The Teckki Says

This is a multipart series on websites that will discuss what pages common to many websites should contain. This article discusses the Contact Page.

In previous blog posts, I covered the Home and About pages. This post covers the Contact Page.

A contact page is obvious to most of us because it is a given unless people can contact you, you cannot respond to them. However, the Nigerian money scam makes contact easy, and only the gullible, desperate or greedy bite. Why the rest of us don't is part of what goes into a well done contact page.

I think that because online shopping is so successful, we forget how hard it was for us to trust sites with our credit card and other personal information. We are reminded when we are informed that a hacker has breached our favorite shopping site, sending shivers up our spines, and what companies have to do to regain our trust in their site again. Part of that trust was built on being made comfortable that if we had a problem, we could contact someone, just like we could at a physical store. That’s the value of a good contact page.

Contact pages should be more than lists of chains of commands, investor and/or public relations. These pages should point out who takes care of what when a visitor has a concern, especially if that visitor is a customer. And those people need to be accessible beyond technology – you know where I’m going here – because when you have to hide behind contact pages, voice mail and email, or some lengthy set of forms before you talk to a customer, you don't deserve your customers. Too many websites have fifty points of contact to make a sale, but can have just as many roadblocks for service and support. I believe that the true test of a contact page (and the company behind it) is to pretend to already be a customer and attempt to have a problem resolved or question answered – you may change your mind about patronizing them.

Contact pages should really be on every page. Good contact information says to a visitor that you are proud of your company, you are willing to stand behind your claims, and that the customer is not a bother to you. If you are available in a timely manner, a negative experience with your service or product can be lessened if the customer is able to contact you. Contact pages aren't the first page someone looks at for when searching for a product or service, but are necessary to build and/or strengthen the relationships on a continual basis. Not having adequate contact information says basically that "now that I have what I want from you, don’t cause me any trouble – go away," a surefire way of damaging a relationship you worked so hard to get.

Be accessible after the transaction – have clear contact information and the resources to back it up.