What are Handwritten Notes for Lawyers?

The best way to answer the question, “What are handwritten notes for lawyers?” is to break it down into handwritten marketing and handwritten notes for legal marketing. Check it out:

What is Handwritten Marketing? 

Thousands of years have passed since handwritten marketing first became popular. It wasn’t long ago that someone realized all it took to convince people to come see something was to tell them about it.

As time passed, colors and drawings enhanced the written word, and marketing displays captured more attention. The process evolved over decades, changing and expanding until the digital age arrived.

With the advent of computers, you no longer needed to write anything. In the era of digital marketing, handwritten marketing was put to rest but not wholly abandoned.

Due to technology overload, excessive emails, and numbness to electronic messaging, direct mail is not only resurging but surpassing digital.

We’ll discuss the benefits of handwritten marketing in a little while, but suffice it to say digital options do not get read, opened, or displayed as often as handwritten ones do.

What are Handwritten Notes in Legal Marketing?

Handwritten notes are a marketing tactic aimed at seeding and nurturing client relationships. The old-fashioned way of creating handwritten notes included paper, pen, envelope, and a lot of time. Today, AI-driven automated options speed up the process while maintaining near-perfect authenticity. 

Taking the pain out of creating handwritten notes for lawyers at scale starts with handwriting robots. Well, they’re not actually robots. They’re more like pen plotters, but don’t tell them that. These robots hold real ink pens and write on quality cardstock with perfect pressure, slant, and flow. 

Software is programmed to tell the robot to add subtle variances to characters and spacing. No two letters or symbols should look alike, and no two lines should be perfectly parallel. 

Next, the envelope is handwritten, and an actual postage stamp is affixed. The notes from well-respected services will be sent in days, no matter the order size.

Finally, thanks to a small QR code on the handwritten note, data will start coming in, allowing your legal practice to track campaign progress and efficacy.

That’s what a handwritten note for legal marketing is all about, but why are they such a powerful marketing tool?

Why are Handwritten Notes for Lawyers so Powerful?

Handwritten notes are personal; they evoke emotion and action. These notes create and nurture bonds with clients in a way impossible to replicate with digital tools. But, aside from those small details, here are three additional reasons handwritten notes are powerful.

Open & Read Rates

According to Fundera, “70% of consumers say direct mail is more personal than online interactions. 54% of consumers say they want direct mail from brands that interest them.

Direct mail open rates can reach up to 90%. 42% of recipients read or scan the direct mail they receive. Direct mail response rates are five to nine times higher than any other advertising channel.”

Then, the Data & Marketing Association reports, “in Q2 of 2019…consumers engaged with 91% of all Direct Mail. By Q2 2020, this figure had soared to 96%.” So contrary to some views, direct mail is increasing in effectiveness.

Relationship Building

Indeed suggests building relationships with clients requires lawyers to:

“Communicate.

Stay positive.

Share knowledge.

Be open-minded.

Remain human.

Learn their needs.

Provide expertise.

Exceed expectation.”

 

Octane AI says, “Many consumers enjoy engaging with a brand and feel valued when brands provide opportunities to connect. Connection and relationships, in general, are very important to today’s shoppers, and the customer experience has a massive impact on purchasing decisions.”

Fulfilling a Need

All the abovementioned reasons are enough to validate using handwritten notes for lawyers, but there’s something else to consider. Clients need and want social interaction. 

Based on data shared by Fortune Magazine, an “MIT study, conducted mostly on college-age volunteers in 2018 and 2019—before the pandemic—found that 10 hours without any social contact, for many people, led to a kind of psychological and physical craving that’s on the same level of intensity as 10 waking hours without food.”

MIT authors go on to say, “‘People who are forced to be isolated crave social interactions similarly to the way a hungry person craves food. Our finding fits the intuitive idea that positive social interactions are a basic human need, and acute loneliness is an aversive state that motivates people to repair what is lacking, similar to hunger,’ says Rebecca Saxe, the John W. Jarve Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT, a member of MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research, and the senior author of the study.”

