In this post, we’ll go over a number of contact page examples, so you’ll be able to review your own contact page and improve it. For a lot of companies, that contact page is the main reason they have a website in the first place. For others, the contact page filters or manages all incoming contact requests. The right information on these contact pages, combined with for instance a map or images, really improves user experience. And that way you can even use your contact page to improve the overall SEO of your website.
Please understand that there is more than one way to look at a contact page. Some websites use it to direct customers to their customer service, others fill their contact page with call-to-actions and direct visitors to their sales team. Small businesses will use their contact page to direct people to their store or office. What works for others, might not work for your contact page. It highly depends on what kind of business you have. Go read and decide for yourself what improves your contact page!
Essential elements of your contact page
Think about what you are looking for when visiting a contact page on any website. I for one, am not a big fan of phone calls, so I’d rather email a company. Saves time, and it’s less intrusive. Personally, I prefer a contact form on some occasions and an actual email address on others. So I’d advise to provide both. Let’s look at all the essentials:
- Company name.
- Company address.
- General company phone number.
- General company email address.
- Contact form.
Multiple departments
If you have more than one department that can be reached by phone or email, list all. Add a clear heading and the details of how that department can be contacted. An example: universities and hospitals usually have separate departments for students, patients, press, business opportunities and more. Youtube has a variety of departments/directions to point you to on their contact page. Obviously, these departments should only be listed if their details should be available for everyone visiting that website.
This article is about great contact page examples, but I came across this one that I really have to mention. EY.com has a great contact page example of how I would not approach this:
Apart from the design of that contact page, the thing I like the least is the fact that I’m not sure what will happen after clicking ‘webmaster’ or ‘global ey.com team’. One would expect a page with more info, but in fact, it opens a pop-up screen with a contact form. It would be so much more convenient to have a contact form right on that page, with an option to choose between technical issues or general inquiries. That can be done by using radio buttons or a select box, for instance. That way, one topic is chosen before sending the form.
Multiple locations
If you have multiple locations, list all address details (NAP plus email) for every one of those locations. But please make sure to highlight your headquarters one way or the other. Let’s check out a couple of contact page examples that have multiple locations:
- PwC Australia lists all of their locations on one page but I really have no clue what their main location is.
- Arcadis does a much better job with a nicely designed contact page, stating the main contact details, personalized details per department and a nice country selector to get you to the nearest location.
- The US Chamber of Commerce lists one main address and a link to a separate page with all the locations. Makes sense, and provides a focused user experience.
Did you also notice the bottom section of that US Chamber of Commerce page? Even if you can’t find what you are looking for, this section about where to find more information helps you to find what you are looking for. It might even reduce the number of emails in the process.
These are the bare necessities. What else can we do to make that contact page awesome for visitors and Google?
Spice up your contact page
Contact pages that list the bare necessities are dull. And there is so much more you can do to spice up that contact page!
Why and when should I contact you?
It sounds so obvious, but you actually might want to tell your visitors why and when they should or shouldn’t contact you. It pays off to create a safe environment, to assure people you have no annoying holding tunes, that you’ll connect them with a human being from minute one, or simply that you won’t be taking calls after 2PM for whatever reason.
By explaining a bit more about your contact policies, you a) add text to an otherwise dull page and b) are able to manage expectations. Hubspot pointed me to this nice contact page example that does this very well: the contact page of ChoiceScreening.
An awesome call-to-action
Add a great call-to-action to your contact page. That could be a button at the bottom of your contact form, but also a phone number that is displayed in a prominent spot. Just make sure it’s immediately clear what you want your visitor to do on that contact page. Pick your preferred contact method.
There are plenty of contact page examples that have done their call-to-action right. I’d like to mention for instance Jetblue:
Before showing you their contact details (you can scroll down for these options) they try to answer your question on their website already. It’s very clear that they want you to check for yourself first, hence the large “Select a topic & Get answers”-option. It’s a common practice for a contact page, which undoubtedly saves time for your business.
Macy’s clearly wants you to call them, judging from the box on the right of their contact page. Nestlé gives you a number of options to choose from, being FAQ, Call, and Social Media. I like that as well, although there is no one call-to-action standing out from the rest, so I’m not sure what will work best. But it is definitely better that the lack of a call-to-action on the ABN AMRO contact page. Want to optimize your WooCommerce shop for local shopping? You need Local SEO for WooCommerce! »
Social accounts
For the fifth time in two weeks, my newspaper was late. It has been stormy, which could be the reason for the first four delays. Today is a beautiful day, so the delay makes no sense. I contacted my newspaper via a direct message on Twitter and got an ETA for the newspaper within 5 minutes. Social media is a very common way to stay in touch with (potential) customers and some customer services have made an art out of helping customers that way.
Be sure to list your active social networks on your website. And make sure to respond to any (serious) mention of your company or direct message you receive. I already mentioned Nestlé. Garmin adds a nice little block (see image) to their contact page, and Hootsuite has a nice section on theirs that contains all their social networks. I like how they emphasize the option to use these to get in contact with them.
A map and directions
A map isn’t a necessary element for every contact page, but hey, it looks nice and gives your visitor an idea of where you are situated. If your company has multiple locations, it provides a nice overview of your (global) reach and will tell the visitor if there is a location nearby.
If you have a business where customers come into your office, shop or whatever to do business or purchase products, directions do come in handy. Scribd has this incorporated in Google Maps. Gladstone added a small map in the sidebar and wrote instructions from multiple directions on their contact page, much like Gettysburg Seminary has. You can automate a lot of this if you are on WordPress. Our Local SEO for WordPress plugin allows you to add a directions option right on your contact page. It allows you to add a map with your location and a handy option to show the directions from the address the visitor is right now. If you have customers coming to your store/business, I would add directions that way.
Your staff and your business
Present your friendly staff on your contact page, or at least the ones people will reach when calling, tweeting or emailing your company. Your board of directors is also an option. You don’t have to clutter the page will images like the Tilburg University does (although they do have filter options). And I certainly wouldn’t use crappy photos like RoyalHaskoningDHV, even though I like the rest of that page. But a couple of nice photos like Peninsula Air Conditioning has, is welcoming, right? By the way, how do you like that phone number in the header?
If you frequently have people come into your office or store, add an image of your building. That way people will immediately recognize your business when they drive up to it. DSM has a nice example of that on their contact page. As a cherry on the cake, I recommend adding a nice video presentation of your company to your contact page, like Blackstone has.
A lot to digest, right? And you thought just listing your address and email would suffice. Think again. If you have a business that depends on people contacting you, be sure to pick any of the additions listed above to improve the user / customer experience of your contact page. I hope the contact page examples we mentioned will help you improve your contact page as well!