Having a contact form on your website is a great way to engage with potential customers, giving them an opportunity to get in touch, request information and ask questions.
Here are five tips to help you maximise your contact form.
1. Only request information you really need
This is especially true when it comes to personal details. According to research by WPForms, asking for a phone number reduces the likelihood that someone will complete a form by 5%. Be clear on what information will be most useful to you from a website enquiry – a name and email, which of your services someone is interested in, how they found out about your business, for example.
Which leads nicely to the second tip…
2. Keep it short
The more fields you add to your contact form, the less likely people will fill it out. According to QuickSprout, limiting the number of fields to as few as three guarantees a 25% conversion rate. And the more information people must fill in, the higher the chance they will abandon the whole process. Just what you don’t want!
3. Help people out
Make it obvious to people exactly what information you expect them to include by adding hints or ghost text to your form fields. For example, a dummy email address or telephone number, and explanatory text in a message box. This will ensure you get accurate information that helps you deal with the enquiry efficiently.
4. Be clear what happens next
People like to know what will happen once they hit submit. How quickly will you respond? And by what means? A great choice is to redirect them to a thank you page. As well as thanking them for getting in touch, this is an opportunity to signpost visitors to other relevant resources, such as your latest blog post or FAQ page.
5. Test it regularly
This is as straightforward as completing the form yourself every few months, and answering these questions…
- Was it easy to fill in?
- Did hitting the submit button trigger what you expected – a message about what happens next or redirect to a thank you page?
- Have you received a submission notification via email that someone has completed the form?
- Are you able to respond to this, or is there information missing?
If all is good, congratulations – you are now safe in the knowledge that people can contact you via your website. If not, make a note of what went wrong, so you or your trusted website developer can fix it.
If you would like help implementing these tips and improving your contact form, why not complete the form on my contact page! Alternatively, drop me an email at hello@wisegenius.co.uk or call on 07530 547683.
Image credit: Melinda Gimpel on Unsplash