Handwritten notes for lawyers are a social means of legal marketing. They’re personal and personalized. They speak to the client and show appreciation and/or concern. These notes work because people NEED social interaction.

What Can You Use Handwritten Notes For?

Based on Audience experience, there are tons you can do with handwritten notes for lawyers, including:

• Engage cold prospects.
• Check-in after meetings.
• Encourage prospects to sign.
• Greetings to new clients.
• Invest in high-value clients.
• Activate dormant clients.
• Celebrate milestones.
• Appreciate referrals.
• Reward, console, and thank your employees.
• Reduce the impact of a difficult meeting.
• Maximize upsells and cross-sells.
• Organize events and webinars.
• Touch off drip sequences.
• Mail holiday greetings.

Why Does Personalization Matter to Clients?

Think With Google shares that 61% of clients want interactions with a company to be tailored to them. Not only are clients looking for social interaction, but they’re also looking to be treated better across the board. 

One way to effectively do that is by sending personalized handwritten notes to your law clients that use client-specific information in the message text. Dale Carnegie probably put it best when he said, “a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”

“Personalization is especially effective at driving repeat engagement and loyalty over time. Recurring interactions create more data from which brands can design ever-more relevant experiences—creating a flywheel effect that generates strong, long-term customer lifetime value and loyalty,” according to McKinsey & Company.

But, I Don’t Have Time to Write Notes

Lifehack claims 90% of the time, when someone says they don’t have time, it’s actually a lie. The honest answer is more like, “I’m busy right now,” “I have time, but I don’t want to do it,” or “I have time, but I don’t want to explain why I can’t/won’t do it.” 

What about handwritten notes? You can send notes to hundreds of people at the same time, and an AI-writing robot won’t get tired or have something more important to do. You’re not writing these handwritten notes for lawyers, but you are taking the time to invest in them.

“The key is in not spending time, but in investing it.” – Stephen R. Covey

What Do I Look For in a Handwritten Notes Provider?

There are tons of things to look for in the best of the best in handwritten notes for lawyers, but 8 of the most important are:

Testimonials & Results

Does the handwritten notes service offer proof its system works? Are there testimonials and examples of tangible results from recent campaigns? 

Testimonials should be available from current and past clients. Real testimonials, preferably with video documentation, posted on the official website are more accessible than review sites, but both will work. They need to come from people well-respected in their given trade. 

Material Choice

What is the paper weight for the handwritten note and envelope? Is an actual ink pen used, or some mechanical process?

Cardstock for handwritten notes for lawyers should measure between 100- and 110-lb paper weight. Envelopes are a little slimmer at 70- to 80-lb weight. Real ink pens that glide smoothly across the paper should be the standard.

Postage Selection

Is the envelope digitally stamped, or is an authentic USPS stamp used? 

The envelope is the most important part of a handwritten note for lawyers. It won’t matter one bit if the note inside is handwritten or if the envelope is never opened. A handwritten notes service worth a second look must provide handwritten envelopes and a Forever stamp. That small detail will affect your entire campaign (for the better). 

Customer Service

How does customer service treat clients? Are agents knowledgeable about handwritten notes and the services provided?

A handwritten notes service is only as strong as its weakest link, and that link should never exist in customer service. These representatives should alleviate problems, offer support, and take feedback, all while being polite and professional.

Account Support

Am I assigned an account manager? Or, is customer service supposed to fill that role? 

A customer service agent and account manager are two completely different roles in a handwritten marketing company. We just talked about customer service, but what about account management?

The role of an account manager is to serve as the client’s right-hand helper. They work with clients on campaign planning, message creation, graphic design, campaign tracking, and more. 

Steer clear of handwritten notes services that bounce clients around from one manager to another. The relationship between the client and account manager gets stronger over time, making this bond the best campaign return on investment.

Transparent Pricing

How much does a single handwritten note cost? How about 500 notes? Is the pricing all-inclusive?

The average prices for handwritten notes fall between $2 and $5 per note. In this business, the highest-priced service isn’t always the best. Tiered pricing lowers the price per note as note volume increases. So basically, the cost per note drops when you buy more notes. As for all-inclusive pricing, the quoted price per note should include all fees, materials, postage – everything.

