People are interesting creatures. If you were to ask, most people will tell you that they aren't easily influenced by others. The truth is that they are.
You may have heard about mob mentality, the phenomena of large numbers of people behaving in the same way at the same time. There have been numerous studies performed on social validation which show that people act one way when alone and differently when others validate a certain behavior.
In one particular study, the experimenter setup the following situation:
Subjects began to fill out questionnaires in a room to which they began to add smoke. In one condition the subject was alone. In another three naive subjects were in the room. In the final condition one naive subject and two confederates who purposely noticed and then ignored the smoke (even when the room became hazy from all the smoke).
75% of alone subjects calmly noticed the smoke and left the room to report it. But only 10% of the subjects with confederates reported it. Surprisingly, in the three naive bystander condition only 38% reported the smoke.
Most subjects had similar initial reactions. Those that didn't report it all concluded that the smoke wasn't dangerous or was part of the experiment. No one attributed their inactivity to the presence of others in the room.
You always need to be cognizant of your bar's ethics rules and limitations and use reviews and testimonials while adhering to your state bar's guidelines. That being said, the power of social validation can be used to your law firm's benefit. If your legal service is socially validated, people are most likely to use it. This makes online testimonials and reviews powerful tools.
People are always looking to others to see what to do. In the case of looking for a law firm online, if they are unsure of a decision, they will look to testimonials, ratings, and reviews for signals on how to behave. With this in mind, consider the following points about how you can increase the effectiveness of your online social validation:
The larger the group (ie: more reviews), the better. The larger the group, the more people will conform. When a group grows, so does conformity to that group. While this seems intuitive, in practice many firms get just one or two reviews and feel the work is done. The point is that the persuasion of your reviews will grow as you acquire more of them.
The more people identify with the person leaving the review, the better. People will identify with others that are like themselves. Think about who your target "persona" is as a legal client. Provide information, with permission of course, about the person writing the review. The more a person reading a review can identify with the reviewer, the more that person will be influenced to change their behavior and/or opinions. Social validation is more powerful when we observe people we consider to be just like us.
Ratings and reviews from other people are more powerful than from experts. Lawyers love to post their ratings from "expert" groups such as Super Lawyers, peer reviews from Martindale Hubbell, etc. But studies have shown that reviews from people your potential clients can identify with (ie: people like themselves) are more powerful than reviews from experts. This isn't to say that you should ignore a positive trust signal or validation from a prestigious organization, but consider focusing on reviews from previous clients.
Tell a story when possible. Stories are powerful in marketing. They appeal to the emotional side of people and influence behavior.
The clearer the principle of social validation, the better. Find the best use of social validation in your legal service. Is your service used by the elite, the fastest growing, used by the most people? Is it part of a trend or specific to a certain niche? Who else uses it? Who is it the best fit for?
On April 22, 2025, Google sent an email updating Local Services Ads Additional Terms for Providers: Subject: Action required: important updates to Local Service Ads Additional Terms Many people are arguing that lawyers cannot participate in Local Services Ads, as this would constitute a per se violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct related to […]
Conrad and I recently joined Zack at Lawyerist to record a conversation about AI and marketing. You might think that we spend the whole time on how lawyers can use AI to publish content. You'd be wrong. While AI can certainly support publishing, there are many more interesting ways to use it in legal marketing. […]
As more legal services consumers turn to ChatGPT for local law firm recommendations, a fascinating intersection between AI, search, and maps unfolds. While Google remains the undisputed leader in local business data, ChatGPT is increasingly becoming an entry point for searchers seeking legal representation. But here’s the kicker: instead of keeping users within its ecosystem, […]
When law firms contact us, they usually want to talk: • PPC Ads • SEO Rankings • Lead Generation Very few want to talk: • Brand • Trust & Recognition • Emotional Connection Admittedly, much of this concerns that AttorneySync is known for lead generation across those common digital channels. But even when we start […]
According to an October 2024 study by SE Ranking: "The legal niche triggers the highest percentage of AIOs (77.67%). The average number of links matched between the AI Overview resources and the top 20 search results was 6.49 for legal topics. AI Overviews for legal topics most frequently link to NYCourts.gov (114 links), YouTube.com (48 […]
I'm grateful for my friend, Charley Mann of Law firm Alchemy. If you're a lawyer, subscribe to his Free Email List. In a recent email, Charley calls out bad guru advice on hiring: "Trying to execute a major SEO improvement? You need to find people who will help you, instead of trying to DIY it […]
If you’ve spent any time on LinkedIn, you’ve likely seen posts from law firm SEO experts showing off charts with an “up and to the right” trajectory. These screenshots, often pulled from tools like Semrush or Ahrefs, are meant to signal SEO success. And it’s not just the agencies celebrating—𝗹𝗮𝘄 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗺𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 […]
Meh, links! All things being equal, links still tend to move the dial more than any other factor in legal SERPs. Maybe links are having a diminishing impact internet-wide. But in my experience, quality links, especially relevant links (both topically and geographically), tend to improve law firm visibility in search more than most everything else. […]
When you think of "marketing," what's the first thing that comes to mind? Ads? SEO? Social Media? What about: Helping others?Taking the lead? Rallying around your community? Need an example? Learn from Bart Siniard at Siniard Law Injury Attorneys efforts to help rebuild Mary's Pit BBQ. These efforts aren't about marketing. They're about supporting a […]