We caught up with our Head of Legal Content, Sam Warner, who explains the context behind our latest lead generation tool – Arken Intestacy – and what this means for the industry…
Can you tell us a bit more about the thinking behind Arken Intestacy? Where did the idea come from?
The thinking was twofold. Firstly, there can be disastrous consequences if people die without making a Will or if they haven’t updated their Will in a long while. This is particularly the case for unmarried people who do not benefit under their partner’s estate unless provision has been made for them in a Will. And separated people who have not finalised a divorce could be horrified that their estate would benefit their soon-to-be ex spouse if they did not have a Will or had not updated it to exclude the former spouse.
The second driver for creating this online tool was to support our clients in growing their businesses. Arken Intestacy is a powerful lead generator, and – because it is mobile responsive and social media shareable – it is particularly useful for reaching Millennials who transact the vast majority of their affairs online and are often missed by traditional estate planning marketing. And business growth is difficult at the moment, particularly in the estate planning industry which has traditionally relied on face-to-face meetings. We hope that releasing this product to our clients in the middle of a lockdown will give them a valuable tool to engage with their current and prospective clients in an innovative and engaging way.
What features are included, and why?
Arken Intestacy is a simple online questionnaire with graphical buttons which will take your clients less than a minute to complete. It will produce an onscreen report telling them what would happen if they died without a Will. Often, the results alone will be enough to spur them into action, and they are then directed to choose between moving through to Arken Online Wills to draft their own Will there and then, or to Arken Acquire to input their details to request a professionally advised Will if their needs are more complex, alternatively, they can simply request to be contacted to discuss their requirements. This enables them to put a plan in place to protect their loved ones right away. And they can even share the peace of mind with their friends by clicking on social media links to share the Arken Intestacy link to their own accounts to pass on the tip.
Arken Intestacy is highly customisable. The tool can be hosted within a website to create a seamless experience for users. It can be fully branded with a logo, customised fonts and colours. Much of the text is customisable throughout the application to ensure that the messaging is absolutely on-brand.
How long has Arken.legal been working on this new solution?
Arken has had an intestacy quick checker within its Arken Professional product for a number of years – this was a tool for the professional to use when advising their clients. But at the start of the pandemic, we realised that our clients would need to adapt their way of generating leads to thrive in the new business environment, and so we embarked on creating a brand new consumer-facing tool to make generating leads easier by enabling businesses to impress upon their clients and prospects the importance of creating a Will. It was vital that this was a reactive, mobile-enabled tool as that is how the vast majority of people organise their affairs these days.
Can you see it changing the way practitioners market their services?
Absolutely. Arken Intestacy paves the way to direct marketing to Millennials. This is an enormous market that has largely gone untapped by the estate planning industry, but Arken Intestacy engages with them on their own turf: online, through social media, quickly and directly. It also allows businesses to engage with their existing clients in a way that they cannot in the current market, and it isn’t just advertising of service: once the intestacy questionnaire has been completed, it presents solutions: to allow the customer to strike while the iron is hot and create their Will there and then or to reach out for professional advice. Online Wills are in high demand right now: once consumers get used to transacting online, they will stay there. Arken Intestacy is the ideal tool to educate clients as to why they need a Will, and then to route them to the most appropriate Will drafting solution for them.
Free trial for Arken.legal clients
We love this product as it transforms the way Arken.legal clients market their Will drafting services. It is more important than ever, in the current uncertain times, that everyone should have a Will. To these ends, we would like all our clients to try Arken Intestacy, to see for themselves what it can do for their business in terms of lead generation, and for their clients in terms of peace of mind. So we are offering a free trial – to give it a go with no risk and no obligation – to enable business transformation and growth.