Online interaction with potential customers is like speed dating. But instead of having two minutes to sit down with them, capture their attention, discuss interests and court them, you only have seconds. That’s why it is an absolute necessity to provide the most fundamental information to prospective customers in the most efficient way possible: a “Contact Us” page.
Your contact page, which typically provides an e-mail address, a phone number, social media links and a physical address is crucial in your online marketing. In a world in which Yellow Pages are now redundant when it comes to finding businesses, instant gratification is key. Website viewers want what they came to your website to get, and they want it fast.
The first 10 seconds of a page view are when potential customers are most likely to leave a website. In fact 55 percent of visitors leave websites within 15 seconds of landing on them, according to Chartbeat. What this means is if a potential customer visits your site looking for a phone number or an address, you have the time it takes to skim to the bottom of the page before they move on. Failing to have contact information, or even making it somewhat difficult to find within the site, could cost you vital seconds, and probably a customer.
The significance of a contact page underlines the importance of search engine optimization as well. With people using search engines as a modern-day version of window shopping, supplying important information to help identify where your store is located and how to get in touch is a must. One way to make this information easily accessible is to allow customers to see it without even visiting your website. This is possible through Google, which allows businesses to include their contact information in search results and supplies detailed instructions on how to do so here. Although people may only visit your website for 15 seconds, using this function can increase the overall time potential customers are seeing information on your business. According to an analysis from 2013 from comScore, people spend more time on Google than almost any other website, as it makes up 10 percent of their time on the Internet. Take advantage of this, and use search engines to relay your most basic information to potential customers.
Including additional forms of communication besides just a phone number can prove to be incredibly useful and further improve your relationship with your customers by becoming even more accessible. An example would be to have a submission form on your contact page, which can be a big boost in conversion rates of your site’s visitors. It allows customers to communicate directly with your business at any time, but more importantly, it can create a more personal relationship with the customer. Through a simple submission form, the website visitor is able to take part in a dialogue with your store at their convenience, increasing the likelihood of them changing from a brief blip on your webpage to a shopper in your store. HubSpot, a company that develops inbound marketing products, studied 40,000 of their customer’s contact forms, finding that when a form had only three entry fields (name, email and message) their conversion rates improved by almost 50 percent.
If you make this basic information easily accessible, suddenly 15 seconds of online interaction could turn into a loyal customer.
