emotions have in common? At their core, each emotion is rooted in pain. 

The pain-pleasure principle tells us that people want to avoid pain — or in this specific case, escape the financial hardship that is causing the pain.

Yet these are the same emotions that make it difficult to decide to file bankruptcy. 

For example, if someone is feeling shame and embarrassment at their financial situation, they may attempt to avoid bankruptcy because they fear it will bring more shame and embarrassment. Or perhaps someone is so emotionally exhausted by the time they’re ready to file for bankruptcy that they continue to put it off.

So how does knowing all of this translate into more bankruptcy leads for your law firm?

Actionable Takeaways: 5 Ways to Get More Bankruptcy Leads

The mistake most marketers make is in assuming that “grabbing attention” is the most important aspect of marketing. But it’s impossible to grab the attention of your target audience without understanding the psychology and mindset that they’re experiencing at that very moment. Now that we better understand the psychology of people facing potential bankruptcy, we can develop marketing strategies to introduce them into our sales funnel.

1. Lead them A-to-Z.

   Aside from the emotions listed above, people facing bankruptcy ultimately feel lost. They feel lost with both their financial and legal options. In many cases, they also feel lost in their interpersonal relationships, especially if the financial difficulties have disrupted a marriage.
   Good marketing guides potential bankruptcy leads through a clear sales funnel. Here’s the important part: it shouldn’t matter whether these people find you through Google AdWords, SEO, or even word of mouth. Every digital asset must have a clear place in your funnel and serve a purpose in ultimately turning leads into client conversions.
   At Gorilla Webtactics, this is exactly why we offer law firm web design. It’s not enough to simply have a website. Rather, your website needs to be designed from the ground up to convert more traffic into qualified leads and clients. After all, what good does a website do if it simply drives traffic but no business? By focusing on user experience and consumer psychology, we have been able to help countless law firms convert visitors into qualified leads.

2. Reduce options.

   “I’ll need a minute.”
   Have you ever found yourself uttering these words at a restaurant? Sometimes when the menu is too exhaustive, we become frozen with indecision. Or perhaps you’ve found yourself on the market for a new smartphone and begin comparing every single model. The problem, though, is that the models are so similar with hardly any differences that it takes you seemingly forever to finally determine what phone you should get.
   Fear does the same thing. Fear causes people to freeze and become indecisive, and people facing bankruptcy have a lot of fear.
   From a marketing perspective, this means that we need to reduce options. There needs to be clear and concise calls to action that help achieve tactic #1: leading users A-to-Z.
   In order to accomplish this, you again need to understand the purpose of every asset in your marketing arsenal. Imagine stumbling on a bankruptcy landing page with the following options: a form to subscribe to an email newsletter, a contact form, a link to other blogs, a form to download a case study, a link to view testimonials, a link to view attorney bios, etc. Individually, none of these items is inherently “bad,” but if all of these were stuffed into a single landing page, then conversion rates would plummet.
   In short, reduce options by creating clear and concise calls-to-action.

3. Create a common enemy.

   While it’s important to understand the psychology of people facing bankruptcy, it doesn’t mean that your marketing messaging should be focused on those negative emotions.
   Instead, savvy marketers will subtly create a common enemy. Tribalism is human nature. Consumers naturally want to take sides: Mac vs. PC, Android vs. iPhone, etc.
   In this case, the common enemy is obvious: out of control financial debt. But it’s not enough to simply create a common enemy. Rather, your messaging needs to be focused on how you can defeat that enemy. In other words, what solutions can your bankruptcy law firm provide?
   One of the mistakes we commonly see is law firms focusing too much on their experience or extensive credentials and biographies. Yes, building trust and credibility is important, but if we’re approaching marketing from the standpoint of consumer psychology, potential clients want to know exactly what you can do for them. How will their financial life look different after working with a bankruptcy attorney like you? This simple mindset shift forces law firm marketers to be client-focused, which ultimately gets bankruptcy leads.

4. Build trust through familiarity.

   Someone who is facing bankruptcy is going to have a lot of doubt or even mistrust — and unfortunately, lawyers don’t always have the best reputations to begin with.
   One of the subtle ways to build trust is through familiarity. This is why it’s critical for a bankruptcy leads marketing campaign to be firing on all cylinders. A cohesive strategy is always better than ad hoc services. In a previous post, we discussed how law firms can harness the power of SEO, Google AdWords, and reputation management. Each of these are standalone marketing tactics, but when used together, they can build trust through familiarity, resulting in higher conversion rates compared to using a single tactic alone.
   Think about it this way — which law firm would you be more likely to call: a law firm that you saw once through a Google AdWords placement? Or a law firm that appeared in organic search results, appeared on Google AdWords, boasted multiple positive reviews, had a social media presence, and had a user-friendly website?
   We don’t know about you, but we’d certainly go with the latter!

5. Utilize urgency the right way.

   Creating a sense of urgency in marketing is one of the oldest tricks in the book, and it is still one of the smartest, especially when it comes to bankruptcy lead generation.
   The psychological pressure of financial debt is mind-numbing. Remember the pain-pleasure principle we discussed earlier? Consumers want to escape the pain and head towards pleasure as quickly as possible. There’s no better way to take advantage of that than by utilizing urgency.
   However, urgency can be “blocked” by confusion. Are the calls-to-action confusing? Did it take too long for your law firm to follow-up after a contact form was filled? Do potential clients know the next steps to take?
   A research study by famed psychologist Howard Leventhal suggests that when people are in fear, “specificity of recommendation” is key to getting them to take action. This is similar to tactic #2, which is to reduce options. But now, you’ll want to take things further by not only reducing options, but creating an easy-to-follow roadmap for your leads and potential clients.

At Gorilla Webtactics, we understand how consumer psychology affects bankruptcy lead generation.
An effective law firm marketing agency should understand how psychology ties into the actual tactics implemented to advertise a law firm. Better yet, a good agency should be able to provide measurable results through Google Analytics and similar tools.
As a result, Gorilla Webtactics has strategically tailored our law firm marketing services to accomplish all of that and much more.
Are you interested in getting quality bankruptcy leads for your firm? Request more information today. We’d be happy to work with you!