Why a contact form is so much better than an email address, industry leading advice!
Its vital to your business success that current and potential clients can contact you quickly and easily. They might want to subscribe to your site newsletters to get regular updates and information, ask you a question or make a purchase. It might be their first interaction with you, therefore its important.
You might notice that a lot of websites have their email address and phone number on their contact page, that's OK and is an obvious thing to do, but its not the best method, there is an alternative.
A contact form will make things easier for you and your clients. This is why I include a contact form with all of my low-cost affordable websites,
AVOID SPAM
A contact form will help you avoid getting SPAM in your inbox. Whilst you can't avoid SPAM totally its possible to cut down the amount.
By removing your email address from the website and replacing it with a contact form you are reducing the opportunity for spammers to pick up your email address.
For added protection its best to add a reCAPTCHA function to the contact form, this ensures that your contact form is fully protected.
PROFESSIONALISM
You may currently be a small business, but this is not necessarily the impression you want to give. A well constructed contact form makes your website look more professional and shows that you are organised.
KEEPING TRACK
When anyone sends you a message via the contact form you get a notification, a call to action on your part.
Messages from the contact form all sit together in your website, which means they are easy to access and deal with. It also means they are less likely to get lost in all your other mail or directed to a SPAM folder. Missing emails from clients because they have gone into your SPAM folder can lead to loss of business and unhappy clients.
RETAINS CUSTOMERS ON YOUR SITE
If you use an email address only, your customers click the link and their email app opens up, taking them away from your site so they can send the email. This means they might not return!
The contact from keeps them on your site. You can customise the message your clients receive once their form has been submitted, say thank you or encourage them to browse some more, they are still with you at that point.
INFORMATION GATHERING
With an email your customers are not specifically as focused as you may like them to be, they might not provide you with all the information you need to deal with their request.
A contact form can contain boxes for customers to complete, which means you can gather the information you need to deal with their requests quickly and efficiently. This method often reduces the number of email exchanges needed to resolve a query.
Its possible to include drop down menus to help you direct the requests to the right person or decide how important the query might be. You might decide to have categories such as sales, appointment, product information, product help, etc.
GATHER CONTACTS
Emails are a great way to keep in touch with your customers, adding a "sign up" section in your contact form will encourage potential and current customers to join your mailing list. Adding a simple tick box and their email means the sign up process is very easy.
You now have a powerful marketing tool, as, with all Websites by Jane you also get a newsletter facility which can help boost your sales.
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