Get In Touch
No one wants to make their website visitors jump through unnecessary hoops, but when your end-users are motivated to interact with you, you can usually add value to that interaction–for both you and your users–by asking just a few quick questions.
Website content generation can be difficult and time-consuming. For that reason, many website owners unwittingly cut corners when they get to their calls to action:
Contact page? Done–Just add the company’s address and phone number.
Blog article? Done–Just add “For more information, call so-and-so.”
Job Listing? Quote Request? Done and done–just add email links to HR and Sales.
But more often than not, end users want to be led through the next steps–at least a little. Adding a web form with just a few short questions will help them feel that they are initiating a real process that will get results, and it will help you qualify the lead or direct questions to the appropriate resource.
Think about the Customer Service or Tech Support experience, as a consumer. Are you going to feel better about clicking an email link that pops up a blank message for you to fill out on your own, or are you going to trust the process more if there’s a form that asks your name, gets some key information, and acknowledges receipt of your message? You can give users that same valuable reassurance with virtually any interaction on your website:
Contact page? Let’s get their Name and Email, then prompt them to enter a short message so we can route them to the right person or department.
Blog article? Let’s create calls to action that relate directly to our post:
–a contact form that connects them with the author
–an opportunity to share the information via social media
–the ability to leave a comment or rating
They’ll only choose one of those, but each of those actions has value for both you and your end users.
Job Listing? If users are looking for a job at your company, they’re probably motivated enough to endure a longer form. But if all your website is doing right now is providing an email link, at least improve upon that by getting their name, email, and the ability to upload a resume.
If you’re concerned about the time and expense of adding forms to your site, there are plenty of quality options available that allow site owners to create forms in less than 15 minutes, with little to no technical knowledge.
If you’re on WordPress give these plugins a try:
- WPForms – created by the team at WPBeginner.com, so you know it’s user-friendly.
- Contact Form 7 – with more than 5 million active installations, it’s hands-down the most popular form plugin for WordPress.
- Gravity Forms – this is a paid plugin for when you need additional capabilities–and a little support to guide the process.
With or without WordPress, you can also link to external sites where it’s really easy to create a form or survey and have the responses emailed to you. Here are some of our favorites:
- TypeForm – Easy to setup and easy to use, with simple and elegantly designed forms.
- SurveyMonkey – if you’re taking polls or conducting satisfaction surveys, this is the most popular place to start.
- GetFeedback.com – Branded surveys that integrate with SalesForce. This tool is a cut above.
Remember–keep it short and simple! But you’re only guaranteed to get the information you actually ask for. Just a few quick questions will make a world of difference.
