Personal injury leads may cost anywhere from $100 to over $350, depending on many factors and the company you buy the leads from. In smaller geographic areas, the leads may be less expensive. Leads in bigger metropolitan areas will cost at the higher end of the range.
According to the ABA, many lawyers across all practice areas invest in buying leads. As a personal injury lawyer, you might consider paying for lead generation to help you get new cases. This is most helpful for new lawyers who don't have other established marketing channels.
Buying leads could be a good supplement to your other marketing activities. But using it as your primary method to win cases may be more costly than it seems. Other personal injury law firm marketing tactics are more sustainable and lead to greater long-term value.
Factors that Affect the Price of Personal Injury Leads
Determining the cost of personal injury leads can be challenging because many factors go into the final price.
These include exclusivity, the geographic area, and the type of personal injury case.
One other factor almost always applies to lead cost regardless of the other. The more specific you get in terms of lead quality, the more you'll pay.
Exclusivity
The concept of exclusive leads is straightforward. Leads that are meant for only one lawyer are more valuable than those where lawyers must compete.
An exclusive lead goes to only one lawyer. These leads are more expensive than non-exclusive ones, but you might find it easier to close them. That's because you're not competing against any other law firms for the lead's business.
Non-exclusive leads may be shared with multiple personal injury law firms. You can pay for the lead, but there's little guarantee that you'll win their business. You have to do the hard work of standing out from all the other personal injury attorneys who bought the same lead.
Geographic Area
Personal injury lawyers in high-population areas pay more than less competitive areas. This means that personal injury leads in places like Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and other bigger cities may be too expensive for some firms.
Many lawyers in bigger cities are willing to pay a lot for leads on personal injury cases, driving the market cost up even more. This may make it harder for newer lawyers to set aside enough budget to compete for these potential clients.
Type of Personal Injury
Lawyers value personal injury cases differently. So it follows that leads for different claim types may also vary in price.
A dog bite lead will not cost as much as one for a victim in a truck accident case, for example.
Be prepared to pay more for cases that other lawyers value because of their preferred practice areas or the case's potential settlement or verdict value.
Buying Leads vs. Generating Your Own
Buying leads from time to time may be fine for lawyers, but it isn't sustainable in the long run. This is especially true compared to the long-term value of quality leads you can bring in yourself.
Making lead-buying your primary source of clients presents a few challenges. The biggest two are scalability and lead quality.
Buying leads funds a 1-to-1 payout. You pay X amount to the lead seller. In return, you get Y number of leads. To get more leads, you have to pay more.
With tactics like SEO for lawyers, you pay for compounding growth over time. Each piece of content you create exists on a platform you own. Several potential clients can find your site over time. Each time they convert, the content on your site provides more value.
Quality vs. Cost of Personal Injury Leads
Second, many lead services focus on quantity over quality. If you survey reviews of legal pay-per-lead services, you'll find endless complaints from lawyers about low-quality leads.
A pay-per-lead service may be incentivized to send you as many personal injury leads as possible. They may not take the time to properly qualify the leads before sending them to you. While these services have dispute processes, it's still an unnecessary waste of your time.
Supply and Demand
Another challenge is one of supply and demand. If more lawyers in your area compete to buy leads, prices will rise. Due to competition, some lawyers may be priced out of the lead-buying market.
Buying personal injury leads may help you get your practice off the ground, but the alternatives are usually better in the long run.
Doing Your Own Personal Injury Lead Generation
Tactics like SEO and law firm social media require time and work upfront to yield results. It may be slightly slower to start, but content marketing is far more sustainable and scalable than buying leads from a pay per lead vendor.
As you invest in law firm inbound marketing, you get the added bonus of nurturing and educating your leads. These high-quality leads are more likely to convert, too.
This is especially true when you compare inbound marketing leads with non-exclusive leads. Non-exclusive leads don't know you or your law firm's unique value proposition, so it's harder to make the case that you're the right choice.
Common Lead Generation Services for Personal Injury Attorneys
There are several different pay-per-lead services for attorneys. Many of them also serve double duty as legal directories. These directories pull people to their sites using either PPC ads or SEO. Then they either capture leads to sell to partner attorneys or send referrals to attorneys through premium profiles.
