Law by Mike had the audience, the influence, and the legal expertise. So why were his leads vanishing faster than a bad alibi?
Lawyer and creator, Mike Mandell, who goes by Law by Mike online, has 10+ million followers across his social media platforms.
But all that attention wasn’t converting fast enough into clients. It was downright criminal. *cue Law & Order’s dun dun*
His Instagram DM automation wasn’t pulling its weight. Leads remained unanswered, responses felt robotic, and worst of all, potential clients weren’t handing over their phone numbers.
It was time for a new ruling.
So, Law by Mike contacted Angela Allan, of Mads Collective Group, an award-winning Manychat Agency Partner who has specialized in Facebook and Instagram automation since 2017.
Right away, she could see this creator had a solid case for automation.
The Challenge
Enter Exhibit A: Mike’s existing Instagram automation wasn’t qualifying leads.
Folks were flooding his DMs, but his system wasn’t built to separate real cases from people just asking questions or offering ideas for his next video.
With this, Angela identified three problems:
- No real “choose your own adventure” automation: Everyone got the same generic responses.
- No segmentation: Mike’s firm only takes on certain types of cases, but they weren’t being filtered out properly.
- No trust-building: Asking for a phone number right away felt a little too soon. They needed to warm up to him first.
Angela’s verdict? The old automation had to go.
The Goal
Angela’s goal was to build an automation that could:
- Qualify leads without wasting time on bad cases.
- Separate general legal questions from real client inquiries.
- Send tailored messages to different audiences. For example, verified Instagram accounts that don’t follow Mike’s account get a unique automation, while unverified folks receive another.
- Build trust so potential clients felt comfortable handing over their details.
- Convert fans into paying clients and add subscribers to his YouTube membership, the Inner Circle.
And to do it all without Mike and his team spending hours drowning in DMs.
How it Worked
Don’t be robotic, but do build a little robot. 🤖
Step 1: Meet RoboMike!
Angela and her team built RoboMike — named after RoboCop — an automation character that looked and spoke like Mike himself.
RoboMike was designed to guide potential clients through the process in a way that felt personal.
- Set expectations upfront: RoboMike made it clear that he was there to help before passing details to the real Mike.
- Built trust: The conversation was positioned as private — “just between you and me.”
- Used human psychology tactics: Before asking for a phone number, RoboMike led with empathy and gratitude to make the ask feel like it was coming from a trustworthy source.
- Bilingual conversations: RoboMike gave folks the option to choose their preferred language, with English or Spanish available.
Step 2: Qualify leads like a pro
Not every Instagram inquiry was a legal case, so Angela built logic to sort real leads from the “what if” crowd.
- People were asked a few quick questions (less than two minutes).
- If their case fit Mike’s firm, they were segmented into categories (personal injury, sexual abuse, etc.).
- If not, they were redirected elsewhere, so the right leads got priority.
By the time leads reached Mike’s team, they were pre-qualified and ready to talk. No more wasting time on cases that wouldn’t hold up in court.
Step 3: Move serious leads to SMS
Once a lead was qualified, Angela programmed RoboMike to get them off Instagram and into a more direct conversation.
- The system sent an automated SMS.
- From there, Mike’s team could follow up, ask for more details, or book a consultation.
Step 4: Turn fans into paying subscribers
Not everyone in Mike’s DMs needed a lawyer. But that didn’t mean they weren’t valuable.
For the superfans who just wanted more legal tips or to submit an idea for one of Mike’s videos, Angela made sure RoboMike:
- Thanked them for being a fan
- Offered them exclusive access to Mike through his Inner Circle YouTube membership
- Used social proof (testimonials) to make the decision easy
And just like that, followers became paying members. No objections here.
The Results
Law by Mike’s automation was on a winning streak:
- Phone number opt-ins jumped from 7.09% to 29.73% (a 319% increase).
- Leads were actually qualified, saving Mike’s team hours of manual sorting.
- Fans were encouraged to sign up for Mike’s Inner Circle membership on YouTube.
Why This Works (and Why You Need it, Too)
The old way: Potential clients would slide into the DMs, drop a legal question, and disappear. They were unqualified and barely converted.
The new way: Build an automated IG system that pre-qualifies leads, gains trust, and moves real prospects to SMS to continue the conversation in private.
Swipe This Strategy
- Create automations that build trust: Don’t just ask for phone numbers, earn them.
- Use segmentation to sort the serious from the curious: Only the best leads get priority.
- Move real prospects to SMS: Folks check their texts more often than their DMs. (You can even do this using our “Grow an SMS list” template.)
- Monetize the fanbase: Offer exclusive access to convert casual followers into paying subscribers. (Test it out using our “Grow your YouTube” template.)
You wouldn’t show up to trial without a strategy, so why run your DMs without one?
Now, here’s how you can get started with Manychat today:
| Step 1: Sign up for Manychat (oh, did we mention it’s free?!) Join 1 million+ smart brands and sign up for a risk-free trial. No lock-in contracts here. | Step 2: Build your first automation (with a lil help)Choose from one of our ready-to-go templates and get it up and running faster than a jury reaching a verdict in a slam-dunk case. | Step 3: Secure the bag! 💅No, really. Get more sales from Instagram every time you post. |
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