One of my pet peeves of web sites is the Contact Us page. Most companies have a form on the Contact page for a customer or prospect to submit an email. I wish I had a dollar for every time I submitted an email from a web site and never got a reply. Here’s a thought: If you are not going to read email from your web site, don’t put a form there for people to send you email! Would you set up a phone number and phone service for your business, but then never answer the phone when it rings?
You are enabling and training your customers on how to communicate with you. If you will only speak with them in person or via phone or via chat, then tell them that on the Contact page and don’t give them an email address or email form. If you are putting email on your Contact page, then be sure you know who will monitor that mailbox and be responsible for acknowledging or responding within 24 hours. If you have not acknowledged the receipt of an email or provided an answer within 24 hours, you have just annoyed or even lost a customer or prospect. The Internet and Social Media have given us new ways to communicate and engage with customers, but having the tools without the people or processes is going to lead to many missed opportunities and unhappy customers.