Options to Scale

Does the service have enough writing power to accommodate if your firm increases note volume? Are clients allowed to downgrade plans when fewer notes are needed?

For lawyers, services that provide handwritten notes need to be flexible regarding note volume. It shouldn’t be a problem if a TV commercial takes off and you need 1000 notes instead of your standard 500. If you’re taking a month off work after having a new baby and want to decrease note volume, there should be no issue with the change.

Campaign Tracking

Do I have to track my handwritten notes? How can you track a handwritten note anyway?

QR code stickers are essential for any handwritten notes campaign. Not only do the codes move the recipient from a physical note to a digital landing page, but each scan is also tracked. That means you know precisely how many people scanned the QR code and, based on landing page data, how many took additional actions.

Are All Notes Companies Offering the Same Service?

The answer is, of course, no. But where do the outlying handwritten notes services drop the ball? 

• They use lightweight cardstock that doesn’t live up to the luxurious feeling of holding a thick note in hand. 
• They print the envelopes or use digital postage. 
• They change client account managers at will without regard for the effect on the client. 
• They offer limited customer service, take forever to answer calls, and even longer to reply to an email. 
• They use permanent ink instead of gel ink that smudges when rubbed. 

We could keep going, but we think you get the picture of what to avoid when campaigning with handwritten notes for lawyers. So now we talk about when you’ll want to send handwritten notes.

Triggers for Handwritten Notes in Legal Marketing

Here we outline eight reasons to trigger a handwritten note. There are many other reasons, but these are the more common. Let’s go through some scenarios to reinforce the concept. 

Thank

Sara recently visited with a lawyer about selling a family farm she inherited. She’d never met the lawyer before, but a friend suggested them. A few days later, Sara receives a handwritten note from the law office. She thinks the envelope is written and there’s a stamp, so it must be authentic. 

Inside there’s a personal message from the firm’s owner thanking them for the meeting. The kicker? The graphic on the outside of the handwritten note is a striking image of Sara’s family farm. Which, of course, they display for others to see. They sign up to work with the firm and suggest the law office to anyone interested. 

Congratulate 

John owns a contracting business and retains the services of a local lawyer. They see each other a few times a year, at most. John’s son recently graduated from college. Out of nowhere, John receives a handwritten envelope from the lawyer’s office. He opens the envelope to find a handwritten note with a picture of his son and his lawyer together at a community event last summer. 

The note was utterly unexpected, and it increased the respect he already had for the lawyer. John hangs the note on the refrigerator where a friend sees it and jots down the lawyer’s number because they’re looking for legal services.

Are things melding together now? How about some bullet points on a few more reasons to send handwritten notes in legal marketing.

Console

• Losing a friend
• Losing a loved one
• Losing a deal
• Losing a case
• Losing an appeal

Invite

• Holding a seminar
• Holding a webinar
• Holding a community event
• Holding a networking session

Celebrate

• Winning a case
• Winning a deal
• Winning an appeal

Remind

• Have an appointment
• Have a meeting
• Have a bill due
• Have a court date

Nurture

• Share appreciation 
• Share concern
• Share gratitude
• Share emotions
• Share content
• Share savings

Expand

• Contact leads
• Nurture leads
• Sign leads
• Retouch old leads
• Resurrect old leads

How to Write a Handwritten Note for Lawyers

While a reliable handwritten notes service for legal marketing will do all the hard labor for sending handwritten notes, you’ll still have to come up with a message to the recipient. Let’s break down how to write your message piece by piece.

Introduction

The introduction to your handwritten note should use the client’s or lead’s first name. If you use no name or a full name (first and last), it looks and sounds like a mass marketing message everyone around the neighborhood received. Would you send a card to a friend and address them as John Smith, or would you say, Hey John!? 

The client or lead is a friend for the sake of handwritten notes for lawyers and should be addressed and spoken to as such. 

Body

The body of a handwritten note plays a significant role in response rates. First, use formal language if your company tends to have a more formal voice. The same goes for laid-back companies, but they’ll use a less formal tone.

