5

Do people write you on your contact form? / How do you generate leads?

over 5 years ago from , Web Developer @ rakun.ie

I have a Digital Agency with a friend and we are setting up our website these days and I was wondering what are the most important pages to have on an agency website... and... does having a contact form even worth it? Do people contact you on a contact form? Is there a better way?

Thanks for your time in advance!

15 comments

  • Aaron Wears Many HatsAaron Wears Many Hats, over 5 years ago

    Ok, so, what's your argument against it then?

    Other than > I can't be bothered writing one.

    Basically, you're concluding anecdotally that no one uses contact forms (likely based on personal experience), and opting for a user-hostile approach to your UX as a result.

    It's not always going to improve conversion rates by having a contact form, but will also never detract from them by having the form there. In fact the opposite is true, by not having a form you've immediately got lost conversions.

    The main question should be:

    Why isn't my contact form generating leads?

    5 points
    • Larry IoannidisLarry Ioannidis, over 5 years ago

      Thank you very much for your comment Aaron. I really like your question in the end, and it's really what I am trying to solve, but I really wanted to see what is the experience for other creative people and how this is working for them.

      Btw, I don't have any argument agains the contact form just trying to see if there is any better way to have users contact us.

      Thanks :)

      0 points
      • Aaron Wears Many HatsAaron Wears Many Hats, over 5 years ago

        It's a careful balance between user experience, and conversion generation.

        I hate to say it, but the best way to improve conversions is to use the things people here hate - Chat bubble plugins, call to action modals and things like that haha. (All the Medium blog rants posted here talk about how terrible they are, but every agency I've ever worked in has shown measurable results from them, even if it kills me inside each time I build one).

        Though avoid those if you can first, haha :)

        3 points
  • Chris Wiggs, over 5 years ago

    Nope! In about 8 years of having a site with a contact form, I've seen one or two messages through it. I find people end up just grabbing the email and going through their email client. Not to say they don't work or aren't worth it though, I'm a sample of one with a website that isn't marketed.

    I think it's important to have contact info, of course!

    2 points
  • Uttam PaswanUttam Paswan, over 5 years ago

    Having a contact form is obviously a better choice than not having it. You can create an experiment by replacing this old structure into a conversational UI (not full fledge AI bot). So far, whatever I have read about it, it has a better conversion rate than old UI if one performs all actions in a precise way.

    Some useful links: 1. https://medium.muz.li/designing-a-chatbot-9dda900c2bfc

    1. https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2017/10/04/chatbots

    2. I am not able to find a link again which was really useful, I will update it later :P

    & you can create some engaging bots on these platforms for free: 1. https://landbot.io 2. https://hellotars.com/

    1 point
  • Dan WilkinsonDan Wilkinson, over 5 years ago

    More often than not we get phone calls, but we get the odd lead through the contact form.

    I think it's worth having one, some people will generally prefer email rather than call and best to cater for those people IMO.

    1 point
    • Larry IoannidisLarry Ioannidis, over 5 years ago

      Thanks a lot Dan. From the comments here and chats that I had with other creatives I see that it's good to give options to people (contact form, emails, phone [which before I would not even think to include], Intercom like chat option). :)

      0 points
      • Dan WilkinsonDan Wilkinson, over 5 years ago

        Some people will have different views, and it will be depending on what sort of client you're targetting. But for us, we're a local agency who target customers within 50 miles so having phone/contact form is a must :-)

        1 point
  • Chris Gallello, over 5 years ago

    Why not just put an email to make it easier for people to contact you? I personally hate contact forms - if I send some correspondence, I want documentation in my own email service.

    1 point
  • Jan ZhengJan Zheng, over 5 years ago

    I created a site for my friend's dental office. It's a booking form (basically, give us a time that works for you, e.g. next week, and roughly what they need, nothing personally identifiable), and we get about a couple dozen people every week.

    depends on your audience. If it's some tech-savvy people that need a site, then probably not. But our form works pretty well and sees a ton of action

    1 point
  • Larry IoannidisLarry Ioannidis, 5 years ago

    Just a small update on that discussion with some actual results from our website. In the last 12 months we had 2 leads generated from the contact form. I think @Aaron's point about "why not having a contact form?". If we hadn't one we would probably have lost these leads but the question "Why isn't my contact form generating leads?" is the one that you need to answer and optimise based on the answers. Thanks everyone for your inputs!

    0 points