Your Contact page matters more than you might think
Your Contact page is often where someone goes when they have already looked around your website and are considering taking the next step.
They may want to ask a question, request a quote, make a booking, check where you are located or simply confirm that there is a real person behind the business.
Don’t make them work hard to do it.
A good Contact page doesn’t need to be complicated. It needs to make getting in touch clear, comfortable and easy.
Start with the contact methods you actually use
You don’t need to offer every possible way of contacting you.
In fact, one or two contact methods that you monitor regularly are much more useful than five different options that you rarely check.
Depending on your business, your Contact page might include:
- Your business name
- Email address
- Phone number, if you accept calls or text messages
- A simple contact form
- Booking link, if you use an online booking system
- Business or opening hours
- Your location or service area
- Links to social media accounts you actively maintain
If you have a physical shop, clinic, studio or office that customers visit, you may also want to include your street address, directions and a map.
If you work from home, however, you don’t have to publish your home address. You can simply show the suburb, town, city or region you service. Our website structure article makes the same distinction for home-based businesses.
Tell people when they can expect a response
This is such a small thing, but it can make a big difference.
If you don’t answer enquiries immediately, tell people.
For example:
“Thanks for getting in touch. We usually respond within 1–2 business days.”
Now the person who sends an enquiry isn’t wondering whether their message disappeared into cyberspace.
You don’t have to promise an instant response. Set an expectation that is realistic for the way you actually run your business.
Keep your contact form simple
It can be tempting to ask a new customer everything you could possibly want to know.
Don’t.
For an initial enquiry, you may only need:
Name · Email · Phone (if needed) · Message
If you genuinely need additional information to provide a quote or determine whether you can help, add it. But every field should have a reason for being there.
A shorter form feels easier to complete, particularly for someone contacting your business for the first time.
Give people another option
Not everyone likes contact forms.
Some people prefer to send an email from their own inbox. Others would rather pick up the phone. Someone else may want to book an appointment without having a conversation first.
Where it makes sense for your business, give people more than one practical way to reach you.
The older Her Place source material made this same point: having contact details elsewhere on the website doesn’t mean they should be missing from the Contact page, because different visitors will look for them in different places.
Check that the form actually works
This one sounds obvious.
Unfortunately, it is very easy to have a beautiful Contact page with a form that hasn’t delivered an enquiry for months.
Send yourself a test enquiry occasionally.
Check:
- Did the form submit successfully?
- Did the email arrive?
- Did it go to the correct email address?
- Did it land in spam?
- Does the visitor receive the confirmation you intended?
- Is somebody actually monitoring that inbox?
A form that doesn’t deliver its messages isn’t a contact form. It’s a rather attractive way of losing potential customers.
Your Contact page also builds trust
Contact information isn’t only there for people who want to send you a message.
It helps reassure visitors that your business exists and that they know how to reach you if they need help.
Depending on your type of business, you could add a little more reassurance with things such as a photograph of you or your premises, your business hours, areas you service, what happens after someone contacts you, or a short friendly introduction.
You don’t need to turn the page into another About page. Just give people enough information to feel comfortable taking that next step.
Take five minutes and check yours
Open your Contact page as though you have never visited your website before.
Can you immediately see how to get in touch?
Are the phone number and email address correct?
Does the form work?
Does it explain when you are likely to respond?
And most importantly:
Would you feel comfortable contacting this business?
If the answer is yes, your Contact page is doing its job.
If not, you now know exactly where to start.
