Winning new clients is the lifeblood of any law firm, but managing the intake process can quickly become chaotic without the right tools. Clio Grow is purpose-built to solve this challenge — offering a complete client intake and legal CRM platform that helps law firms capture, nurture, and convert leads into paying clients with ease.
In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know to set up Clio Grow and start converting more leads into clients from day one.
What Is Clio Grow and Why Does Your Firm Need It?
Clio Grow is a dedicated legal CRM (Client Relationship Management) tool that works seamlessly alongside Clio Manage. While Clio Manage handles your existing caseload, Clio Grow focuses on what happens before a client signs a retainer — the entire intake journey from first contact to engagement letter.
- Lead tracking — Know exactly where every potential client came from and where they are in the pipeline
- Online intake forms — Custom-branded forms that capture client information directly into your system
- Automated follow-ups — Never let a lead go cold with automated email and text sequences
- E-signature integration — Send retainer agreements and engagement letters for digital signing
- Pipeline management — Visual pipeline boards that give you a bird’s-eye view of your intake funnel
Step 1: Configure Your Intake Pipeline
The intake pipeline is the backbone of Clio Grow. It visualizes every stage a potential client moves through — from initial contact to signed retainer. Setting this up correctly ensures nothing slips through the cracks.
- Navigate to Clio Grow → Pipeline from your dashboard
- Review the default stages: New Lead → Contacted → Consultation Scheduled → Consultation Complete → Retained
- Customize the stages to match your firm’s actual intake workflow
- Add any additional stages your firm uses (e.g., “Conflict Check,” “Pending Documents,” “Fee Agreement Sent”)
- Set stage-based automations — for example, automatically send a welcome email when a lead enters “New Lead”
Pro tip: Keep your pipeline to 5-7 stages maximum. Too many stages create confusion; too few miss important milestones in the intake journey.
Step 2: Build Your Online Intake Forms
Clio Grow’s intake forms are one of its most powerful features. These customizable, web-based forms can be embedded on your website or shared via direct link, capturing lead information and feeding it directly into your pipeline.
- Go to Clio Grow → Intake Forms and click Create New Form
- Add fields for essential information: name, email, phone, practice area, and case description
- Create practice-area-specific forms — a personal injury form should ask about accident details, while a family law form should ask about marriage duration and children
- Customize the form’s appearance with your firm’s branding (logo, colors, fonts)
- Add a disclaimer and consent checkbox for compliance with your state’s ethics rules
- Embed the form on your website’s contact page using the provided HTML snippet
Step 3: Set Up Automated Email Sequences
Studies show that responding to a new lead within 5 minutes increases conversion rates by up to 400%. Clio Grow’s automation features ensure no lead waits for a response, even outside business hours.
- Welcome email — Automatically sent when a new lead submits an intake form, confirming receipt and setting expectations
- Consultation confirmation — Sent immediately after scheduling, with date, time, location, and preparation instructions
- Reminder emails — Automated reminders 24 hours and 1 hour before scheduled consultations to reduce no-shows
- Follow-up sequences — If a lead hasn’t responded in 48 hours, automatically send a gentle follow-up
- Post-consultation follow-up — After a consultation, send a summary email with next steps and engagement documents
Step 4: Configure Your Appointment Scheduler
Clio Grow includes a built-in scheduling tool that eliminates the back-and-forth of booking consultations. Leads can self-schedule based on your availability, dramatically reducing friction in the intake process.
- Set your availability windows — define which days and times you accept consultations
- Configure buffer times between appointments (we recommend 15-30 minutes)
- Set consultation types with different durations (e.g., 15-minute phone screening, 45-minute in-person consultation)
- Sync with your Google Calendar or Outlook to prevent double-booking
- Add the scheduling link to your website, email signature, and social media profiles
Step 5: Create Document Templates for Engagement
Speed up the engagement process by creating reusable templates for common documents. Clio Grow’s document automation features let you generate client-specific documents in seconds.
- Retainer agreements — Pre-populated with client name, matter details, and fee structure
- Engagement letters — Customized by practice area with appropriate scope-of-representation language
- Fee agreements — Including contingency, hourly, and flat-fee options
- Client questionnaires — Detailed intake questionnaires that gather case-specific information
Step 6: Connect Clio Grow With Clio Manage
The real magic happens when Clio Grow and Clio Manage work together. Once a lead becomes a client, their information flows seamlessly from Grow into Manage — no re-entry required.
- Enable the Grow-Manage sync in your Clio settings
- Map your Grow fields to corresponding Manage fields to ensure data transfers correctly
- When a lead reaches the “Retained” stage, click Convert to Matter to create the matter in Clio Manage
- All contact information, notes, documents, and communication history transfer automatically
- The lead’s intake form responses become part of the permanent matter record
Tracking Your Intake Performance
Clio Grow provides powerful reporting to help you understand and improve your intake process. Key metrics to monitor include:
- Lead source ROI — Which marketing channels generate the most (and best) leads?
- Conversion rate by stage — Where are leads dropping off in your pipeline?
- Response time — How quickly is your team responding to new leads?
- Revenue by lead source — Connect marketing spend to actual client revenue
Get Expert Help Setting Up Clio Grow
A well-configured Clio Grow system can transform your firm’s intake process, helping you convert more leads while spending less time on administrative tasks. But getting the setup right requires understanding both the technology and the nuances of legal client intake.
At Courthouse Digital, we’ve helped dozens of law firms implement Clio Grow to maximize their client conversion rates. From intake form design to automation strategy, we’ll build a system that works for your practice. Schedule a free consultation to get started.