While businesses strive hard to increase their online visibility, at the same time they also make it really difficult for customers to contact them. Some classical examples are :

(a) use of long contact forms which force users to follow a strict template that doesn’t address their specific needs with respect to contacting the organisation, and

(b) email ids like info@companyname.com where emails are seldom read.  Still worse is to provide a phone number which never gets answered.

Does this reflect on the callous attitude of businesses or can it be passed off as a norm? In my humble opinion, the attitude reflects indifference towards their customers.

Contact channels, response rates and turnaround times should be governed by stringent KPIs. Without these in place, many of the queries go unanswered and users/customers lose faith in the brand. This could have a severe impact on the user experience.

Photo credit – ihasahotdog.com

If you have a product/services/corporate website, there are a few key things to watch out for:

1. Contact options listed should be responsive – Under the pretext of encouraging users to use the website, some organizations do not list contact numbers upfront or through direct means. They use a contact form or email option. We have been witnessing this trend especially with a few ecommerce websites. Understandable that maintaining a 24X7 call centre might be out of the budget for small to midsized organizations. In those cases, the contact forms or email option should be extremely responsive. Any lapse could mean loss of credibility and therefore loss of a business opportunity.

2. Keep the contact form short and simple – Long forms are discouraging. So keep it short, simple and to the point. Extract minimal (mandatory) information from the users. Templates are great to divert or route queries to the appropriate departments. But ensure all query types are covered and also provide an ‘others’ option to widen the range.

3. Promote self help options but not at the cost of user’s time – FAQs are great information resources. When provided in conjunction with contact us option, users tend to use this more effectively. But there are few times, when users do not have the time to go through the FAQs in detail. In such situations, users should have access to contact details quickly and not have to go through the hassle of looking through the website to find this information.

Irrespective of the nature of contact channel, the key performance indicators (KPI) should be defined and adhered to at all times.  Different organizations favor different communication channels. Depending upon the channel of choice, guidelines should be defined. For instance: if email is the preferred choice, have an auto generated email acknowledging the receipt of the query and also clearly outlining the timeline within which the user can expect to hear back from the organization. Besides the above mentioned points, provide an alternative option if the user has an urgent query to be processed. Also, be conscious of the timeline provided to the user and provide a response within the time frame. In case of any delays, communicate the message to the user. This will help in addressing user anxiety and avoid scenarios where they send repeated requests.

Mapping applications are a great way to present your contact information, particularly when your company has multiple stores or locations. However, if executed poorly they can actually add to the difficulty of you customers finding your stores. The following are some important design considerations when presenting information with a map.

Take care when starting on a map at the country level as the only way to find locations. Maps like the one below typically rely on visitors zooming and panning controls of that particular mapping application, something not all users are familiar with. Forcing visitors to use the map to drill-down from a country to suburb level can also be time consuming and error prone. When testing the example below, participants who were experienced with using online maps took an average of 19 mouse movements to locate the South Melbourne store.

Users like to be given options so they can choose a means of interaction that suits them best. Some users prefer drilling down using a map, others do not. Displaying alternatives to the map, such as a postcode search or state selection, allows users to choose the option that best meets their needs.

Below is a good example where users are given flexible choices in locating their nearest store. They can enter their postcode for an exact match, drill-down by state or interact with the map. The state selector still gives users an overview of locations, but eliminates extensive zooming on the map from the country level.

As with all features of your site; design your mapping feature so that the user can use it as they wish. Offering multiple ways to interact with the feature means users will be able to find one that best suits them.