I’ve seen people balk at having to put hours on their site when they are solopreneurs and don’t have set working hours, so I’m sharing a personal story about why it’s important to have some basic information on the contact portion of your website.
Is it really the visitor’s fault when they don’t know how or when to contact you?
I connected with someone on Facebook who was looking for experience writing About Me pages. She was super friendly and seemed really fun, like someone who I thought could really write my About page and actually still sound like me. (spoiler alert: my about page and every other page is really written by me!)
She actually initially reached out to me via private message after I commented on a post, and pointed me to her website where she was running a special. I couldn’t find any contact information or hours on her website to continue the conversation so I didn’t mind that much when she continued to message me on Facebook.
Lack of information on the Contact page is a Red Flag
I decided to take advantage of her special offer, made payment, but I didn’t receive the work she promised when she promised. Since I didn’t have her contact information, let alone her working hours, I tried to connect with her on Facebook again as I saw she was very active still in the group where we met. She told me, in no uncertain terms, that I was not supposed to be contacting her via Facebook and that I wasn’t contacting her within her working hours, either!
I was left feeling like this whole snafu was my fault, that I somehow lacked the proper etiquette for placing an order with her and was really befuddled about how I could become *that* client, you know, the one no one ever wants to deal with. I definitely didn’t want to work with her again or recommend her services to anyone else after this experience. In hindsight, the lack of information on her site should probably have been a red flag.
Providing basic information on your contact page sets you AND your customer up for successful communication
Providing basic information on your contact page makes you look more professional and it sets both you and your potential customer up for successful communication from the start.
This could be as simple as listing an email address and/or typical business hours, with a note as to what time zone you are in. Or, if you opt for a simple contact form for visitors to fill out, set up an auto-reply message with your contact information, time zone and when they can expect a reply!
Take Action:
If you already have a website, check to make sure your contact page really has the information a visitor needs in order to contact you.
If you’re in the planning stages, make it a point to create a contact page/section
or contact process that will get your contact information into your potential clients’ hands.
