I'm navigating in a South African site, and I become
interested in a video collection on wildlife offered by that site. I'm not sure
whether I can buy it with my credit card issued in Uruguay and if they'll send
it here. I read the support questions and I don't find an answer to my question.
I need someone to contact, leave the virtual and lonely Internet world to have
human contact, which is different from what I was doing up to now. What am I
looking for? A link to contact information.
What happens if I can't find it? What happens if that site
doesn't offer me a way to contact the people responsible for such site, the ones
that could help me answer my questions? The answer is: I don't buy the product
and I don't come back to look for products on this site because I already know I
won't be able to solve my problem!
Cases like this one happen very often, not only at sites
that sell products. It also happens at corporate sites, services sites,
extranets, etc. It is common that Internet users look for a contact area to
verify that the published information is true, that the site is not fake and
that it has responsible people behind what they see. The contact area gives
support, credibility and security to the site and its content. It's backing up
the information being published.
The information one expects to find when
clicking on a link to a contact area is:
1. A business telephone number
2. A street address
3. Names of the people to contact in different
areas
4. Contact emails for each area (such as support,
training, sales, etc.)
5. A contact form with a title, contact reason,
explanation field, name, email, contact telephone, etc. This contact form should
send the information without using the user's email client.
Examples of contact forms:
http://www.thetimesherald.com/customerservice/contactus.html
http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form1.html?34
http://www.workingforchange.com/help/contact_topic.cfm
http://www.mysql.com/company/contact/
Nobody expects to open the email client
program at the click of a contact link. Many sites have an email address as a
link on the word "contact." It is important to avoid this because:
1 ? One doesn't expect to open the local email application
when clicking on a link.
2- Users not always have email clients, so this way of
contact will fail.
3- In general, users don't like to have their own
applications manipulated.
4- Possible virus spread from the user's computer is
avoided
5- The only contact option offered to the user is an email
address