Contact Pages That Do Not Say Which Way Is Fastest

Five ways in and no guidance

The contact page lists a phone number, an info address, the owner's email, a form and a fax number. Each one is correct. None says which gets an answer soonest.

Easter Monday is a working day for most businesses in BC, and many offices are sorting through a long weekend's messages this morning.

Somewhere in the pile, one customer has asked the same question three times: by email on Friday, through the form on Saturday, by voicemail on Sunday. Two different people may now answer it.

The customer was not being difficult. The page offered five choices and no reason to prefer any of them.

How people choose when the page is silent

• The first item listed, whatever it happens to be.
• Email, because it feels less intrusive than calling.
• The form, because it is on the page they are reading.
• Every method at once, when the matter feels urgent.
• None of them, when nothing promises a reply.

The fourth is the one that costs staff time. Duplicates have to be matched up by hand, and two people answering the same question differently leaves the customer less sure than before.

Sort the page by need

Most contact pages are organised by channel: phone, email, address. Customers arrive with a need: to book, to get a quote, to report a problem, to ask about a bill.

Turn the page around. List the three or four common needs and, under each, the best way to get it handled and when an answer will come.

To book or change an appointment, book online or call. For a quote, use the form. For billing questions, email the office. Each line tells people which door to use.

Say how soon replies come

A reply time beside each method turns a guess into a plan: calls answered weekdays from eight to five, messages returned within two hours, forms answered the next business day.

Only promise what actually happens. A page that says within the hour, when the real answer is tomorrow afternoon, is worse than one that says nothing.

If replies slow down at certain times of year, such as the busy season, say that too.

A separate line for what cannot wait

Most needs can wait a day. A few cannot: a cancellation for this afternoon, a leak, a customer locked out, an order heading to the wrong address.

Give those their own line on the page, with the fastest route and the hours it covers, such as calling the front desk until six about today's appointments.

Keeping urgent matters separate also keeps them out of the general inbox, where they would otherwise wait in line behind questions about receipts.

A worked example

A massage therapy clinic with four therapists and one receptionist listed a phone number, an info address, the owner's email, a booking request form and a fax number for physicians.

The receptionist worked weekday mornings. In the afternoons the phone went to voicemail, because therapists in treatment rooms cannot answer it, and messages were returned between appointments.

Meanwhile the clinic's online booking system, which showed real availability and confirmed appointments instantly, was linked only from the home page. New clients emailed to ask for times and waited a day.

The contact page now starts with booking: book online, instantly and at any hour, or call the front desk in the mornings. Afternoon messages are returned between appointments, usually within two hours.

Insurance and receipt questions go to one email address, answered within a business day. The fax is listed for physicians only, and the owner's personal address and the request form are gone.

The voicemail greeting now says the same thing, so afternoon callers hear when to expect a call back and that booking online is quicker.

When the phone is not the fastest

Many owners assume the phone is quickest. In businesses where staff spend the day with customers, on job sites, in treatment rooms or under cars, it is often the slowest.

Say so plainly and point people to the faster route, whether that is online booking, a form answered by the office, or a text number.

A caller who knows the phone goes to voicemail during treatments, and that messages are returned within two hours, will leave one rather than ring four times.

Remove what nobody watches

Every address on the page promises that somebody reads it. A fax nobody checks, an old staff address, or a Facebook page whose messages go unanswered all break that promise.

Either give each one an owner or take it off the page. Forward retired email addresses to a monitored inbox rather than deleting them, so messages sent to an old business card still arrive.

Facebook shows visitors how quickly a page typically replies to messages. If that says a day or more, point people elsewhere.

Repeat it after they send

The confirmation page after a form is sent should repeat the reply time and give the number to call if the matter cannot wait.

So should the automatic email the form sends. People reread those messages while they wait, and a stated time stops them sending the same question again by another route.

Days like today

Holiday Mondays, when some businesses open and others do not, are when contact pages get read most closely.

Say on the page whether you are open, and add the day as special hours in Google My Business, so the listing says the same.

A customer who finds the two agreeing will call. One who finds them contradicting each other may try someone else.

The counter-case

A business with one phone line, answered all day by someone at a desk, needs little of this. One number and the hours are enough.

A one-person business where every route reaches the same phone still benefits from a stated reply time, though sorting the page by need may be more than it requires.

For everyone with several ways in, the page should say which way is fastest for which need, and how soon the answer comes.

Before Victoria Day

1. List every contact method on the site.
2. Ask who watches each one and how often.
3. Remove methods nobody monitors.
4. Group the page by what people need.
5. State a reply time beside each method.
6. Repeat it on the confirmation page and email.
7. Check it again before each long weekend.

Step two is the one the rest depends on. A page can only promise what somebody already does, and the honest answer about who reads the fax is often nobody.

If texting is one of the routes you offer, setting it up properly is covered in text message enquiries from the website.

Frequently asked questions

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