How to Create a Contact Page in 5 Easy Steps
Knowing how to create a contact page is critical for a brand’s website when 62% of users want to access contact information the instant they get to a brand’s site. Contact pages allow users to reach and give websites and brands information and feedback on what and how they are doing. Users can also ask for information or other help through contact pages as well. There are five parts in how to create a contact page:
- Decide whether you are going to code it or Use a Plugin.
- Pick a plugin or write the code yourself.
- Add Instructions and other text above and below the Form.
- Publish the page.
- Add it to menus and Buttons.
Why Have a Contact Page on Your Site
What Contact Pages do
Contact pages contain a contact form that users fill out to communicate with a brand or company. Users expect a way to contact a brand, usually done via a contact page; users (and search engines like Google) distrust websites that don’t have one. Putting your email address instead can also work, but it looks sketchy and you will get more spam this way.
Users do like talking to real humans so having an online chat ability special to the website is preferred for customer service and other help. However, an online chat has to be managed in real time 24/7 either by a human (expensive) or a bot (annoying to customers). I recommend having a contact page as a start and get into the online chat if you have that many confused customers and your brand/company is that big that you can justify the expense.
Benefits of Having a Contact Page
Benefits of having a contact page include:
- Getting feedback on user experience.
- Finding common pain points.
- Identifying frequently asked questions.
- Discover bugs in the rest of the website.
How to Create a Contact Page
1. Decide Whether You are Going to Code it or Use a Plugin
The first part of how to create a contact page is you need to decide if you are going to make the contact form by hand (this involves a bit of coding) or by using a plugin to do that for you. The main things to keep in mind are that using your own code means you can better customize what the form requires and what is optional, and that plugins need updating every so often while you can decide for yourself how you update your code. I typically use a plugin, but the choice is yours.
2a. If you’re Writing the Form’s Coding
The next part of how to create a contact page is putting together the form. If you are writing the code yourself, expect it to look something like this:
<label> Your name
[text* your-name] </label>
<label> Your email
[email* your-email] </label>
<label> Subject
[text* your-subject] </label>
<label> Your message (optional)
[textarea your-message] </label>
[acceptance acceptance-120] By using this form you agree with the storage and handling of your data by this website. [/acceptance]
[submit “Submit”]
100forms has a free example if you just want to use an existing form without messing around (or if coding just isn’t your thing).
2b. Plugins that Work
If you just want to use a plugin to make the form for you, there are a few to choose from. Here are a few for WordPress:
- Contact Form 7 (this is the one I use)
- WPForms
- Hubspot Forms
- Ninja Forms
- Gravity Forms
- Formidable Forms
3. Add Instructions and Other Text Above and Below the Form
Never assume that users know what a contact form is or how to use it. It doesn’t have to be long, but you should add some text above the form to indicate what it is and brief instructions on how to use them: ‘We want to hear from you. Fill out the form below to tell us how we are doing!’ If you have other methods for users for contacting you, either include them above or below the form.
4. Publish the Page
This step of how to create a contact page is simple. Make the page available to your users to access. Make sure that the email that the contact form goes to is checked regularly. Also, make sure that the page has a locked padlock to the left of the URL; this means it’s secure. You might want to add a plugin like CleanTalk to reduce the number of bot and spam messages you get.
5. Add it to Menus and Buttons
The last part of how to create a contact page is to add links to it in menus and other pages through buttons and links. Menus are like salt; use enough that you can tell that they are there but not so much that it overwhelms everything around them (and the customer as well).
Place the main menu at the top of the site, and make sure it is on just about every page. Place a footer menu at the bottom of the site; this should have either less options than the main menu or many more options, containing less used pages. It largely depends on the size of the website. The contact page should be on both menus unless there are too many pages on the header menu; then just put it in the footer menu.
Buttons and links help website and app designers guide users from page to page, leading them through the site. Buttons can be designed a number of ways, but are usually a different color than the background and circle or oval shape. Buttons can be personalized further to give them a unique feel to make the website design more personalized for the brand. Add buttons and links to your contact page on your home page, about page, and any other page that it seems logical for users to want to go to the contact page from the current page.
Summary
Contact pages allow users to reach and give websites and brands information and feedback on what and how they are doing. Users can also ask for information or other help through contact pages as well. There are five parts in how to create a contact page:
- Decide whether you are going to code it or Use a Plugin.
- Pick a plugin or write the code yourself.
- Add Instructions and other text above and below the Form.
- Publish the page.
- Add it to menus and Buttons.
