Make it Easy to Connect

yeah, just recently added a forms plugin to my blog, just for my contact page. Very cool – there results have been good.

Chris… Great advice. I've found that by simply listing my phone number on the header of my blog has brought me the most conversions for coaching clients. And, Yes, I do answer my phone if I'm not doing something else and I return all my phone calls if someone leaves a voice mail.

I've never understood the people that create a site and then make it hard to connect. …Howard

That is a very interesting article Chris. Personally, I've always hated forms on sites. I'd much rather have an actual email address to reply to. As a result, I haven't included a form on my site. After reading this post, guess I have to rethink this.

Thanks Chris.

Andrea

You posted about this a few months ago. I built the capability on my blog but never made the page live. Thanks for reminding me with this post.

Forms like this also allow you to see streamlined and standardized data. Nothing is worse than trying to sift through open-ended comment fields looking for the good stuff when it could have been entered into specific fields in the first place. It also greatly helps that, in your case Chris, you offer tips for each field as to its importance and desired format: “Please enter your first and last name.”

Chris, our customers are enjoying our Sitofono (http://www.sitofono.com) to generate more leads. Basically it's used to “call you” immediately through a call back, but before the call you can ask for basic info. That info will be linked to the call log and you can easily download it as a Vcard from your admin area. So I agree what you said is fundamental to get more opportunities.

Chris,

We have found the same thing to be true and when we design and write content for clients' websites, we recommend that they give their prospects choices on the contact page and make it easy to respond. Sometimes just suggesting services a dew of the most common requests you get can get the thinking started. Our check-off box system is working very well.

Wrote a marketing e-tip on this just a couple of weeks ago. Thanks, as always, for the great advice.

It drives me crazy when the contact form/information is difficult to use. It is not my job to make it work. If it is not easy to use I go to another vendor.

I’ve been in two minds about contact forms, probably due to my hesitation to fill them in myself when I’ve come across them in the past. There have been many times I’ve clicked a ‘Contact Us’ button, been met with a contact form and swiftly clicked the ‘Close’ button.

Looking at your examples however I’m beginning to think that it was possibly the lack luster look of the contact form that put me off. To navigate through a beautifully designed website and end up at a plain, white page containing a basic HTML contact form is irritating and off-putting. They often look so outdated compared to the rest of the website that I question whether they will even function properly and get my message to the recipient.

SmashingMag recently ran a Twitter poll on Contact Forms vs Email so it seems to be something of a current focus point and lately, I’ve seen some inspiring examples, yours included. The simple fact that the design has been thought about gives me more confidence in the form’s functionality. I especially like the idea of using radio buttons to give the sender a choice of subjects. What a great way of making potential clients aware of the full range of services you can offer, right up until their last moments on your website.

I like this option > “I want to give Chris a bag of money!”

In all seriousness, I've decided that my registration form for design and/or coaching is too long. Most people contact me via email mostly and the site's contact form. Less from the actual purchase/registration form. My guess is that it has something to do with simplicity. My contact form is much more simple (fewer questions).

Which takes me back to newsletter registrations and the observation that the fewer pieces of information you request, the greater the chances are of someone signing up.

I am online a lot and I don't like filling out long and tedious contact forms. I think that a simple form gets the job done and makes the process easy on the user. I run into a lot of people in my business that haven't really jumped on the online bandwagon. They actually prefer to use the traditional contact methods, such as phoning or making a direct visit. While a visit can't always be managed, I believe that a phone call should always be an option for interested customers. While I agree that a simple contact form is a necessity, we can't forget to post a phone number and answer our phones.

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This has proven to be true on one of my companies websites, http://www.arlingtonstudios.com where I get requests every day from musicians looking for practice rooms. Especially since it does not try to Q up Outlook through a mailto link (people hate these) typing and pressing send is almost as easy as commenting on this blog!

Somebody else commented about forms not being direct or fast enough. It depends on how you look at it. I have received MANY voice mails with no contact information stated, people forget, or think you'll see the call ID. My form sends me a nice organized email and 99% of the time I can contact that person back.

Great idea!