The context of your message will depend on the topic of the note, but you should start with a statement of appreciation or gratitude for the recipient. Then, move into why you’re contacting them in the first place. Next, give them an unbreakable reason they should act on your offer. Finally, you’ll add a call-to-action (CTA) and closing. 

Call-to-Action

A call-to-action or CTA in handwritten notes for lawyers is the action you want the client (or lead) to take. For instance, a note with a QR code could have a CTA that reads, “Scan the QR code to see testimonials from hundreds of happy clients.” Never assume the reader will automatically understand what you want them to do. You need to tell them what you want them to do to spark action.

Closing

At the end of your handwritten note, you’ll want to close the message with the same tone of voice as it’s written. Formal law offices may choose “Sincerely” or “Thoughtfully,” while a more relaxed office may opt for something like, “Talk to you soon” or “Hang in there.” 

Now, the signature on the handwritten notes for legal marketing needs to be the full name of someone at the firm and their title, and it works best when signed by a lawyer.

8 Samples of Handwritten Notes for Lawyers

1. Thank You

Dear Sara,

Thank you for filling out the contact form on our website. We appreciate you getting in touch. 

You inquired about hiring a lawyer for your divorce. We offer divorce services and have room to take you on as a client. Would you be available to meet with John Frazier, our divorce lawyer, on Monday, June 14th at 3:00 pm? 

If so, scan the QR code attached to verify the appointment or choose a different date and time to meet. We look forward to helping with your divorce.

Sincerely, 

Michael Frazier – Owner Frazier & Frazier

 

2. Congratulate

Hey Josie!

Thank you so much for being such a helpful, engaged client. We received the final word on your lawsuit, and they’ve accepted your offer as is. It will likely take two to three weeks to finalize all the paperwork, so you can expect to receive a check sometime after that.

If you would, please scan the QR code to verify your contact information. While you’re there, sign up for our weekly newsletter that shares tons of helpful legal advice. 

We’re thrilled everything ended well!

Take care, 

Michael Frazier – Owner Frazier & Frazier

3. Console

Hello Daniel,

Thank you for your patience while we waited for the court’s ruling on your dog custody case. We’re sorry to say the court sided with your ex-wife, so she’ll retain ownership of the dog. We know this isn’t the outcome you were looking for, but rest assured, we’re not finished fighting yet. 

Scan the QR code below to set up an appointment to meet with me next week to discuss the appeals process. We need to file the appeal ASAP, making this meeting important. 

I am looking forward to next week!

See you soon,

Michael Frazier – Owner Frazier & Frazier

 

4. Invite

Dear Wilken,

Thank you for being a member of our Frazier & Frazier Facebook group. I’m confident I’ve answered quite a few of your questions over the months. Because you’re so interested in estate law, I wanted to invite you to a webinar I’m holding on estate planning. There’s an extensive section on estate law you’ll appreciate.

Use your cell phone camera to scan the attached QR code to learn more about the webinar and to sign up. Because you’re my guest, you’ll attend free of charge with the code provided. 

Let’s get together in the Facebook group after the webinar for some fun back and forth!

Take care,

Michael Frazier – Owner Frazier & Frazier

 

5. Celebrate

Hello again Paulette!

Thank you so much for being a part of the largest class action lawsuit our firm has ever worked on. We appreciate all the time and effort you and your fellow class members put into winning this case. 

As a token of our appreciation, Frazier & Frazier is holding a night out on us. You and a guest are invited for dinner and drinks at the Roseclimb Country Club on Thursday, June 17th at 7:00 pm. Food is free! Drinks are free!

If you’d like to join us, scan the QR code attached and accept the invitation. You’ll be asked for your guest’s name and date of birth. Guests must be 21 or older to attend.

Can’t wait to see you next Thursday!

Michael Frazier – Owner Frazier & Frazier

 

6. Remind

Dear Tara,

First off, we appreciate your hardwork and patience during these difficult times. We know how challenging this situation is for you; we’re working to make things easier. 

