Best Practices for Contact Pages

Offering a contact page on your website is a vital part of putting a face to your brand. Contact pages also lend credibility to your company.

People are more likely to order from someone they know they can get in touch with if they have a problem with the order or a question about the product they’ve purchased.

You’ve likely seen a lot of contact forms and pages in your time. However, there are some things you can do that make a contact page more effective than others.

For example, simply using a word other than “submit” can increase your conversion rates. Using the word “submit” on your contact form can actually decrease conversions by 3% or more.

Best Practice: Guide the User

If you have a lot of different departments, your customer may grow frustrated trying to figure out which contact option to click on.

That means your customer, or a potential customer, may simply decide your customer service is too complex and bounce away from your page altogether.

If you have more than one department, set up a series of steps that will funnel the visitor through your contact options. PayPal is one example of how to do this well.

Their help and contact page offers options, such as phoning or emailing them. However, they also put a search feature at the very top of the page. This is user friendly for a site that offers so many different services with which you might need help.

They also list common questions in case you can answer your own question, which no doubt saves their customer service department time and money.

However, it also allows you to fix your own error in some cases, leaving you feeling accomplished. Overall, it is a very streamlined way to allow users to contact the exact department from which they need help.

Best Practice: Make It Personal

80% of Americans believe that smaller companies have better customer service than large ones.

However, even if your company is mid-sized or larger, you can make it seem smaller and more personal by including some facts about why you're in business, your philosophy and putting a personal touch on things.

People are even more likely to support a brand that has a social purpose they identify with. This is likely because they feel they are doing some good while spending money on a product or service.

One example of a company that is putting a personal spin on their contact page is Music City Unsigned. They include a fun photo of the team playing music.

This lends some personality to the page. The overall look of the page is lighthearted and fun, and the contact info itself is pretty simple.

There is a simple form — note they use the word “send” for the submit button. They also don’t require much info for you to get in touch with them. Overall, you can learn a lot from the tone and style of this contact page.

Best Practice: Map Your Location

If you own a brick-and-mortar business, including a map is a must for your contact page.

Know that many people who look up your contact info are simply looking for an address they can plug into their GPS and find your building.

This is particularly true for restaurants, clothing boutiques, apartment buildings, etc.

In addition to the map, you should include a physical address and a telephone number that is easy to locate on both desktop and mobile devices.

WeLikeSmall did a particularly interesting job of including a map and location information. They took a photo of the aerial view of their location. This allows you to picture the buildings and where the office is located.

The address is listed over to the left, and phone numbers are big and bold. They also included an email button with the actual email address listed and social media icons.

Since many people park and walk while utilizing Google Maps, this is a great technique that allows the customer to clearly see what the building they are searching for looks like.

It is unique, but it’s much more interesting than a flat map with a red pin dot.

Best Practice: Clear Instructions

A good contact page makes it clear how you can contact the company and any fields you need to fill in on a form. Don’t make your site visitor jump through hoops to find your address, phone number or contact form.

It might seem like a fun idea to create a design where you have to hover for a contact form to pop up or the phone number is disguised in an image, but some of your customers won’t find it amusing.

Instead, make it very easy to find the information the user needs. One good example of this can be found on Combadi, which is a travel company.

Their contact page is very simply laid out, and that works very well because the user knows exactly where to go, what info to put in what box and how to easily send their contact info to the company.

Notice how they also offer an email, telephone number, address, and even a Skype contact on the right in case someone can't use the contact form. Everything else is simple and to the point.

Your contact page should be easy for your site visitors to use and provide the type of information a typical customer or potential customer would seek.

Test all forms for usability. Try some split testing to be sure your contact form is meeting the needs of your site visitors.

With just a little effort, your contact page can be an extension of your business brand and can work to convert site visitors into customers.