Contact forms on a web site are a horror. There are a host of reasons, but the worst is when they simply get ignored.
Imagine if you phone a company, leave a message, and simply never get a call back. Or you got a live person and asked a question, and they put you on hold and never returned. Or just never answered the phone in the first place. Or you walked in and talked to someone at the counter and they told you to “have a seat” and walked away and never came back. Or you walk into a restaurant and stand next to the “Please Wait to be Seated” sign and nobody ever shows up. Would you do business with such a company? Could you?
Over and over, I’ve used web sites’ contact forms, got a confirmation that my message was sent, and never heard a thing back. Before you say “spam folder,” know that I run my own mail server so I know whenever anyone even tries to send me mail, whether it gets rejected by a spam filter or an error occurs. The reality is that companies are just completely and utterly ignoring attempts by their customers to do business with them.
I’m pretty sure I know how this happens. A company hires a “web designer.” The so-called professional advises them not to put their email address on their web site “because, spam.” As though a web form will stop spam. News flash! If you care about hearing from your customers, you’re going to hear from spammers. But the web form gets on the site instead of an email address because the web designer feels that it’s oh-so-cool. Already they’re sending the message to potential customers that “we don’t actually want to hear from you.” Then something breaks, and if anyone notices at all, it’s just that they’re not getting those pesky form notifications anymore. There might not even be anyone who has a clue how to fix things, or even how to take the form off the site.
Now, any halfway decent manager or owner of a company that does business with the public occasionally walks in the front door, or calls the reception desk, or does something to make sure that things aren’t a complete mess. Apparently, though, the higher ups at most companies never visit their web site (particularly with a slow internet connection) and try to get things done. It simply isn’t important to any of them that customers be able to reach them via the internet. They’d never admit it, but actions speak louder…
—2p