In addition [I can be helpful on this one b/c it's on my field of expertise]:

1) If you have email marketing system (EMS) or customer relationship management (CRM) platform, you can put people into automated follow-up sequences based on their reason for contacting you. Lead scoring through open rates and click-through's can then be done to qualify interest prior to investing people time.

2) And/or, you can also, when some says they want to -give you a bag of money-, use you EMS or CRM [you can even gerry-rig Gmail through filters and canned responses] to send them a link TimeDriver (an automate appointment scheduling service).

I hope this helps everyone capitalize on this great idea of Chris's.

More celebrities are becoming more aware of the environment while turning their newfound passion into fashion. Wyclef Jean is no exception. The Grammy Award-winning musician, humanitarian and Goodwill Ambassador to Haiti announced his partnership
with footwear brand Timberland.site:timberlandsbuy.com

Jean introduced a 16-boot footwear collection and with every purchase of these boots, $2 will benefit the Yele Haiti Foundation, a grassroots movement he founded to support reforestation in his homeland, Haiti. In 2005, Jean founded Yele Haiti to build global awareness for Haiti and helping the country through education, sports, arts and environment programs.site:timberlandsbuy.com
Due to his background, Wyclef Jean is now one of six Earthkeeper Heroes within Timberland’s 2009 Earthkeepers program, which aims to catalyze a movement of environmental and social activists. This partnership will combine music, product, digital and social media, service events and concerts to motivate and inspire fans and consumers to take action in protecting the environment. Jean commented:
“It is not common to find an agreement between an individual and a corporation with so many altruistic synergies. I am truly humbled and excited to begin our journey together. Timberland is not only a brand I have worn as long as I can remember, but now I feel I have gained a friend in Jeff [Swartz, Timberland's President and CEO] and the respect of what is beyond a brand. I have the utmost respect for what he and his company stand for not only in its legacies but in its future. I am looking forward to making change together.”site:timberlandsbuy.com

If the county were to “lock up” resource zoning and take away ag protection, “you are saying residential development is the preferred land use.” Carpenter said options two and three have no protection for oak forest or madrones, a concern raised by several speakers, some of whom were concerned about the impact of Sudden Oak Death.site:diyfootwear.com
Kelly Brown cited a letter to the CAC from Supervisor Mike Reilly refuting Carpenter's proposals. She said Director of Forestry Andrea Tuttle tells Reilly that without local land use protections, CDF has a hard time regulating conversions.site:diyfootwear.com
René DeMonchy of Guerneville spoke for option three. “Water is the issue that shines through,” he said, adding that throughout the county water tables are dropping in direct proportion to the amount of vineyards created. The issue is the public good versus the benefit of a few owners. If it is a property right to cut down a forest and plant vineyards – or broccoli – DeMonchy said he's against it,
because forests maintain ground water.site:diyfootwear.com

He said he loves wine himself, and he believes that most people who don't like vineyard conversions are not against timber harvesting. “But if it destroys watersheds, it is a problem,” said DeMonchy. Our prosperous times now are based on water, he went on, and it is not in our best interests to convert a lush damp forest to what Chris Poehlmann calls a biological desert.site:diyfootwear.com

A vineyard owner said he did the math and it will take hundreds of years to convert the forest at the current rate. He said development, not vineyards, causes wells to go dry. His vineyard has bugs, animals, and all kinds of diversity. He asked for the data on the biological desert idea. He was one of several speakers on both sides of the debate who cited land use in Europe. site:diyfootwear.com

You gals do that so well! Your site is always an encouraging place.

thank you very much perfect sharing i am coming everday

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Thanks admin

Chris— As your Feb 6, 2010 post points out making it easier to connect is key in business.
Going beyond people interested in connecting with you can do through your website contact form— Mass-based TimeTrade has come out with an awesome new Workgroup Edition that makes it easy for people to self-schedule time with businesses for sales, service, whatever. Bain Capital uses TimeTrade to let entrepreneurs self-schedule office hours with their VCs. Beyond helping drive CRM/appointments for Chas Schwab, PETCO, BestBuy, Harvard, TimeTrade’s got affordable SaaS offerings for individuals and workgroups (e.g. sales teams)
They’re offering FREE 30 day trials right now.

thanks you much

Nice iT’s a good way for us to make connect …