Here's a number that should change how you think about marketing your will writing practice: 72% of UK consumers now trust online reviews just as much as a personal recommendation from a friend or family member.
That statistic, from BrightLocal's UK consumer research, means your Google reviews are doing more to win you new clients than almost anything else in your marketing. More than your website copy. More than your professional memberships. More than the leaflets you leave at the accountant's office.
And yet most will writing practices have fewer than 20 reviews. Many have fewer than 10. Some have none at all.
Why reviews matter more for will writers than almost any other service
Will writing is a trust-based service. Clients are sharing their most personal financial and family details with someone they may never have met before. The decision to instruct a particular will writer is, for most people, a leap of faith.
In the absence of personal experience, consumers look for signals that reduce risk. Reviews are the strongest signal available.
The research is consistent on this. 98% of consumers read online reviews at least occasionally for local businesses. 77% of UK consumers have used the internet to find a local business in the past twelve months, and 61% have actively read reviews of those businesses. Among consumers aged 16 to 34, the behaviour is even more pronounced: 24% search for local businesses online every single month.
For will writing specifically, the trust factor is amplified by consumer confusion about regulation. Research found that 40% of consumers wrongly believe all will writing services are regulated. When someone is already uncertain about whether a provider is legitimate, a strong review profile becomes the primary mechanism for building confidence.
The penalty for poor reviews, or no reviews, is severe. 71% of consumers won't consider a business with an average rating below three stars. 94% say a negative review has convinced them to avoid a business entirely. And 62% of UK consumers say they trust a local business more after reading positive reviews.
In a market where no single will writing brand commands more than 10% market share, reviews are often the deciding factor between you and the three other practices that came up in the same Google search.
The volume and recency problem
It's not enough to have a handful of five-star reviews from 2021. Consumers are looking at three things: how many reviews you have, how recent they are, and what the average rating is.
The average local business has approximately 20 Google reviews. Leading legal practices in competitive markets often have 200 or more. That gap in volume directly affects where you appear in Google's local search results, because review signals account for roughly 17% of the factors that determine Local Pack ranking.
Recency matters just as much. 22% of consumers only pay attention to reviews written within the past two weeks. A practice with 50 reviews, all from two years ago, looks less trustworthy than a practice with 15 reviews, several of which were left in the last month.
This creates a compound effect. Practices with more recent reviews rank higher in local search, which brings more traffic, which generates more enquiries, which (if handled well) creates more satisfied clients, who leave more reviews. It's a self-reinforcing cycle that rewards consistency.
The practices with fewer reviews, or older reviews, get pushed further down the search results, receive fewer enquiries, and have fewer opportunities to collect new reviews. The gap widens over time.
The reason most will writers don't have enough reviews
It's not that clients are unwilling to leave reviews. Research shows that 94% of consumers are open to writing a review, and when asked directly, 65% will do so. The problem is almost always that nobody asks.
Will writers, understandably, focus on the legal work. When a will is completed and the client is happy, the natural instinct is to move on to the next instruction. Asking for a review feels awkward, or it gets forgotten, or there's no system in place to prompt it.
Even practices that do ask tend to do so inconsistently. Sometimes a fee earner remembers, sometimes they don't. There's no process, no template, no automation. The result is a trickle of reviews instead of a steady flow.
Meanwhile, how you respond to reviews also matters. Consumers are 41% more likely to use a business that responds to all of its reviews compared to one that ignores them. 88% of consumers say they'd choose a business that responds to all reviews over one that doesn't respond to any. The SRA's own data shows that 44% of law firms now direct clients to submit reviews on platforms like Google, ReviewSolicitors, and Trustpilot, and 56% of those firms respond within one working day.
But managing all of this manually (logging into Google Business Profile, checking ReviewSolicitors, drafting individual responses, remembering to ask every client) creates an administrative burden that small practices can't sustain without a system.
Building a review machine that runs itself
The most effective approach to review collection is to make it automatic. When a will is completed and the matter is closed, the system sends the client a personalised message thanking them for their instruction and asking them to share their experience. The message includes a direct link to your Google listing, making it as easy as possible.
Here's what a practical review automation workflow looks like for a will writing practice:
At matter completion: an automated email goes to the client, thanking them for choosing your practice and asking if they'd be willing to leave a short review. The email is warm, personal, and includes a one-click link to your Google Business Profile.
Three days later: if no review has been left, a gentle follow-up message goes out. Something along the lines of: "I hope your will is safely stored. If you had a positive experience with us, a quick Google review would really help other people in a similar position find a trustworthy will writer."
On review receipt: you get notified immediately and can respond within hours, not days. A short, genuine "thank you" response to every review signals to prospective clients (and to Google's algorithm) that you're an active, engaged practice.
This isn't complicated technology. It's a sequence of automated messages triggered by a status change in your client management system. Once it's set up, it runs on every completed matter without anyone needing to remember or spend time on it.
The compounding effect on your business
Over six months, a will writing practice completing 8 to 10 matters per month and achieving even a 30% review rate from automated requests would accumulate 15 to 18 new reviews. Over a year, that's 30 to 36. Within eighteen months, you've moved from the pack to a position where your review volume and recency put you ahead of most local competitors.
That shift in review volume directly affects your Google Local Pack ranking, which drives more organic enquiries, which generates more clients, which creates more completed matters, which produces more review requests. The cycle feeds itself.
And unlike paid advertising, which stops the moment you stop spending, a strong review profile keeps working for you 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Three things to do this week
1. Check your current position. Google your own practice name and look at your Google Business Profile. How many reviews do you have? What's your average rating? When was the last review posted? If the answer is "not many, not recently," you know where to start.
2. Ask your last five completed clients. Send a short, personal email to the last five clients whose wills you completed. Don't use a template that sounds corporate. Write it like you'd write to someone you know: "I'm glad we got your will sorted. If you've got two minutes, a quick Google review would really help other people find a trustworthy will writer. Here's the link."
3. Make it part of the process, not part of your memory. Whether you use automation or a simple checklist, build review requests into your matter completion workflow so it happens every time, not just when someone remembers.
If you're not sure how your practice compares on reviews, response times, and client follow-up, our free 2-minute assessment covers all of it. Ten questions, an instant report, and a clear picture of where to focus your effort.