You have an upcoming court date at the county courthouse on Friday, June 18th. You must be at the courthouse no later than 9 am that morning.

Remember to bring your identification documents to the courthouse. You’ll find a list of acceptable identification options if you scan the QR code below. 

See you Friday,

Michael Frazier – Owner Frazier & Frazier

 

7. Nurture

Hey Sinclaire!

How are things going in your neck of the woods? Here at Frazier & Frazier, we talk about that fire alarm at the courthouse all the time. It was a once-in-a-lifetime, hilarious event, that’s for sure. 

We wrote our monthly newsletter and decided to add a feature story on transgender legal rights. We immediately thought you’d love it. 

Scan the attached QR code to sign up for the newsletter. The next issue is coming out on July 1.

Let me know what you think!

Michael Frazier – Owner Frazier & Frazier

 

8. Expand

Hello Jim,

I’m Michael Frazier, the owner of Frazier & Frazier Law Offices – I appreciate your time. We recently closed a case in your development about irregular activities when surveying property lines. We’ve found that many of your neighbors have more land than they once thought. 

We conducted a preliminary search of your property address and believed you may also be affected. We’d like to meet with you ASAP to find out if you were involved, and, if so, how much you were affected, and the legal options available to you.

Scan the QR code attached to set up an appointment for next week. 

Let’s make this right!

Michael Frazier – Owner Frazier & Frazier

 

These notes are just samples of infinite possibilities with handwritten notes for lawyers. Jumping into a new marketing niche can be overwhelming, so let’s talk about how to regain some of your lost time wasted on mundane tasks.

Speed Up Your Legal Marketing With Automation

Here we’ve listed some of the more popular automation tools for legal marketing. We have no affiliation with any suggestion, nor do we have a professional relationship with the companies.

Hotdocs

Hotdocs offers document automation software that cuts the time it takes to create documents for your law practice. There are two product options: one for small to mid-sized firms and the other for large to enterprise firms. 

DirectLaw

DirectLaw offers document automation that allows clients to prepare legal documents from their website. The service works with document usage fees. There are two options: DirectLaw PayGo and DirectLaw Complete. PayGo fees are used to pay for document usage on the platform. Complete offers an all-inclusive price with no document fees.

Rocket Matter

Rocket Matter offers comprehensive law practice management software. Manage cases, track time & billing, store unlimited documents & emails, manage projects, automate billing, and more.

LawToolBox

If you’re a Microsoft fan, LawToolBox may be for you. The legal software is built to work with Microsoft 365, so you get a familiar interface from the start. You can automate calendars, maintain documents, and manage cases all from within Microsoft 365.

Other automation software to consider includes:

• Microsoft Power Automate
• Zapier
• Kira Systems
• HubSpot
• MailChimp
• Hootsuite
• LawBillity
• LawPay

Once you speed things up a bit, you’ll have time to invest back in yourself. A legal coach is the best person to offer unique solutions and insight into the difficulties in legal practice management.

13 Popular Coaches Respected in the Legal Field

After a little research, okay, a lot of research, we found 13 legal practice coaches who have years of experience with law and coaching. Working with a coach is all about having a fresh set of eyes looking at your practice and offering a unique insight into what you can do to improve it.

We are not personally or professionally associated with any of these law practice coaches.

1. Daniel Roberts
2. Philippos Aristotelous
3. Roy Ginsberg
4. Law Firm Success Group
5. OnTrac Coach
6. New Law Business Model
7. The Lawyer’s Coach
8. Lawyer-Coach
9. Law Coaching International
10. Lawyerist Lab
11. Cynthia Sharp
12. Crisp.co
13. Nikki Alderson Coaching

The Final Word on Handwritten Notes for Lawyers

Marketing isn’t the game it was just five or 10 years ago. The bright lights and fast pace of internet life took everyone by storm, including law firms. It was exciting at first, but people are starting to notice how impersonal the experience really is.

Handwritten notes for lawyers offer a solution in the form of “handwritten” notes providing an emotional, bonding experience that leaves the recipient knowing they have to reciprocate, so they act on your CTA. And, you never have to write a note!