Ask only for a name, contact details and the general kind of help needed, and say beside the form what not to send yet: names of other parties, figures and documents. Collect the details after the first call.

The whole story in the message box

A message arrives through a law office's contact form: four paragraphs naming the other side, the amounts, the dates and something the sender says nobody else knows. Nobody at the firm has spoken to them yet.

Accounting and advisory offices see the same. Visitors want to be understood, so they explain everything, figures included, before anyone has agreed to act for them.

The firm now holds confidential details it never asked for, in several places, about a matter it may not be able to take on.

Why visitors write so much

The form invites it. One large box labelled Message, or Tell us about your situation, suggests that more detail will bring a better answer.

Many visitors also hope to save a call by explaining once, in writing, at their own pace. Nothing beside the box says who will read it or what happens next.

Where the message goes next

Once sent, a form message rarely stays in one place:

The fifth is easy to overlook. If the sender mistyped their own address, the automatic reply delivers their story to a stranger.

Conflicts and the rules of the profession

Lawyers, and some other professionals, must check for conflicts before taking on a matter. Details from a prospective client can complicate acting for someone else in the same matter, even if the firm declines.

A firm that already acts for the other side may then hold information from both. The simplest protection is not to receive it until the check is done.

This is general information, not advice on your own profession's rules; your regulator or your own lawyer can say what applies to your office.

What the form should ask

Ask for what the firm needs to call back and run a conflict check later: a name, phone and email, the kind of help needed from a short list, and the city or area.

A field for the best time to call is useful. If you keep a free-text field, label it for scheduling or access needs, keep it short and make it optional.

Leave out fields for other parties, amounts and uploads. Each one asks the visitor to send exactly what the firm does not want yet.

Saying plainly what not to send

Put a short note beside the form, above the button, in ordinary type. Ask visitors not to include details of their matter, names of other people or businesses, figures or documents.

Then say what happens instead: someone will call, check that the firm can help, and explain how to send details safely.

The same note belongs beside any email address published on the site, since an email invites the whole story just as readily.

Keeping fewer copies

Check where the form's entries go. Rather than copying five people, send them to one inbox that a named person watches, and let that person forward only what each colleague needs.

If the form tool keeps entries in the website's database, delete them once answered. A copy nobody needs can still leak through a stolen password or an old backup.

Move the contact page to a secure connection. Without one, whatever a visitor types crosses the internet as plain text.

A worked example

An environmental consulting firm with about a dozen staff does site assessments, soil and water testing, and reports for property buyers, owners and lenders.

Its contact form had one large box headed Describe your project. People filled it with property addresses, the names of sellers and neighbours, prices, and suspicions about an old fuel tank nobody had mentioned.

Twice in a year the firm was already working for the other party in the same sale, and had to decline, with the details already in five inboxes and the form's database.

The new form asks for a name, organisation, phone, email, the service needed from a list, the municipality and any deadline. A note asks visitors not to send addresses, other parties' names or reports until the firm calls.

The automatic reply no longer repeats the message, answered entries are deleted from the database, and the contact page moved to a secure connection.

The first call now does the sorting. The firm checks for conflicts using only the names it needs, and confidential details arrive after it has agreed to act.

Details belong after the first call

Whatever the form collects, the first conversation is where the matter is understood. A short call establishes who is involved, so the conflict check runs on the names alone.

Once the firm has agreed to act, documents can come through whatever secure method it uses for clients, not through a form designed for strangers.

The counter-case

Some offices receive mostly routine enquiries, such as a request for a bookkeeping quote or a question about hours. For them, a short optional message box does little harm.

A form that asks for too little can also mean an extra call before anyone knows what the visitor wants. A kind of service chosen from a list usually covers that.

But any office whose work involves conflicts or confidences should design the form around what it must not receive, and say so beside the button.

A shorter form and a plain note

  1. Read the last twenty form messages the office received.
  2. List every place those messages are stored.
  3. Cut the form to contact details and a general topic.
  4. Add a note saying what not to send.
  5. Stop the automatic reply repeating the message.
  6. Move the form to a secure connection.
  7. Delete answered entries from the site's database.

Step four costs the least and protects the most. Visitors follow plain instructions when they see them, and the note protects the firm on the days a visitor ignores the form's shape.

How a form builds the message it sends, and what its subject and reply lines should hold, is the theme of website enquiries all arriving with the same subject line, from early April.

Frequently asked questions

Why do visitors send confidential details through contact forms?

A single large message box suggests more detail brings a better answer, and many hope to save a call by explaining everything in writing before anyone has agreed to act.

Where does a form message end up?

Often in several inboxes, on phones, in the website's database, in backups, and in any automatic reply that repeats the message back to the sender's address.

Why does this matter for conflict checks?

Details from a prospective client can complicate acting for someone else in the same matter. Receiving nothing confidential until the check is done is the simplest protection.

What should a professional office's contact form ask?

A name, phone number, email address, the kind of help needed from a short list, and the city or area. Leave out fields for other parties, amounts and uploads.

What should the note beside the form say?

Ask visitors not to include details of their matter, names of other people or businesses, figures or documents, and explain that someone will call to check whether the firm can help.

Is a short optional message box ever fine?

For offices whose enquiries are routine, yes. Where work involves conflicts or confidences, label any free-text box for scheduling needs only and keep it short.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Contact form inviting the whole story?

Tell us which page holds your contact form, and we will suggest a shorter version and the note that belongs beside it.

Start a Conversation