How to Let People Contact You - The Contact Us Page!
A few days ago I wrote about some general principles behind the home page. Today I’d like to move into another basic page, the Contact Page.
The concept behind the Contact Page is simple: we need to provide a way for customers and potential customers to contact you if they have a question. So, the first thing we want to do is have some type of an introductory paragraph on this page that leaves the visitor with the impression that you are there to help them. Have you ever seen a site where when you go to the contact page there’s nothing there except for an email address? Does that really make you feel like they care? I know it doesn’t leave a good impression with me! So leave a good, customer centered intro paragraph.
Next, you want to provide a way for people to contact you. I’m going to go over 4 different ways you could do this. DON’T DO ALL 4 OF THESE!!! Instead, you want to pick out the 1 or 2 the work best for you. So here are the 4 methods:
Physical Address
If you have a regular store, this could be a good idea. But if you’re running your business out of your home, this one might not be the best option. Personally, I feel that this is the least necessary for an internet business, but some people like to do it so I’ll include it in this list.
Email Addresses
Emails are great because they’re easy to set up and people use it all the time. You could do this two different ways. First of all, you could provide one general email address for people to use. Or, you could leave several emails depending on why someone would need to contact you. For example, you could break your emails up into ‘departments’. This does two things: it helps you organize your email and it makes you look like a bigger company.
Contact Forms
I’m a big fan of these forms for a couple of reasons. First of all, they tend to look nice 
. Secondly, they take a little more space on the page. One problem we run into sometimes with the contact page is that it’s way too short. Forms help to get rid of that problem. And third, when you have a contact form you are the one controlling the conversation because you’re the one asking the questions. It makes it easier to get the right information from the visitor because you’re asking for it. Naturally, don’t go crazy and ask for too many details. Keep it simple and forms can be very effective.
Phone Number
The phone is a powerful tool. There are still a lot of people out there that will call the phone number of an online business before finalizing their transaction because they want to make sure that the company really exists. So this is a great way to build trust with your customers. But, treat it with some respect. Don’t just use your home phone or your cell phone, you’re just asking for problems if you do that. Get an 800 number, maybe even have it go to voicemail, but make sure you get back to people.
Using these principles you should be able to come up with a pretty good contact page.
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I agree that this is really important. Readers might need to ask a few questions, and if they can’t contact the owner of the site, they might lose interest in it.
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Hey Daisy,
It amazes me how many websites don’t seem to understand this simple point. It’s like they just expect everyone to see their prices and be hypnotized into buying or something like that. Probably not going to work… Thanks for your comment!
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I have to agree and say you have some excellent resources on this page. A contact us page should have AT LEAST the three things you listed above. Another good idea would be to have a live chat feature on your contact us page. It’s just another way your customers have of reaching you if they need to.
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That’s good ideas, but i always forget to make contact forms.
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Hi! I read your post and found it really interesting. I will come back soon if you have a new post.Thanks!
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It is a good article,thanks for your sharing.
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Thank you so much for starting this. I look forward to those yet to come. I thought ot was presented very thoroughly and the pics are excellent. Way to go! Keep up the great work!
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From this article, I learned a lot of knowledge On this topic.
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That’s good ideas, but i always forget to make contact forms
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