Could be a good idea. I see a startup having two choices to focus on; let's call them B2B and B2C. Your description is the B2C side, your first focus is to build something for the end users - those filing a claim. Ultimately, they are just going to become an attorney's client and that is the B2B side, the business that is actively organizing the lawsuit.
I would attack it from the B2B side. TV is full of ads for this class action stuff, attorneys obviously have the budget to advertise, and really all they want is leads for those potential clients. Create a cheaper more effective way for them to find those leads by building and running online advertising campaigns. You could probably get high tech and use targeting algorithms to find the most likely clients/leads, etc. We know they don't have that, because they are spending so much on TV ads which are pretty untargeted and I would assume more expensive on a cost per lead basis. (How much is a lead worth to these law firms?)
B2B first gives a couple key benefits 1) the lawyer is paying to grow your userbase, maybe even profit if you want it - growing a sizable userbase is going to be expensive, this is not a sexy space so I wouldn't count on the crowd and virility 2) leads generated now, are also leads in the future - even if they didn't qualify for the lawsuit they signed up for, you can market future ones to them for basically no cost.
Once the attorneys start having you promote their lawsuits to find clients. You can then start maintaining the claim-to-client matching system; monthly emails of new suits, etc and generally approach the B2C side of it at that point. I think going straight B2C is going to come off spammy and you're not going to get the needed traction. I think you want to build trust with the users, so you have the opportunity to match them with multiple lawsuits and extend their lifetime value.
I would attack it from the B2B side. TV is full of ads for this class action stuff, attorneys obviously have the budget to advertise, and really all they want is leads for those potential clients. Create a cheaper more effective way for them to find those leads by building and running online advertising campaigns. You could probably get high tech and use targeting algorithms to find the most likely clients/leads, etc. We know they don't have that, because they are spending so much on TV ads which are pretty untargeted and I would assume more expensive on a cost per lead basis. (How much is a lead worth to these law firms?)
B2B first gives a couple key benefits 1) the lawyer is paying to grow your userbase, maybe even profit if you want it - growing a sizable userbase is going to be expensive, this is not a sexy space so I wouldn't count on the crowd and virility 2) leads generated now, are also leads in the future - even if they didn't qualify for the lawsuit they signed up for, you can market future ones to them for basically no cost.
Once the attorneys start having you promote their lawsuits to find clients. You can then start maintaining the claim-to-client matching system; monthly emails of new suits, etc and generally approach the B2C side of it at that point. I think going straight B2C is going to come off spammy and you're not going to get the needed traction. I think you want to build trust with the users, so you have the opportunity to match them with multiple lawsuits and extend their lifetime value.
My $0.02, could easily be completely wrong.