When was the last time you properly tested the contact form on your website?
Donât close the front door
Imagine if the front door to your shop/office/studio/workshop/showroom jammed shut so nobody could get in to buy from you. Would you make it a priority to sort that out?
Of course you would.
But it never ceases to amaze me that business owners who hope to get leads or sales from their website donât often check or know for sure that their website contact form is working properly.
That form is the âdoorâ through which new customers could come any time – many people donât like telephoning and donât want the hassle of copying an email address and creating a new email, so they use your contact form for convenience.
If the form doesnât work, your business has just lost a potential customer.Â
âInvalid entryâ
Here’s an example I saved a while ago. I was filling in an enquiry form to order a sample of a customised mousemat and got this error:
Itâs very strange – the error was on the subject field and no matter what I entered in (blank, one character, a quote from HamletâŚ) the error kept appearing: âInvalid entryâ.
Great way to frustrate your potential customers!
I did take the time to email a screenshot of the error to the address I found on the website, and I got a reply about my enquiry, but in the end I bought from a competitor, because contacting them was just so much easier.
The most disappointing part of this story is that even several weeks after this happened and I sent in a screenshot of the problem, it was still the same and hadn’t been fixed! I wonder how many potential orders that company have lost by nowâŚÂ
Check your form right now!
Itâs so easy – just go and fill in your own contact form, and make sure you get the email.
Thatâs the bare minimum of course, if you want to be extra sure youâre not missing business, here are some other things to check and consider:
Check on a phone and tablet
Does the form play nice with an on-screen keyboard, or is it a pain to see what youâre typing because the keyboard covers the box youâre filling in? If you have a captcha to prevent spammy entries, is it easy to use?
Send a copy of the message
Give a tick-box option to have a copy of the message sent to the person filling it in. This is handy so they have a reference of what they sent and when.
Check where the email goes
Make sure the email from the form goes to an email address where someone will reply quickly. And of course make sure it doesnât go to a junk or spam folder.
Use a success message
Make it obvious once the form has been submitted that it has been successful, e.g. redirect to a âThank you for your messageâ page, donât just reset the form to blank again.
Minimise required fields
Have the least number of required fields, so someone can submit with just the information thatâs absolutely necessary, and not feel forced into giving away more than theyâre comfortable with.
If all else fails, ditch your contact form
You might lose enquiries from people who donât want to call or directly email, but if you canât be confident that your form is working consistently, itâs better not to have it at all.
You donât want to let a potential customer think theyâve contacted you but they never get a reply because you never got their message⌠Thatâs the sort of thing that leads people to write bad reviews, and if you can avoid those thatâs a good thing!
Instead just have a clear phone number and email address, and perhaps a message providing assurance that all enquiries are responded to promptly.
Now, go check your contact form!