Online Forms

Online forms are where the visitor fills in a form of varying length and this is converted to an email and sent to the Company. Some Companies ask all sorts of information not related to your query and to make matters worse, they won’t let the form be sent until all the fields have been filled in. If you look at your website statistics (details how many people visited the site and how they used it) and see that the contact us page was the page most visitors exited, then this is probably the reason why.

If you are going to use one of these, only make the most crucial information required. If you want to take the opportunity for a customer questionnaire then offer an incentive such as a free download, a discount voucher or something similar.

E-mail address

Your website can be your first point of contact with a new customer and using a free email address such as hotmail or Wanadoo not only goes against convention but looks unprofessional and can lead to assumption.

Questions such as “why are they using a free email address when they have their own domain?”, “emails are usually provided free with hosting, don’t they know how to use them?”, “if they don’t know how to use them, they can not be very technically competent” and “if they are not technically competent, do I want to be giving them my credit card details online?”. You can see how the questions lead to assumption! Hopefully you will never want to use your personal email address ever again on your business website after reading the last paragraph.

You may think that fred@yoursite.com is fine for your site for all email contact but consider using several emails, even if you are a one man band. Support@yoursite.com, info@yoursite.com, bookings@yoursite.com or many other variations all give the impression of a larger and professional organisation. It also assures the sender that their email will go straight to the department or person responsible and not into a general inbox that will be actioned as soon as they have got through the 100’s of other emails. It is extra work for little perceived.

Reassurance

When you walk into a shop, you can see that it is a permanent business unlike a tele-sales phone call or faxed offer.

As there is nothing tangible in a website, then you will be faced with the same issues. These can be overcome with reassurances that you are a real business by showing pictures of your premises and your staff. Listing all trade organisations you belong to, your VAT registration number and Ltd Company number will also achieve the same goal.

If you are selling on the Internet then you definitely need to mention the security measures you have taken to keep credit card details secure and detail your privacy policy regarding their personal information. See the legal section for more information.