The ubiquitous contact us form. This was my introduction to web development, and something that is a part of almost every single web application. Developing a contact us form is a task almost every web developer has had to tackle. The contact us form is so common, because it embodies the fundamental purpose of the web: Communication. One question I ask myself is “Why are contact us forms so different?”, I think this is because many companies, and organization want to customize the communication experience. A custom contact us form reflects who the organization is, and how they communicate.
To delve into the idea further, you can ascertain a lot of knowledge based on the presence or absence of a contact us forms, how you navigate to the form, and what it looks like. The contact us form can also communicate information such as organizational structure, culture, titles, naming conventions, and company jargon. Many times the form is going to emulate communicating with company over the phone, or in person.
If we look into the history of sending emails via web pages. Many times in the earlier days of the web many companies would just post a mailing address, and maybe a phone number if anything. Then this graduated to maybe including an email link, and if the webmaster knew enough the email address would be hot linked with the mailto: attribute. The whole evolution finally it all culminated with the modern contact us form where users would just enter a message, and were able to submit the form directly from the companies web page.
The modern contact us form comes in many varities, but still do the same thing as the original contact us forms. Custom things you will see is fields custom to products or services a company offers, custom geographical or census type information, or areas to select which person or department receives the email.
AT&T Complex Contact Us Navigation
When desiging a contact us form the developer must first understand the organization that they are working with. The need to understand what information they require, how they communicate, who does the communicating.
Some organizations want the users to be able send an email directly to certain individuals, and some want all communication to be funneled through one location and be dissemenated through the chain. Many organizations like to divide communication into functional areas such as sales, support, marketing, and employment. Some organizations prioritize the contact us section of their sites, while others it is an after thought. Whatever the organization style they probably have opinions on how it should be done.
The contact us form may seem like a simple endevour, but many times buisness requirements may conflict with good design, and functionality. The form may have 20 fields, and the requirements state that every field is required, my guess is many times this form will be abandoned, or on the other end of the spectrum requiring to little information may lead to messages that say “I am interested in buying” and no contact information. Make the contact form to difficult to find, and you will never get any messages at all.
The contact us form is integral part of many company websites. Understanding how a company works, and how it communicates will lead to many cues on how to design a contact us form. The contact us form is just as important as designing how a company handles standard communication. If the user has a bad experience communicating with a company electronically, it can be just as bad as having a bad experience on the phone, and a good experience ensures there are no roadblocks between you and your users.
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Links
For Contact Form Design Ideas
Smashing Magazine Web Form Design
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