Forum Home
PC World Chat
Thread ID: 128295	2012-12-11 01:26:00	Form to Mail versus email	Digby (677)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1357826	2012-12-11 01:26:00	Any web designers out there? As an amateur marketer etc I get upset with companies that have websites and then don't list their contact details on them. They hide their street address, they hide their postal address, they don't show a phone number. And worst of all they use Form 2 Mail contact forms rather than just giving a simple email address. It is very tedious filling out Form 2 mail forms, and some of them don't even work, so it is very time consuming having to fill in a whole lot of data about yourself just to ask a basic question. I realise that companies may be worried about spam, but surely it is easy to use a simple easy to use captcha feature. And it may be better to get a bit of spam rather than no contacts at all! A case in point is Danske Mobler. On my two websites I try to offer both methods, email and form 2 mail What do you think ?	Digby (677)
1357827	2012-12-11 01:35:00	I agree, any websites i find like that i avoid = no sale.	Gobe1 (6290)
1357828	2012-12-11 02:10:00	Trouble with captcha's - can reduce prospects and conversions, but reduce spam. Many marketers have studied the effects. Case study here. (www.seomoz.org) I have forms for signing up for my article feeds on sites/blogs of mine, but all sales leads are directed to my affilated merchants. I've analysed many of my competitor sites, usually it's B2B branded sites have good contact info (even with staff names) as compared to B2C (consumer) sites. Also you really need trial (a/b split tests) different conversion forms, styles, etc to try yield the best call of action optimization for sign ups, downloads, etc. Even a simple font change/colour can have a effect. Case study here. (searchengineland.com)	kahawai chaser (3545)
1357829	2012-12-11 02:19:00	While I have nothing to do with the company mentioned, Danske Mobler. The comment "They hide their street address, they hide their postal address, they don't show a phone number. " Epic FAIL on your part. If you look in the showroom sections, you find all the address's phone numbers and apart from the Hastings branch, email addresses.	wainuitech (129)
1357830	2012-12-11 02:28:00	While I have nothing to do with the company mentioned, Danske Mobler. The comment "They hide their street address, they hide their postal address, they don't show a phone number. " Epic FAIL on your part. If you look in the showroom sections, you find all the address's phone numbers and apart from the Hastings branch, email addresses. .... but wouldn't you expect to find contact details on a "Contact Us" page? Yes they might provide them elsewhere, but the first place I would look for that info is on the contact page. EDIT: And yes, I usually recommend an obfuscated email address link, rather than a form. Less work for me, less hassle for the end user....	johcar (6283)
1357831	2012-12-11 02:37:00	Yeah I prefer a form for email, but all other contact details should be plainly visible, ideally on every page in the footer even!	Chilling_Silence (9)
1357832	2012-12-11 02:44:00	.... but wouldn't you expect to find contact details on a "Contact Us" page? Yes they might provide them elsewhere, but the first place I would look for that info is on the contact page. EDIT: And yes, I usually recommend an obfuscated email address link, rather than a form. Less work for me, less hassle for the end user .... Simple answer NO ! Reason; if it were a company with maybe 1 or 2 branches then sure, But they dont have that, they have various showrooms all over the country, along with different departments. Many big places have sites laid out like that, you dont see Microsoft with all their contacts in one place. Thats what the form is for - you would find that it would be sent to the main office possibly, then forward on to who ever it needs to be. I looked at the contact us, and yep a form, then instantly looked at the showrooms, where the details were. Its simple -- lots of people want everything done for them these days, as they cant think for themselves -- its called being lazy.	wainuitech (129)
1357833	2012-12-11 03:13:00	Just adding to above since the time ran out -- Look at this forum ( to prove a point) , if you click on "Contact us" you get a form, no contact numbers, no address, in fact nothing that actually even suggests another way to contact, apart from if you click on the link under fairfax, then you start getting somewhere.	wainuitech (129)
1357834	2012-12-11 03:17:00	And worst of all they use Form 2 Mail contact forms rather than just giving a simple email address. I realise that companies may be worried about spam, but surely it is easy to use a simple easy to use captcha feature. And it may be better to get a bit of spam rather than no contacts at all! Yes. The first thing a webhoster will say, if they ring about spam is to use a form instead. I had a guy who didn't. he had 11000 spams and rising when I looked. It took me forever to try and remove them, had to give up and pass it to tier 2 in the end. Forms should, and usually do, work just fine. It also has nothing to do with phone numbers and addresses.	pctek (84)
1357835	2012-12-11 03:25:00	As an amateur marketer etc I get upset with companies that have websites and then don't list their contact details on them. They hide their street address, they hide their postal address, they don't show a phone number. And worst of all they use Form 2 Mail contact forms rather than just giving a simple email address. I don't trust sites without proper contact details and as you say they should be on the Contacts page. I myself much prefer ordinary email to a form because it also gives you a record of what has been said.	mikebartnz (21)
1 2 3