A contact page should offer several routes and tell somebody what to expect from each. A form alone omits the visitors who want to call, visit, or know whether anybody is there right now.

Why it deserves attention

People arrive at a contact page having already decided to make contact. That is the highest intent on the site, and the page's only job is not to lose them.

It is also reached from everywhere: the menu, the footer, service pages, search results for your business name, and the map listing. For many small businesses it is the second most visited page.

Despite that, the usual contact page is a form and a heading.

What belongs on it

  1. A phone number, tappable, and the most prominent element for most local businesses.
  2. An email address, written out rather than hidden behind a form.
  3. A form, short, for people who prefer it or are contacting outside hours.
  4. Hours, including when the phone is actually answered, which may differ from when you are open.
  5. The address, or the service area if you have no premises visitors attend.
  6. Response times for each route.
  7. Who answers, where there is a name to give.
  8. What to do if it is urgent, and after hours.

The second point is worth defending. Hiding the email address behind a form is done to reduce spam and it also removes an option some people strongly prefer, including anybody who wants a record of what they sent.

Routing rather than one channel

Different enquiries need different destinations, and a single form sends everything to one place.

Worth separating where the business justifies it: new work, existing customers with a question about a current job, accounts and invoicing, and suppliers or recruitment.

That separation helps the visitor and helps you, since an existing customer's urgent question buried among new enquiries gets a slower answer than it should.

For a small business a simple dropdown on the form is enough. For a larger one, separate addresses.

The address question

Handled differently depending on the business.

With premises customers visit, the full address, a map, parking, which entrance, and accessibility. Small details like which door and where to park prevent a frustrating arrival.

Working from home, which many trades do, publishing a residential address is a real consideration. Stating a service area rather than an address is legitimate and common.

Note that a business listing may still require an address, with an option to hide it publicly while serving a defined area, and that consistency between what you publish and what the listing holds matters.

With premises customers do not visit, saying so plainly prevents somebody turning up at a workshop expecting a showroom.

Setting expectations

The element that costs nothing and is almost always missing.

Saying which route is fastest, when the phone is actually answered, and how long an email typically takes lets somebody choose correctly rather than guessing.

It also prevents the enquiry sent at nine on Friday evening that produces frustration by Monday afternoon, since the person knew what to expect.

Where you genuinely cannot commit, describing what typically happens is still better than silence.

The map

Worth including where visitors attend, and worth doing lightly.

An embedded interactive map is frequently the heaviest element on the page. A static image linked to the mapping service does the same job for most visitors at a fraction of the weight.

What matters more than the map itself: written directions for the final approach, which mapping applications frequently handle badly for industrial areas, rural addresses, and units within complexes.

Multiple locations

A structural point.

Each location should have its own page with its own address, hours, phone number, and map, rather than all of them listed on one contact page.

That serves the visitor and it also matches how location searches work, since each page can be the destination for searches naming that place.

The contact page then becomes a router pointing at each location rather than a list.

The confirmation

Part of the same page in practice, since it is what a form submitter sees next.

Stating that the enquiry arrived, when they will hear back, and how to reach you urgently is what turns a submission into a reassured visitor rather than an uncertain one.

That is the difference between somebody waiting confidently and somebody contacting a competitor while they wait, which is set out in telling people what happens next.

Frequently asked questions

Why does the contact page matter?

People arrive having already decided to make contact, which is the highest intent on the site, and its only job is not to lose them.

Should the email address be visible?

Yes. Hiding it behind a form reduces spam and removes an option some people strongly prefer, including anybody who wants a record of what they sent.

Should enquiries be routed?

Where the business justifies it, separate new work from existing customer questions, accounts, and suppliers. A current customer's urgent question gets buried otherwise.

What if I work from home?

Stating a service area rather than a residential address is legitimate and common. Note that a listing may require an address with an option to hide it publicly.

What is almost always missing?

Expectations. Which route is fastest, when the phone is actually answered, and how long an email takes, so somebody can choose rather than guess.

How should multiple locations be handled?

Each with its own page carrying its own address, hours, and phone, with the contact page acting as a router rather than a list.

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 page that is a form and a heading?

We add the routes, the hours, and the expectations, which is usually the cheapest conversion improvement on a site.

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