The next important page we’ll deal with in our Top 10 Ways to Ruin Your Website series is the Contact page. Most websites have one. Usually a Contact page consists of some kind of form and also a list of other ways to connect with your business. So how does one screw up something so simple? Easy. Let’s discuss the top reasons how.

1. Wrong Information:

Have you ever had this happen? You go to a Contact page, dial the listed number and get that lovely lady’s voice on the other end: I’m sorry, the number you are trying to reach is no longer in service. (She sounds so pleased with herself, doesn’t she?) If you change your number, update your site. There’s no easier way to lose a client.

2. No Information:

Better even than wrong information, is none at all. You’re excited about the company, you’re ready to talk to them but… no contact information. This is particularly annoying when there is a contact form but no one answers your requests.

3. Contact form error:

Check your site. Make sure it works. Click through everything. If your contact form displays an error when they message you (even if the message actually gets through) a possible client can get very frustrated, even if the problem out of your control.

4. Never hooking up your email to your form:

A contact form must be connected to an email address. However, you can set-up a form without linking it to an email. In fact, funny story, we set one up for a client once and he gave us the email he wanted the message forwarded to. The problem was, he didn’t actually have that email set up with his host. Lesson here: you do not magically have an email called info@company.com you can send things to. You set that up or pay a web company to do it for you.

5. Never checking the email connected to your contact form:

This isn’t really a problem with the Contact page its self, but its worth mentioning. Actually I wrote a post just on contact forms a few months ago that talks more about this. If you have a contact form, check the email it goes to. Or connect it to your outlook, or forward it to an email you actually check, but make sure you get those messages! I know people who missed opportunities because they didn’t stay on top of their contact form.

6. Requiring someone’s birth certificate before they can use your form:

Okay, so I’m exaggerating a little. But you’ve seen what I mean. The contact form requires certain information (usually denoted with a “*”) before you can hit send. Now, I agree, its a good idea to require some information, like an email or phone number so you can get back in touch with people, but don’t expect people to give you their life story and social security number just to ask one question.

7. Making the form look too long:

This kinda pairs up with #6. You don’t want to scare people away by requiring too much from them. If the form scrolls down two pages I’m probably going to skip it and look for another way to get in touch with you. Most people contact companies through websites to either immediately fill a need or ask basic questions. There should be as few roadblocks as possible to get in touch with you.

8. Hiding your phone number:

Apart from wrong information and no information there is much more sinister: purposefully hidden information. For some reason, certain companies only want feedback through one channel. So they put a phone number up but they hide it at the bottom or it takes two clicks to get to. Or they hide their email, or they hide everything but the sacred contact form. My thoughts are, give people as many ways to contact you as possible, but if you have a preferred method, list it. Or let them know that your response will be via your preferred contact method. AKA, please include you phone number in your email so we can call you back.

9. Excessive Text:

I’m not sure why people feel the need to write an introduction paragraph to their Contact page. But then again, I’m a fan of simplicity. It says (or should say) Contact at the very top of the page, isn’t that enough ? But if you feel you must preface your information, than do so minimally. Get to the point as quickly as possible. Make sure your information or form still shows up on the screen without having to scroll down.

10. TMI (Too Much Information):

I mentioned earlier, you give people as many avenues to contact you as possible. But I want to add a disclaimer. Don’t overwhelm people. Don’t list 7 different phone number with no explanation. Don’t list a bunch of names and then their emails addresses with their department. Make sure not to  overload people, sometimes they just want to send one generic email and be done with it. Give your customers that option.

Note: If you do any trouble-shooting or have a customer service department you Contact page is SO MUCH MORE IMPORTANT! Everything I say here should be in bold for you.

Do you get contacted through your website? If so, which method do people use most often?

Image by AussieGal

“There’s no excuse for no contact form” said Elizabeth Able (ablereach) on my Top 100 Internet Blunders Committed by Businesses post. And Chris Lucas from iMedia recently wrote a great article about making your contact form work harder for you. He covers some basics like not to make your form intimidating and make sure you are doing something with the information details people give you.

But how does your contact form work for you—or does it even work at all? Of course, it important to provide a way for possible clients contact you, but why should they? A lot of businesses only have their contact form filled out by marketing people (aka glorified spam), if they ever get used at all. So how do you get people to actually use your contact form for the purpose you want them to?

1. Decide what you want your contact form to do for you. It surprises me how many people don’t actually have a well-thought out reason. Why do you want people to contact you? Have a clear, defined purpose. If possible, write it down.
2. Have a compelling reason for people to contact you. Now that you’ve figured out why people should contact you, make sure your site backs it up. If you want people to contact you about a quote or to set an appointment, clarify that at other points on your website. Make everything lead up to the ultimate thing you want your website to do: provide revenue.
3. Make your contact form the simple next step. We live in a generation of ADD people (diagnosed and those of us who just neurotically multitask), so when some reads great content on your site and decides to contact you, make it easy. You want to be right there when someone has the impulse to talk to you. (So make sure you read Chris’s article, he mentions mechanics… the worst thing is to have a useless contact form and miss the window.) On certain pages where contacting you is the obvious next step, hyperlink to your form.
4. Respond to your contact form in 24 hours or less. It sounds simple, but some people just put off responding or checking their contact email. If your contact form goes to a secondary email address (like mine goes to contact@veribatim.com) make sure someone is regularly checking it. Set it up to go to your outlook or other mail service. If you check your email at least once a day, you should be able to respond and make your customer feel loved.This can also help you land those time-sensitive opportunities.
5. Reward people who use your contact form. After you’ve promptly responded, give your client something extra. It doesn’t have to be a free gift or a discount (but those are good ideas), it can be more creative, like offering a link exchange. But go the extra mile and watch more people contact you!
6. Follow-up & Survey. Often the follow-up can be more important than the initial contact (ask your local sales guy where they get the most referrals). Its true, even online. Follow-up with people who’ve contacted you through your site. Even if its just to survey them. Ask them how they found your site, why they used the contact form instead of calling and if they were satisfied with your turn-around time.

Have you thought about the purpose of your contact form? I challenge you to write out a sentence about why you have one and what you want people to use it for. (Feel free to share!)