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Making it Simple for Customers to Contact You

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Next to the homepage, a Contact Us page might be the most important part of a small business website. You want to make sure customers have an easy way to reach out and communicate with you when they have questions or suggestions. Plus, engaging with your customers is a great way to build connections and brand loyalty. A website contact page also gives you the opportunity to include detailed information about your business location and provide directions and maps to any physical locations you have.

Read on for a look at best practices for creating great Contact Us page designs, the importance of connecting with customers, and advice on providing good customer service.

Designing a simple contact page

In general, your Contact Us page should be simple and provide straightforward information. When determining what to include on the page, it can help to look at other Contact Us page examples for ideas and inspiration. Make sure the examples you’re looking at reflect the type of business you run. A larger business might have different contact options—like a dedicated customer support team or support forums—that don't make sense for you and your website design. 

Contact information often found on a Contact page includes:

  • Email address(es): Some people prefer to have just one email address for business correspondence because it's easier to organize. Others prefer to have an email address for various business functions (e.g., one for pricing questions, another for shipping, and a third for general questions). 

  • A physical or mailing address: If your business has a physical location, include the street address on your contact page. If you work from home or aren't ready to open a brick-and-mortar spot, you can open a PO Box to handle business mail. 

  • Phone number: Not every business needs a phone option, but having a phone number for your business allows clients and customers to reach you quickly. If you're not comfortable using a personal phone number, you can sign up for a service that forwards your calls from another phone number.

  • Social media accounts: Most Contact Us page templates give you the option to include links to your social media accounts. Encouraging site visitors to follow you on other accounts gives you another way to keep them updated on your business and answer their questions.

  • Response time: Small businesses and solo entrepreneurs have a lot to juggle. If it’s just you handling customer outreach, consider adding an estimated response time that fits your schedule so visitors know when to expect a wait.

  • FAQs: If you notice a pattern in the questions you get, it helps to incorporate into your contact page design a Q&A section that covers common questions. This will ideally open up time and space you’d normally spend on repeat questions, while ensuring your customers have the information they need.

Another option, if you prefer to funnel questions into one location, is to make a contact form the focus of your Contact Us page. On Squarespace websites, you can add a simple contact form for website visitors with custom form fields for users to fill in, then choose where any submissions go.

Business owners with a physical location may want to include some additional details in their contact info. 

Those additional details for brick-and-mortar businesses could include:

  • Directions: For businesses that might be in a hard-to-find place—or located on or near public transportation—including detailed instructions on how to get there can be helpful.

  • An embedded map: Squarespace map blocks let you embed a map on your site with a location pin for your store. You can also use Squarespace’s Location Management tool to ensure your business shows up in search engine results and maps.

  • Hours of operation: Remember to update your Contact page if your hours change or you close during major holidays. Consider adding a pop-up on your homepage or an announcement bar to the top of the page too.

  • Parking information: If you’re located in a busy area or don’t have a parking lot for your store, customers will appreciate a heads up about what to expect when they arrive.

Connecting with customers

The Contact Us page isn't the only way customers can get in touch with your business. In fact, it's a good strategy to give customers multiple ways to connect with you. In addition to offering an email address for feedback, consider investing some time into additional ways to connect with your customers. 

Some common customer relationship channels include: 

  • Social media: Your website may not be the first place potential customers find or search for you, which is why it’s important to have an active social media presence for your brand. Add links to your accounts in your navigation bar or website footer, so customers can stay updated and reach out or tag you from their accounts.

  • Newsletters: Placing a newsletter block on your website creates a call to action (CTA) for customers to sign up for your email newsletter. If you’re looking for feedback, you can encourage customers to respond to your emails.

  • Product reviews. If you sell products via your website, you can enable product reviews. Two weeks after someone buys something from you, they'll receive an email invitation to provide feedback and rate the transaction. Those reviews will then show up publicly on your product pages, which boosts your products’ credibility and helps customers make more informed buying decisions in your shop. 

  • Online appointments. If you're a service-based business with clients, or if you sell anything that would benefit from time-based reservations or appointments, you can add a calendar block to your site that makes scheduling appointments online a breeze.

  • Live chat: To make handling customer service requests simpler, consider adding a live chat option to your website. Squarespace offers a live chat extension that lets you contact customers on multiple platforms and assign agents or a chatbot to specific types of questions.

Navigating customer feedback

In a perfect world, customers would be completely satisfied after doing business with you. But, sometimes a transaction hits a snag or issues crop up with shipping, and a customer might reach out with negative feedback.

For new business owners, this can be upsetting. Some bumps in the road, like delayed shipping times or an item damaged in transit, are out of your control. However, other issues can be resolved if you provide prompt and positive customer service.

When you are communicating with an unhappy customer, it's best to keep a neutral tone. Apologize and offer to make things right, whether that involves providing a replacement item or a shipping refund. You might also offer the customer a discount or a gift card for a future order.

To make transactions run more smoothly, create a return policy in advance and include it on your business website. Make it easy to find by linking it at the bottom of the page on your site or on the Contact Us page. That way, customers know what to expect and have the information they need when reaching out to you.

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