The Intermediary – August 2026 - Flipbook - Page 17
RESIDENTIAL
Opinion
FIRM REVIEWS
OR RED HERRING
Increasingly, technology is allowing
information to move automatically
between case management systems
through application programming
interface (API) integration.
Milestones, progress updates and
case notes can all flow directly into
platform portals.
In those circumstances, fewer
manual updates do not indicate
poorer communication. Quite the
opposite may be true, because advisers
are receiving richer information
directly from the conveyancer’s own
live system.
The real measure should not be
how many times somebody clicks an
update buon, but whether advisers
and their clients receive timely,
accurate and meaningful information
throughout the transaction.
Reviews always need context
Customer reviews and broker
feedback undoubtedly have an
important role to play, but they also
need to be viewed in context. Buying
a home remains one of life’s most
stressful experiences. Delays caused by
mortgage offers, chains, survey issues
or sellers can all influence how clients
perceive the conveyancer, even when
the legal work itself has been carried
out efficiently and professionally.
Broker feedback presents
similar challenges. Many advisers
understandably do not submit reviews
aer every completed transaction,
meaning ratings can sometimes be
based on relatively small numbers of
responses. A handful of particularly
positive or negative experiences can
therefore have a disproportionate
impact on a firm’s overall score.
It is also worth remembering that
different platforms measure service in
different ways. Some rely heavily on
broker feedback, others place greater
emphasis on customer reviews,
while others use internal scoring
methodologies
based on
communication
activity or
operational data.
Each provides a useful
perspective, but none
offers a complete picture
on its own.
Human insight
Technology has transformed
conveyancing for the beer and
should continue to do so.
Beer integration, improved data
sharing and greater transparency
are helping advisers spend less time
chasing updates and more time
supporting clients.
However, there remains enormous
value in speaking to people who work
closely with conveyancing firms every
day. For example, our experienced
account managers understand which
firms currently have capacity, where
particular strengths lie, which case
types suit individual firms and how
service levels are evolving in real time.
They oen know which teams are
particularly effective with complex
maers, which firms are handling
specialist lending well and where
capacity may currently be under
pressure. That insight simply cannot
be captured by a historic score or a
customer rating.
Ultimately, reviews, ratings and
performance data should form part
of the decision-making process rather
than becoming the decision itself.
Used in isolation, they can become
a major red herring because they
remove the context that maers most.
We do not, and should not, have a
process or firm or individual reduced
to a single number out of 10, and it is
one of the reasons why professional
judgement remains every bit as
valuable in conveyancing as it is in
every other area of financial advice. ●
August 2026 | The Intermediary
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