Contact forms can enrich virtually any website, as they give visitors the opportunity to get in touch with you quickly and easily and send you a message as the website operator. They are also a simple and widely used way to collect feedback or inquiries from customers or prospective customers.
The visitor experience is one of the key factors today when it comes to gaining customers through your own website, making a positive impression and being recommended. This also includes ensuring that visitors feel well informed during the contact process. One example would be informing visitors about the expected response time. Visitors should also have the opportunity to contact you at any time. A contact form makes it easier for visitors from all over the world to get in touch with you, including outside normal business hours – at any time.
5 tips for a customer-friendly contact form
Short, concise and simple form
It is particularly important to keep the contact form as short, concise and simple as possible, as nobody likes filling out lengthy forms. Having too many required fields significantly reduces the likelihood that someone will contact you through the form. To keep the form simple and allow users to complete it as quickly as possible, you could use so-called ghost text, for example. These are input fields containing pre-filled text in gray. This helps users understand what and how they should enter information and can prevent potential errors. Beforehand, you should carefully consider which data you actually need from your prospective customer, as data protection also plays an important role here and nobody likes to disclose too much personal information. Avoid asking for sensitive data that you do not absolutely need to answer an inquiry, or at least do not mark such fields as required so that the contact process does not fail because of them.
Appealing contact form
Pay attention to an appealing design when creating your contact form. Ensure a clear and logical structure and use color accents, such as a button for submitting the contact form. Make sure the form has an appealing appearance and include a clear call to action at the end. The wording of the buttons plays an important role in the call to action. For example, use phrases such as “Click Here”.
Make the contact form visible to visitors
To make sure that visitors actually use the contact form, they need to be able to find it easily. Include the form in various places throughout your website so that visitors can get in touch as quickly as possible without having to search for it. To avoid a long “click path” through the website, you can, for example, integrate the form directly into the content or onto landing pages. Every additional click is a hurdle for the user and may cause them to leave the website.
Provide clear feedback
Make absolutely sure that the contact form works correctly. In the worst-case scenario, the form submission may fail even though all required fields have been completed. Most visitors will leave the website without being able to contact you. Only highly interested users will look for alternative contact options and get in touch with you. After submitting the form, the user should have a good feeling and see that the customer service process is working. They should also receive confirmation that their message has been received and information about approximately how long it will take to receive a response. This creates trust and confirms to the prospective customer that their message has arrived and that someone will take care of their request.
Mobile-friendly
Make your contact form responsive so that the layout, input fields and text adapt to mobile devices and remain visually appealing. Filling out the contact form should also be simple and clearly structured on smartphones and tablets. The reason for this is that the number of users accessing the Internet from mobile devices continues to increase. New users are constantly joining, meaning that more and more people are automatically accessing the Internet “on the go”.
Do you have any further questions about this topic? Or do you need help designing your website from a professional web agency in Munich? Then feel free to contact us!
