Your contact page is one of the most important pages on your website and can also be one of the most overlooked.
Your website visitors contacting you is what turns a visitor into a customer. Therefore it is vital that you get the contact page right.
Different businesses will want different things from their contact page. A large business with different departments will want their contact page to lead the customer to contacting the correct person. A small business or freelance person will want to ensure the customer gives them all the correct information so they can deal with the request or query as quickly as possible.
For many reasons it is recommended that you include a phone number and address on your website. Although a lot of people will prefer to contact you via email or a contact form, a real phone number and a real address greatly increases the trust of your website. Consumers like to know that there will be a real person with an office that they can place on a map on the other side of their transaction.
Above all else a contact page must be inviting and a smooth user experience.
Your contact page must match the rest of the website, but it is also a place where you can adopt a more personable tone in order to encourage people to make the final step and contact you. Experiment with the type of wording and lay out to see what gets the most enquiries coming in to you.
A contact form is a very useful tool on a contact page. You can include tick boxes or drop down menu options for customers to say what their query is regarding. This makes it easier to ensure the message gets to the person or department in your organisation that can deal with the query. If you are a small business it also helps you to know how urgent a message is, if you are pressed for time.
Presenting vital information such as a general email and contact number in a very clear fashion is essential on a contact page. It should be clearly displayed at the top. If customers have to hunt through lots of other information to find the details that they need then you are likely to lose their interest.
If your business has a store front then a map on your contact page along with directions is also very useful to encourage people to visit you. Google maps with your business marked on can be easily installed on a contact page, enabling people to find accurate directions from wherever they are.
A well designed contact page can make all the difference to the success of your website and determine whether or not website visitors turn into customers.