How to Write Good Contact Us Pages

Before we talk about how to write good contact us pages, let’s consider my experience with one that stunk up the joint.

This was from a few years ago, but I remember it well. I was referred to a business, so I went to its website. The home page was professional-looking with clear navigation. It had three boxes for three separate audiences, along with hyperlinked bullet points in each box. So far, so good. I appreciate sites that effectively “talk” to multiple audiences and direct people to where you want them to go next.

But then I went to the Contact Us page.

There was a form. And this line was above the form:

“This contact form is not yet active. Please call 555-555-5555 to contact Great-Biz-With-Crappy-Website at this time.” (And no, there was no email address anywhere on the site.)

Listen, if your contact form doesn’t work, then do this: Take. It. Down. Consider how much business you’re losing. Think of the people who don’t even see your disclaimer line and they go ahead and fill out the form, hit submit, get an error message, and don’t come back. How many people are going to think, “If these guys can’t make their forms work, how the heck are they going to do the job I hire them to do?”

Remember, your website is your virtual storefront. If you went to a store and all its shelves were empty, no one was manning the register, and you kept hitting the little bell thingy to get someone’s attention, but it didn’t work, what would you do?

Right. You’d walk out.

How to write good Contact Us pages

A company’s Contact Us page should never be an afterthought or a place to simply dump phone numbers and a snail mail address. Below, I’ll discuss how to write good Contact Us pages for your clients that will wow them and actually work.

And by “work,” I mean the page copy will inspire people to fill out the form, email, or call.

How to write a Contact Us page: Don’t do it last.

When I tackle website writing projects for clients, I often start with the Contact Us page. Why? The page copy tends to be shorter and hyper-focused.

When you get ready to write this page, start by asking yourself some questions: Why would someone click on Contact Us and subsequently NOT take that action? What’s causing them to hesitate? And what can your words do to help them overcome that hesitation?

It’s a fun challenge. Put yourself in the prospect’s shoes.

• Are they worried about the cost? You could allay those fears by saying there’s no obligation or that the initial consult is free, for example.
• Are they worried they haven’t done enough due diligence? Contact pages are a great place to include one of the client’s most powerful testimonials. On other pages, like home pages, I usually encourage the client to have scrolling testimonials. The contact page is a different beast: Put your best one on there—the one that could help persuade that hesitant person to make the call.
• Are they looking for an email address, but you only give them a phone number or a form? Give people multiple ways to get in touch. Put them in charge. (I discuss this more below.)

How to write good Contact Us pages: Optimize your page for a keyword phrase.

This is especially important if local SEO matters to your business. Like all pages on your website, you want to optimize it for a keyword phrase. Write a compelling headline around the phrase. Resist the temptation to simply have “Contact us.” That’s a wasted opportunity.

After the compelling headline, remind people, with a bit of inspiring copy, WHY someone should contact you.

This serves another purpose. You never know how people will enter your site. It’s possible they could enter your site via the contact page (especially if it’s optimized well). So by having a clear, compelling headline and good copy on “what’s in it for the prospect,” you’re helping to orient the new site visitor.

How to write a Contact Us page: Be mindful of form fields.

As the copywriter, you won’t be building the page or setting up the form, but you can share recommendations on what to include on the form. Different businesses will have different needs. While longer forms do create friction, you’ll likely want to go longer than simply name, email, and phone number. Other landing pages on the site could have super-short forms, but good Contact Us pages are places where you can ask for more details.

My next suggestion will require your client’s cooperation, but I always believe the prospect should be able to choose how they contact a business. If they prefer phone, great. But if they prefer sending an email or filling out a form, that should be allowed as well.

Here’s the challenge: many small businesses aren’t good about monitoring emails or contact forms. So offering choices will ONLY work if the client actually pays attention and monitors all the different modes of contact.

What to put on a Contact Us page: Make it easy for people to connect in other ways and give them compelling reasons to stick around.

For most business websites, the social media icons live in the footer or in the courtesy link area at the top of a website. But the Contact Us page is a great place to highlight them and encourage people to follow.

After someone submits a form, what happens? Ideally, they should receive confirmation that the form went through. From there, it’s a smart practice to include a link or two to helpful content—like an FAQs page—to encourage people to stick around the site.

Do I follow my own advice? YES.

I wouldn’t make recommendations that I don’t follow myself. In the video below, I walk you through my Contact page. You can see how it stacks up against these suggestions. Or you can simply navigate to the contact page itself.

Got a Question for the Copy Bitch?

That’s me! I’m the Copy Bitch. Contact me or visit my YouTube channel and leave a comment on one of my videos. I might make a blog post or video with the answer.