Know-How Exchange : E-Marketing

Hi EW,

Check out Hewlett-Packard's "Contact Us" at:

https://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/contact_us.html

Click around, it is very impressive.

The best part is it is all very doable, nothing that is superfluous and most of it could be applicable to any site.

I hope that helps.

Hi EW

When you say Contact Us FORM I assume you mean the form on your web site where he fills in his contact details. Looking at it from the customer perspective the key is to it is to make it easy to respond to (No hard work required). He may also, for privacy reasons, be reluctant to give telephone number, company name, address, etc. at this early stage of an interaction.
The objective is to begin a dialogue. I would just get his name and email address. If you get telephone and company name etc. that is a bonus so I would have those as optional fields. and make it very clear on the form that they are optional Once you have the email address you can begin a dialogue and get all the other info you need to qualify the lead and to progress matters.
You can get the appropriate info at the appropiate time in the process.
If the surfer decides not to fill in a very detailed form, he clicks out of your site and never comes back. Remember he is in control!!

It is a bit like a direct mail campaign, you can have a wonderful offer in the third paragraph of the letter but if the reader never gets beyond the first paragraph he never gets to see you offer. Thus the objective of the first paragraph is to get him to read the second paragraph, etc.

In the case of your form the objective should be to get him to identify himself and to give you permission to contact him to begin the dialogue, and to make it as easy as possible. If you look for lots of info that you can get later you will have a high level of people opting out half way through the process. Just like the guy putting the direct mail piece in the bin after reading the first paragraph.
If I get the name and email address only, the objective will be achieved and I can begin the dialogue.

After he has filled out the form the response page might want to tell him that somebody will contact him within XX hours and that in the meantime if he wished he can call a specific telephone number. That way if he needs a response urgently he is directed to somebody who will take his call.

As you are trying to make a first impression it is important to under promise and over deliver. Thus if you say that somebody will contact him within 24 hours, the internal metric should be to respond within, say, 6 hours.

Regards

Pat Divilly
CEO
MarketWare International
www.marketware.biz