Most personal injury lead generation services don't publish their average lead costs. This may be because lead prices vary per platform or because of competition between platforms.
While they don't publish their pricing per lead, many platforms will tell you the cost of a premium directory profile. These paid profiles mean you might show up more often when people visit the directory.
Below, we've listed some of the most common lead-generation companies for personal injury attorneys.
Quintessa Marketing
Quintessa Marketing uses a variety of digital marketing and advertising techniques to deliver high-quality personal injury leads to its clients. Each lead from this service is exclusive to you, meaning you don't have to compete with other attorneys for the same lead.
Quintessa qualifies thousands of leads each month with a focus on motor vehicle accidents, semi and commercial vehicle accidents, commercial premises liability, and workers' comp. They claim that their leads convert into retainers over 50% of the time. They also claim to be able to bring their attorney clients 20 to 100 new leads each month.
What stands out with Quintessa are some of their guarantees. Besides the high conversion rates, they guarantee that your law firm will receive its first retainer from a lead within 24 hours of working with them.
4LegalLeads
4LegalLeads has been generating leads for attorneys of all stripes since 2001. Every lead that they generate is exclusive to you, and you can choose how you want them delivered. 4LegalLeads can transfer live calls to your office, notify you of web leads through email or text, or pipe them directly into your legal CRM.
This service does not have a long-term contract. Instead, you add funds to your account based on what you're willing to spend at the time.
The price per lead differs based on the category of the personal injury claim. Auto accident leads can cost anywhere from $300 to $1500 per lead. Medical malpractice comes in at $40 per lead, and workers' compensation leads can cost between $75 and $550. Other categories of personal injury leads range from $175 to $425 each.
Accident.com
Accident.com uses a mixture of search engine optimized content, search engine advertising, and social media to generate leads across personal injury case categories. Every lead from this service is exclusive, too.
Accident.com promises a quick setup time, claiming that you can start getting leads after a 15-minute kickoff call and some campaign customization. You can customize your campaign all the way down to the hyperlocal level, but the more narrow your targeting, the more expensive your leads will be.
This service requires a 3-month commitment before transitioning into a month-to-month model. You'll get a dedicated account manager to help you with your campaign, and you can have your leads delivered via email, text, or to your Accident.com dashboard.
Leading Response
Leading Response takes a multichannel approach to attorney lead generation, meaning they use both digital and traditional advertising to target and qualify leads. They focus on generating leads in a number of personal injury subcategories, such as auto accidents, mass torts, medical malpractice, and workers' compensation.
Unlike some other services in this list, you can choose between real-time lead delivery or delivery on certain days of the week. Since all of the leads are exclusive, you don't have to worry about other firms poaching your leads.
Leading Response customers also get access to the service's Hub client portal. This portal allows you to keep track of campaign performance and analytics. It also integrates with certain CRMs.
Legal TV Leads
As the name implies, Legal TV Leads creates and runs TV commercials in your local market. What it doesn't imply is that these are exclusive legal leads with a particular focus on auto accident cases.
When someone calls the number in the ad, a representative from the service pre-screens the call for you. Then they transfer the live call over to you. Each lead that you receive should be a qualified accident victim who's ready for your help.
Legal TV Leads doesn't just leave you hanging after transferring your call. The service also comes with a personalized tracking dashboard. Here you can keep track of who's called you and how your campaign is performing.
Walker Advertising
Walker advertising is another service that takes a multichannel approach to attorney pay per lead. They use radio ads, local and network TV ads, paid and organic search, social media, and even live events to generate personal injury leads for their partner law firms.
When an accident victim places a call after seeing an ad, they're transferred to Walker Advertising's 24/7 call center. There, each call is prequalified before being delivered to you as an exclusive lead. Your office gets the final say on qualifying the lead. You'll also get a dedicated sales rep to go over periodic performance and ROI reviews with you.
Additionally, if your law firm has a special focus on working with Spanish speakers, Walker Advertising may be right for you. They are capable of running ads to Spanish-speaking audiences, and they have bilingual operators at their call center.
Nolo
Nolo is both a legal directory and a legal encyclopedia for the average person. They capture leads by attracting people with search engine optimized content. They then funnel visitors over to their directory.
Nolo sells flat-fee leads to lawyers in certain geographic areas. They offer both exclusive and non-exclusive lawyer leads.
