‘Do Not Contact Us’ Forms
As a reporter, I will contact a company through any means necessary. I prefer using a phone number or an email address for a specific person — but sometimes I’m stuck filling out a ‘contact us’ form.
I’ve filled out more contact forms than I’d like to admit. I really dislike them. About a quarter of them do not work, and I’m never sure if my messages reach my intended audience: the marketing department.
Some common problems I’ve seen:
o Errors after clicking ‘submit’
o Tiny message length limits (such as 200 characters)
o Bounced emails in response
o Claims of ‘improper formatting’
Even worse is after receiving an error, you can lose your entire message. I learned long ago to write messages in a separate program and to copy-and-paste them into forms, in case I need to resubmit.
I’m just a reporter trying to get a marketer on the phone — can you imagine if I was a dissatisfied customer? My frustration level would skyrocket. If I was a potential business lead, I’d likely leave and never return.
‘Contact us’ forms are similar to social media in that they provide a way to receive customer feedback — which is very valuable. Broken ‘contact us’ forms send a clear message: “we don’t care about your feedback. Don’t contact us.”
But I’m sure that’s not true. You must care about your customers’ feedback. Their satisfaction keeps you in business.
So if you have a minute, check your website’s contact forms. Make sure they’re flexible, easy to use, and most importantly, that they work. A small effort can go a long way in preventing customers from walking away for good.
Categories: B To B Ecommerce, Branding, Consumer Electronics, Ecommerce Eretail, Marketing, Online Marketing, Social Networking Evangelism Community contact forms, customer service
Great post! Another supreme annoyanc is when people insist, contrary to RFC2822, to use a webform instead of abuse@ to be able to send email about a given issue on a network. At least with email, you get an immediate bounce if the address doesn’t work; with a webform, into the abyss, more often than not.
Here’s another one:
A regional grocery store chain that shall remain nameless has big “Become a Fan on Facebook” badges all over their site, but their contact form states in BIG RED LETTERS, “Queries sent through this form may not be reviewed due to high volume of traffic.” Um…staff your customer service channels?
Great post Adam. Contact Us forms are certainly annoying because of the uncertainty of where the e-mail will end up. Will it go to the right person? Will it go to a person at all? If it goes to the wrong person, will he or she forward it to the right person? Just thinking about it annoys me!
Agreed. A contact form with poor usability is worse than no contact form at all.
At a minimum, websites should always offer both a contact form and an email address for those users that simply prefer email.
In the end it’s all about the user.
Personally, I would greatly prefer an email address.
Well said. Sometimes, Contact Us form goes in as the last thing in the campaign, and it is taken for granted. But, it’s so critical to make sure returns from marketing are captured and frittered away.
Thanks Adam!