Trustworthy Contact Forms

State the purpose of your form. You shouldn't have anything to hide - right? To get more sales leads, tell your site visitors how to use your contact form and how you are going to use it to help them.

You have a beautiful website and your visitors learn a lot from it but if your contact form makes them feel like they are sitting at the edge of the unknown they will leave with what they learned and find someone else to contact. Here are some ways to put your site visitors at ease.

Promise Not to Resell or Redistribute Information

This is a no-brainer and everyone knows but if I do not mention it, I will get an email about it. Make the promise and mean it. State it clearly. The number one question on the mind of someone staring at the first blank of your contact form is, “how much junk mail am I going to get from these guys??nbsp;Ease their minds with reassurance that you respect their privacy and the information will stay between you and them. 

Ask Only for What You Need

Some form requirements don't make any sense. Why am I "required" to give you my mailing address when I am just signing up for your newsletter? Here's a nice fake address for you! Enjoy your useless data while I smack on the bad taste in my mouth about your newsletter - and you.

Keep your contact forms as short as possible and only require they information that is absolutely necessary. To help you decide how long the form will be and what you should require consider how you are going to use the information you collect in your contact form leads.  There is an inverse relationship between how much information you ask for and how many lead responses you get - and how accurate it will be.  If you require too many fields you might find that you get  creative address field responses such as "666 Up Yours Lane."  I have seen more creative ones but that one always stuck with me.  You should have seen the zip code (it wasn't a number).

There is a balance you will have to find through some experimentation and, of course, you will always get the occasional joker - sell them something anyway!

Define what you want to do with information from the contact form leads. If you are only using it to reply via email, then you only need an email address. However, if you want to send postcards you need addresses and if you want to call them you need phone numbers but it needs to make sense that you would do so and you should always ask for permission with a check box.

Clearly State Your Purpose (How You Are Going to Help Them)

Tell potential leads what you will do when you receive the form. A simple line such as, “We will respond to your comments/requests via email within 24 hours.?or, "One of our friendly customer service representatives will contact you by the method you prefer." (and give them options). The idea is to tell your visitor what to expect after filling out your contact form.

Explain the Steps

This can be mixed with the previous point to be more concise.  In very simple terms, maybe through a small numbered list, explain the form process.  For example: 

1. Complete the short form below.
2. Press the submit button (only once).
3. We will contact you via email within 24 hours. 

Most people know how forms work but, again, you need to reassure your visitors that the process is as simple as 1,2, and 3 ?and you take care of step 3. 

Many people are still hesitant about the internet and it is not always about fraud. People (remember that's what your site visitors are) often feel like contact forms are a waste of time so they leave. Reassure them you are trustworthy and that their time will be well spent.