Methods of contact on a website
It is a given that your website will have some means of contact within it, whether it be phone numbers, contact forms, live chatting or a mailing address – the question however is what method is the best for your users and what are the options available.
For the purposes of keeping this brief, l’d like to focus on some avenues for communicating effectively online. Initially, some questions to ask yourself are; what options are available online and what are there benefits and does it fit within your existing or proposed business model.
Bare Basics
Telephone #’s
Few things to consider might be highlighting your 1800 number on the top of your site or creatively placing it within your flash or design concept. Listing telephone or fax numbers for each state, division or head office should also be considered – people prefer local contacts.
Postal
Add your full address on your site. It is frustrating to go to a site and not know where the head office or nearest retail store is located. Whilst it provides a means for a person to communicate via Post, it also informs the visitor of your locality and could compel a person to visit your premises. Consider street address and PO BOX.
The world has become scared of leaving email addresses on the internet – normally resulting in large amounts of spam filling your inbox. For the sake of people who do actually look for a direct email, why not put a generic enquiry address – assume it will be spammed and just hope that the legitimate people manage to get found in the sea.
For example info@company.com or sales@company.com
Other considerations
Contact forms
Basically a given in this day and age. Why not consider setting them up to capture information behind the scenes like;
- Where the user came from (Google, Bing, Yahoo, Etc)
- What page the user contacted you from (perfect if you have multiple forms or tracking which blog posts generate you the most leads)
- IP address and locality – never hurts to have an understanding of where the lead comes from.
Live customer support
Live customer support can be fantastic, or really annoying. It all depends on how you implement it. Numerous websites built by Wiliam have gone down this path with great success, some achieving sales rates of nearly double their previous marks.
The reason for this is largely due to people preferring to be given information as quickly as possible, why search and navigate when you can just ask someone? Remember, this solution does not work across all industries but by addressing customer concerns and queries in real-time some of those people that would normally be included in your bounce rate will perhaps convert.
Call backs
Requesting call backs are becoming increasingly popular for many reasons. As a customer, it can be nice to dictate when the company gets in contact with you, a further reinforcement that the company is all about serving your needs and not vice versa.
A crucial element of call backs and any kind of customer contact is responsiveness. Follow up time on all leads should happen immediately if not as soon as possible – the internet has created a sense of urgency and people expect prompt replies.
