What is your “Contact Us” for?

It struck me just today: why aren’t people contacting me? Here’s what I mean: over the past several weeks, I have accessed websites and entered my contact information into their “Contact Us” forms. While these forms appear in numerous designs, in essence, they all serve the same purpose: to collect the contact information from someone who is interested in something (like buying a product or service) for the specific purpose of contacting them. It’s the online equivalent of a voicemail: “I am so and so. I am interested in thus and such. Here is my contact information. Contact me.”

But, for whatever reason, some organizations just don’t. That’s dumb.

Over the past two weeks, I have entered my contact information into the following websites: a primary healthcare provider; three different companies that offer guided fly fishing trips in the Galveston, TX, area; two businesses that make signs for corporate offices, like the ones that would hang on a wall in a reception area; and a podcast provider that solicited feedback. One of the sign companies did immediately contact me with an automated message, saying they had received my information and someone would be in touch with me soon, but it has been close to two weeks and no “touch” has occurred. None of the other sites I referenced above have contacted me at all, not even an automated reply. Web silence.

I would assume they have a Contact Us form on their page because… they actually want people to contact them. But maybe they have a form simply because the template they chose for their website included one and they never set it up. In that situation, any information entered into the Contact Us would go nowhere. More likely, though, they intentionally set up their Contact Us, but the information is not getting to someone at the company who can act on it.

I remember several years ago I was visiting a financial institution out in Washington State and we were talking about their robust virtual bank options. As we were scanning their website, I entered my information into their Contact Us form. About 30 minutes later, I asked who in the organization received my contact information. After another 30 minutes of head scratching and searching, we determined that an email account had been set up called info@{thisbanksname}.com, and the Contact Us information was routing to that email.

The problem was, no one at the institution was getting the messages from that mailbox. When we went directly to the email inbox, we discovered hundreds of messages sent to the FI that had been viewed by… no one! Separate from the embarrassment, there were emails from prospective customers, who I’m sure, having received no follow up from the FI, moved on to open accounts with their competitors.

You would NEVER not open your mail or refuse to listen to voicemails. So why are businesses not reading or answering their Contact Us messages?

The biggest factor is something in the process breaks. When Contact Us was first set up, there had to be a location where these messages would be routed. It may not even have been the website owner; it could be someone at the company who built the website. In this case, the information from Contact Us is being routed to a single person. This represents a single point of failure. What happens if that person moves to another job? Who remembers to change that email address in the workflow? If they are on vacation for two weeks, do two weeks of Contact Us forms go ignored?

A better strategy is to set up a master email account to receive the form information–the aforementioned FI had done this. But then, take the next step: set up a system that allows multiple people to receive any messages forwarded from that master email address. Say John, Joan, and Jeff are all forwarded every message that comes into info@{mycompany}.com. John is the primary person to handle these, and he cc’s Joan and Jeff when he responds. That way, they know he has addressed the inquiry. If those follow-up cc emails don’t come, then there are two other people who are in a position to quickly respond to the initial inquiry.

People rarely look past the first page of web search results. We live in an “I want it now” environment, and if someone takes the time to enter a Contact Us form, it’s a good bet they will not wait very long before moving on to another option. If fact, if they are like me, it’s possible they have requested contact from multiple competitors, such as my attempt to reach three different outfitters for fly fishing in Galveston. Don’t you think the one that reaches out the fastest has a leg up on the others? Of course it does. I have a lot of experience with fly-fishing outfitters, so the fact that none of the three didn’t respond isn’t that unusual to me (My fly-fishing outfitter of choice, The Colorado Angler, would ALWAYS respond to a Contact Us…). But in a professional company selling any product or service, ignoring Contact Us is simply not acceptable.

Do this: periodically go to your webpage and enter information on a Contact Us form. Then make sure this is being viewed by someone in a timely fashion and a procedure is in place that would guarantee a response. Processes get broken, and it is simply foolish to not test your online options on at least a weekly basis. In just 60 seconds, you can ensure one of the primary ways prospects reach out to you is working effectively to help you advance your business. Now that’s innovative.