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If you’re like most business owners, getting leads online is the main reason you created a website in the first place. It makes sense to seriously consider how you get visitors to contact you. I had a client who questioned whether she should put her telephone on her website, citing privacy issues. Hiding contact information would have defeated the express purpose of her site, which was to get new clients.

By following website conventions – tried and true design strategies -  you ensure that your users find information where they expect it to be, and therefore can move through your site as easily as possible. Don’t make them think. Remember, the less effort, the better.

• Use the words “Contact Us.” It may sound unimaginative, but the phrase works. People don’t read your site — they scan — and they’ve been trained over time to instantly recognize those two words.
• Place contact info and phone number at the top, right corner of the page, where it’s expected. Don’t make your visitors click through your site looking for your contact info – they often won’t
• Make sure your phone number is in live text, not an image. That way, a mobile user can tap the phone number link and launch into a call immediately.  Mobile browsing is expected to eclipse desk top browsing within 2 years.

A visitor is already reluctant to share her personal contact information. Your job is to remove as many obstacles as possible so that she makes the leap.

• Keep contact forms simple. While it may help to ask tens of questions, it can be very intimidating for the user. Ask for as little information as possible and require only that person’s name and email address. If you seek other information, such as phone number and address, make it optional.
• Create one-column form fields for quick contact. It helps to put form labels directly above form fields. Usability studies show that users who filled out these types of forms saved time by only having to move their eyes vertically, not laterally.
• Give visitors a clear action button. Because people read from left to right and top to bottom, place the final action button in the lower-right of the form. Give the button plenty of weight with a standout color.

Trust goes a long way with online clients. People fear that their contact information will get dumped into a huge database that marketers can access at will. By making your contact form unique, fun and reassuring, your user will know there’s a human on the receiving end and, therefore, be more likely to share.

• Have some fun. Nothing eases people’s worries better than good humor. Why not spice up your contact form with some personality? Not only will it give your users a laugh, but it will also make your contact page more human. Consider a witty introduction or quirky photo.
• Make a promise. Tell your users that their information is safe, that you won’t share it with any third party. Place this promise right next to the submit button; that way they’ll experience a nice aftertaste upon opting in.

In his book, The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz comes to an interesting conclusion involving human choice.

“People choose not on the basis of what’s most important, but on what’s easiest to evaluate.”

You would think that if you were given a list of choices, you would choose the one that is most important to you. In reality, humans usually choose the one that is easiest for them to understand and evaluate. Very often we do so because we don’t have the time to put in the research necessary to make an informed decision.

The more choices we have, the more difficult we find it to make any choice at all – and we often give up and choose nothing.

What does this mean for your website?  Keep in mind that your visitor is busy and has hundreds of  decisions to make every day.  Make the decision to learn about what you offer easy. Make your copy straight to the point. Don’t waste your time on graphics, bells or whistles or anything  that doesn’t drive your key points home.