A form makes customers wait. Most won't.
Why aren't people filling in the contact form on my website?
Most trade websites end the same way: a box asking for your name, email, phone number and "a brief description of the work." Then a button that says Send. Then nothing, for however long it takes someone to read it.
To you, that form is how enquiries come in. To the customer, it's a fence.
What the customer is actually thinking
Someone with a leaking roof, a dead boiler or a lock they can't get past isn't in the mood to write their life story into a box. They've got questions first:
- Do you even cover my area?
- Is this something you do?
- Roughly how does pricing work?
- How soon could someone come out?
A form can't answer any of them. So they're being asked to hand over their details before they know if you're the right person, and then wait to find out. Plenty of people won't. They go back and try the next website, looking for one that tells them something.
Nobody fills in a form to say "I'm going elsewhere." They just leave.
A voice is a gate
A fence keeps people out until you let them in. A gate lets them straight through.
On a Talking Website, the customer taps one button and talks, the same way they'd talk to you if you picked up. They ask the questions they actually have. They get straight answers about your business. Once their questions are answered, your agent books them in, straight into your diary. No box, no waiting, no wondering.
Hear the difference
Talk to Ollie, and see how it feels to be the customer on the other side of the gate.