Time for part 5 of 35 covering my usability and design analysis, Contact Information.

When doing my analysis, I always check to see if the site has easy to find contact information. I’d say about 90% of the sites that I have checked have one, and typically it’s easy to find. That is good, or at least it’s a step in the right direction.

Unfortunately, many of the sites I review only fill their contact page with an email or an email form. Many sites don’t even have the name of their company on it! If you are running a personal blog or hobby site where contact information is not that important, I’d say don’t sweat all of this. What amazes me though, is how many ecommerce sites fail to fulfill a visitors/would be customer expectations.

Contact Information is Your Reflection

If you are trying to sell a product or service online, you should realize that visitors often look for trust factors. These trust factors come in various forms, but one real sure fire way to prove you are a real business it to simply reveal your contact information. How hard is that? Apparently, very hard. Many small businesses are run from home, and who wants to give out those kind of details? You need to give something though, and just an email will not cut it.

What does just an email form reflect? To me, it’s a sign saying:

“Get a hold of me if you have to. I am not expecting you to reach me, and don’t really care if I don’t get the message at all. Just buy my stuff.”

If someone wants to buy something from you, they need to know there is a guarantee way to contact you. Email’s often fail. Having a phone number helps, but it doesn’t mean the owner will pick up. Having an address makes you accountable, and if you have all three there is then a clear reflection of your business. You are visible, you are accountable, and are not hiding from your would be customers. Stop hiding!

Things to Include on Your Contact Page

Every business contact page will be a little different. An address should always be required, but adding something like a map may not be if visitors are never expected to go there. Here is a basic list of things to consider when creating your contact page. The more you can add, the more your visitors trust increase, and the more useful your site becomes. Yes, contact pages are one of the most important pages to a ecommerce site. Transactions require communications.

Things to Include Items in bold should be found on every contact page, regardless of what your site is about.

• Your name or name of company
• Phone numbers
• Fax numbers
• Main mailing address, plus additional if you have any
• Map
• Business hours
• Email – this can be a simple form to initiate the process
• Live chat support information
• Alternate language support information if expected
• Social profiles such as your Twitter or Facebook page

And any other information that could help your visitor in regards to improving communications with you. Call it a slogan, but transactions require communications is 100% true. Whether it be to support a transaction that has gone bad, or to simply answer a prospective customers questions.

Support needs to be there for your visitor. The alternative is the visitor going somewhere else to find the answer, or to bad mouth your company for poor customer service.

On a side note: Here is a poll I started in March 2009.