Have you ever wanted to purchase something but had a question and couldn’t figure out who to contact or how to contact the company to get your questions answered?   Or perhaps you have made a purchase and are having a problem and can’t get in touch with anyone to get it resolved?   This happens more frequently than you might imagine.

Did you know that 96% of unhappy customers don’t complain, however, 91% of those will simply leave and never come back.  If they can’t contact you, a dissatisfied customer will tell between 9-15 people about their experience. Around 13% of dissatisfied customers tell more than 20 people.  That is a lot of people who will be saying negative things and perhaps turning others away from considering doing business with YOU.

So don’t let this happen to your business.

Help Customers Find You

In my book, 52 Tips to Turn Your Website Into A Sales Machine, I talk about making it easy for customers to contact you and the importance of following up.   These tips might help you:

Tip #38: Provide Multiple Methods

Provide your web visitors with as many ways to contact you as possible:

• Phone #
• Toll-Free Phone #
• Physical Address Mailing Address if different than physical address
• Email Address
• Electronic Web Form

They will likely choose the one they are more comfortable with.

Tip #39: Contact Forms

Contact forms are a great user-friendly way to allow customers to connect. It’s so easy to include a web/electronic form on your website.

Although some website visitors may think, “Why bother completing the form? Nothing is going to happen.” Or “I’m going to submit my information and they are going to hound me. I will never get off their email list.”

Be different and follow up on the forms that you receive quickly. Do not add them to an email list without their express permission (or better yet, include a checkbox for them to opt-in from your form).

Tip #40: Don’t Ask

Have you ever gone onto a website and the web form feels like it takes hours to complete? They ask you for all kinds of information that isn’t relevant to your question or problem.

If your form needs a progress bar, it’s probably too long.

Don’t ask for more information than you need. Keep the form and your requests simple and more people will complete it.  It is also easier for you to know what the issue is and respond when you don’t have a lot of info to wade through.

Tip #41:  Follow Up!

Be Committed to Following Up!

This is a big one!   If you have a “Contact Us” form on your website for generating leads, have that information sent to an email address that you check daily (if not more often).  Speed is of the essence. If prospective clients are searching online, they are most likely contacting your competitors as well. Follow up as soon as possible on leads you receive.  Especially over the holidays when others might be taking their time to respond.

Your potential clients will thank you for it and your closing rates will improve greatly, too.  This is an outstanding way to be different than the competition.

So there you have it….tips for providing ways your customers can get in touch and the importance of following up.