They do not publish their pricing, but they do say it varies based on the type of injury lead.
FindLaw
While Nolo uses SEO and content to drive traffic to lawyer profiles, FindLaw uses targeted online ads to push leads to visit landing pages. FindLaw then sells these leads exclusively to one lawyer.
As with other services, they don't share their pricing, but you can expect them to be higher due to the exclusivity factor.
Lawyer.com
This legal directory allows you to purchase a premium lawyer profile. This pushes up your law firm's listing in the directory's search results.
Lawyer.com also offers enhanced promotion profiles, which allow a limited number of lawyers to show up at the top.
A premium profile listing is $119/month. Enhanced promotion in your county is $250/month. Statewide enhanced promotion costs $999/month.
Lawyers.com
Not to be confused with Lawyer.com, Lawyers.com uses both ads and SEO to get traffic to the site. Like any other directory, the site presents multiple lawyer profiles for the reader to choose from.
You can pay a monthly fee for a premium lawyer listing that shows up above other attorneys. There's a catch to getting the leads, though. Even with a premium listing, lawyers must pay an unpublished cost per lead.
Avvo
Avvo is another option for getting greater exposure for your law firm. A main profile is free, but you could pay more to show up in premium listings. Plan to spend at least $100+ monthly to get featured in listings for prospective clients.
At one point, Avvo was a preeminent lawyer directory. In recent years, traffic to the site has declined significantly. The free profile is still useful for local SEO, but you might pass on a paid one. For most lawyers, it's not worth it to pay for a premium profile from this site.
Unbundled Attorney
This company captures leads through PPC advertising on Google. Unbundled Attorney tells the leads the average costs for legal services. This sets the lead up for their conversation with a lawyer.
This service does not publish its lead prices online. They do say that the price varies based on location. Positive reviews online claim that these are high-converting leads. This makes Unbundled Attorney a top contender for a personal injury attorney set on buying leads.
Other Options for Quality Personal Injury Leads
While buying personal injury leads can seem like a quick fix to fill your pipeline with potential clients, it’s not the only option. Relying solely on purchased leads can quickly drain your budget and leave you vulnerable to fluctuations in lead quality.
Thankfully, there are effective organic marketing strategies that can help you attract more leads to your personal injury law firm without the ongoing expense of lead purchasing.
Invest in SEO
Optimize your website for search engines to improve your organic visibility. Research relevant keywords potential clients might use to find personal injury lawyers. Create engaging, informative content around these keywords to help your website rank higher in search results, driving targeted traffic your way.
Content Marketing
Develop a content marketing strategy that focuses on educational resources. Write blog posts, articles, and guides that answer common questions or concerns related to personal injury cases. Providing valuable information not only establishes your authority in the field but also builds trust with potential clients who are seeking help.
Social Media
Utilize social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to connect with your audience. Share client success stories, educational content, and engaging posts that reflect your law firm’s values and expertise. Engaging actively with your audience can help you build relationships and encourage referrals.
Client Reviews and Testimonials
Encourage satisfied clients to leave positive reviews and testimonials on platforms like Google, Yelp, and your social media pages. High ratings and positive feedback can significantly influence prospective clients when they are looking for legal representation.
Community Involvement
Participate in local events and sponsorships to boost your firm’s visibility in the community. This can include attending health and safety fairs, offering free legal seminars, or sponsoring local sports teams. Building connections within your community not only raises brand awareness but can also lead to referrals over time.
Network with Other Professionals
Develop relationships with other professionals and businesses that can refer clients to you, such as medical providers, insurance agents, or community organizations. Building a collaborative network of referral sources can provide a steady stream of leads without the need to purchase them.
By incorporating these organic marketing strategies into your overall marketing plan, you can establish a stronger online presence, build credibility, and ultimately attract more personal injury leads to your firm without the ongoing costs associated with buying leads.
Go Beyond Buying Leads
As a personal injury lawyer, you need reliable, long-term, and sustainable ways to bring in new clients.
At Rankings.io, we help personal injury law firms create those marketing strategies through SEO, social media, attorney PPC, and more. Let us leverage our years of experience to get meaningful results for personal injury lawyers.
If you're ready to step off the lead-buying treadmill, we can help you create your own leads. Contact us today to learn more.
