But often, you may have questions that the FAQs just don't answer. If you are really motivated, you will contact the company with more questions. But here's a little secret that many people don't think about. If a customer can not find a contact method quickly, they will move on to the next site, probably never to return.
The same is true with your site. You want to make sure that people can easily find a contact method for you or your company. Ideally, you will want to put it in a navigation button at the top or side of your page with the other navigation buttons; or at least add it to the bottom of your page. These are the areas that most people are trained to look for contact information.
A mistake that many web owners make is to bury the contact button in the site. Maybe they put in in the "About" page. Or worse, they put it in a page that has no logical reason to have the contact information.
Take a look are your site. Where do you have the contact information? Is it visible no matter where the visitor is on your page? Is it easy to get to? Is it a contact method that you actively monitor?
By taking a few moments to make sure the line of communication to you is clear and easy to find, you will increase the chances that people will hear the harps playing when they are on your site and not the wa-wa-wa of a site that does not deliver.
Bonus Point: The same is true of your "Buy" button. You want to make sure that people can always find your buy button when on your site. The iron is hot for precious few moments and without an easy way to purchase your book, product or service, your visitor will soon be off to a new site.
Ouch.
9 comments:
Very cool:) Do you suggest that your contact info be your normal email, etc. or some other source set up specifically for your site?
I've been turned off of many sites by complex contact forms, especially when the forms failed to work after I filled them out.
If the visitor to your site wants to ask you a quick question, they don't want to spend 10 minutes filling out a form.
You can mask your e-mail address if you are afraid of spam, but let me submit a question with only own email address. If you answer my question, and I decide to buy your product, I'll give you my address so it can be delivered.
Hi Mark,
I agree with Margaret. You don't want to make your visitors jump through a lot of hoops just to ask you a questions. And many people are wary of giving an e-mail address just to be able to ask a question. If you make it too difficult, then your visitors may just leave.
If you have an e-mail service provider, then they will give you a form that you can put on your site to redirect questions to your e-mail address.
If you don't want spam bots to get your e-mail address, then there are free forms and e-mail masking options you can find with a little searching on Google. I use an ESP so I have never had to use one, but they are out there.
If it were me and I needed a way to give people a method to contact me, and if I didn't have an ESP, I would create a form with a blank for their name, their e-mail address and a box for their question that would route the info to my e-mail address.
You can also looking into adding a chat feature or even set up a Skype Account for people to contact you. If you are not online, then they can leave you a message.
Technology is growing in this area. I am sure with a little more effort on my part, I could probably find things out there now that I don't even know exists.
Great question!
Tony --
This is a valuable post and I hope people implement your advice because it is so frustrating trying to find a "hidden" contact link on some sites.
I'd like to add that, if a website owner is on social media sites such as Twitter or LinkedIn, the very visible contact information should also include these links. Sometimes a tweet can trigger an answer much quicker than email.
And there is the added benefit of a tweeted question having to fit into 140 characters instead of a long email that goes on and on, then finally gets to the question.
Phyllis Zimbler Miller
http://twitter.com/ZimblerMiller
Great points, Phyllis. The easier you make it for people to contact you, the higher the odds they will do business with you rather than the next web page they will click to. I also love your point about Twitter, the "to-the-point" messages, and the quick turn-around it may give someone looking for answers.
Hi Tony .. applies to me! Fortunately I don't have a product or service yet - but I'll definitely take on board your thoughts and everyone's comments.
What's an ESP? Probably obvious .. but I can't think what it is now .. email service provider? I guess.
Thanks .. so sensible - people make life too complicated .. simplify things ... Hilary
Hi Hilary,
Sorry about that. ESP stand for Email Service Provider. If you have a company that manages your mailing list, they are the ones I mean.
On a side note, having a good ESP can be a valuable tool and is usually well worth the cost. The good ones help you manage the e-mail SPAM laws to help keep you out of trouble. They have their necks on the line as well, so they will usually do what they can to make sure you are in compliance.
i visit at least two to three author sites a day and I cannot tell you how many i find that do not have contact buttons to easily reach them.
You tell'em Tony. Make it easy to contact you. not a maze.
I'm the same way, Sylvia. I will usually do more than most people to run the maze, but eventually, I will give up and move on if I can't find a way to contact someone. There were a few people I wanted to contact about being a guest on my blog, but I eventually gave up when I couldn't find a way to ask them.
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