The contact page is obviously very important for the success of your company.
Yet it’s often overlooked especially when you’re starting from scratch.
It’s easy to get bogged down in all the copywriting for your website that by the time you get to the contact page you’re exhausted and you just include the basics:
- Name
- Questions
- ::Send::
That might work fine, but we’re looking for better than fine. We’re looking for more efficient.
Fewer people asking repeat questions. More qualified leads. More people ready to buy right away because they’re already sold.
And even a better process for your potential clients. More efficient action from your team on getting them started without so much back and forth.
So let’s go through the basic steps to creating a better contact page.
1. Document Your Sales Process
This is the big first step. It’s actually a great first step to do before you start a full web design project. Or to do if you’re looking to redo your website.
Why?
I like to think of a website as an online salesperson. That’s the goal of the website, after all…to sell prospects and turn them into paying clients.
So your website needs all the information you would give a real life salesperson.
And your contact page is part of that online sale. To know where your contact page fits in that process you needs to understand the entire process.
If you’re the salesperson, document the entire process. From how a client looks for and finds you to the day they sign the contact.
2. Look For Inefficiencies In The Process
As you’re going through this process and once you’re done you’ll probably see some inefficiencies. I know I’ve found some in the past. I’m actually looking at ways to make things even more efficient right now.
It’s a constant process for any business: making things more efficient.
Anyway, before creating or updating your contact form you want to have a clean (or as clean as possible) sales process.
3. Determine The Point Where You Want Contact
This part can get confusing. It’s different for just about any business.
And you might think one thing now, but realize you need to change it later.
For ecommerce companies, the contact page really is the product page or checkout page.
For B2Bs, the contact page is usually for initiating the final stages of the sale. A visitor shows interest in buying. Someone from the company reaches back out. The sale is closed.
You might want your salesperson to close the deal either via email, phone or in person. That might mean that you want the contact page to come early in the sales process. Your website probably won’t have full details or answers to common questions.
Or you might want the contact page to come at the end. A person is ready to buy. They contact your company and someone responds to get things initiated.
Based on your experience in your business, what point should your contact page occur?
4. Determine Data You Need
This data could be very basic:
- Name
- Phone #
Or it could be more in depth:
- First Name
- Last Name
- Phone #
- Company
- Website
- And more…
Based on the point in the sale and what data or information you need to take the next step you’ll have your answer.
One little tip here is that if you keep answering the same question over and over after people use your contact form it’s a good indication that you can add that information to your website to answer their question and save you both some time.
And if you keep asking the same questions post-contact then it’s an indication that you should include that question in the contact form. This way the person enters it. You receive it. And you can finalize things faster.
5. Add Qualifiers
Good salespeople usually have qualifiers in the early stages of the process. They want to know if someone has the budget for what they want to buy. They want to know if the person has time to move efficiently through the sales process.
And more things like that.
You can include qualifiers like this on your website just before the contact page. You can list your price. You can have a section with a list of qualifying questions.
You can ask if the visitor fits the description of your perfect client. If they make it through the qualifying questions you know that they’re likely a good fit for what you’re selling.
It saves time in the short-term with you going through the sales process and it saves time in the long-term by allowing you to only bring on the best of the best clients.
6. Use Appropriate Forms
By form I mean the space where a person enters data into your contact form.
They’re usually:
- Drop down
- Single line
- Paragraph
- Yes/No Bullets
- And more…
If you need a person’s name you want a single line.
If you want to give a person an area to ask questions you want a paragraph.
If you want them to choose specific items you want a drop down or bullets.
7. Clarify Expectations
Finally, to end the form you want to clarify what will happen next. You want the person to know what to expect. They’ll be wondering.
If you’re form says “Thanks” that’s not much for the person to go on. They’ll be wondering if they should be doing something more to get in touch.
You can tell them something like you’ll be reviewing their information and reaching out in 1-2 business days or whatever the next steps will be.
Prompt that text to show right after the person hits “Contact” or “Submit” or whatever your button says.
Conclusion
The contact form on a website is very important. It’s part of the process for selling your services to those that find you online. It can lead to inefficiency if it’s not setup correctly.
So save yourself time and your clients time by going through the steps above. It’ll be a way to improve your business.