Get your contact and location page right

How to increase productivity and save money by including useful information for visitors on your company website contact and location pages

If you think contact us or location pages might be the ones you think you can put the least effort into, it’s time to think again.

It is not a simple case of having your contact details and a map.

The people that visit these pages may need more than your office address or a map – depending on their own personal needs.

But…

People can phone for directions

You can save a lot of man hours on an annual basis by directing people to a link with lots of contact/location/travel and transport information. That’s less calls for everybody from reception to management.

We don’t want unannounced visitors

That’s okay, don’t include a map. You still have a legal requirement to include

• the place of registration of the company and the number with which it is registered
• the address of the registered office of the company

Include the wording “strictly by appointment only” on your website. Or invest in a buzzer and waiting area.

We have multiple entrances

This is your opportunity to increase productivity of meeting time and reduce confusion amongst visitors and people they are meeting.

Include public transport, parking and access details for all your entrances.

We are difficult to find

We’re hard to find, so give us a call when you arrive onto the street. Some people are better at reading directions than listening to them. Give them the opportunity to arrive on time without phoning.

Parking is tricky

Is there on-street parking? What’s the cost and what’s the limitations? Is there a company car park? Do visitor spaces need to be booked in advance? Is there a nearby car park with all-day rates? Helping people park can reduce stress, nevermind about clamping fees.

All visitors must sign in at reception

Are you a large corporation with tight security and a strict visitor sign in process? Include details on your website – if it takes 5 minutes to sign up and be issued with a visitor tag, say so, this may prompt people to arrive earlier and for meetings to begin on time.

Deliveries has a separate entrance

Give them details about this entrance then.

Overload

Too much to think about? Here’s a simply way of making a start on a decent contact/location page:

• Who would want to know where you are?
• What do they know?
• What verbal directions do people generally have to give on the phone or in an email?

Postbox and outside of office hours deliveries

Is there anywhere to leave a package outside of office hours?

No? You could have saved me a two-hour journey if you had those details on your website.

Easy assumptions to make

Everybody has a smart phone

Not everybody has a smart phone. Some people will forget theirs, or the battery will die.

Everybody has 3G/4G/mobile internet coverage in this area

There is a specific area of Wexford town I cannot get 3G coverage in with my phone provider

Everybody has Google Maps

Lots of people never think to get to a place on foot or by car

Everybody has a good sense of direction

North, south, east, west. Seriously, many people have no concept. And as for to the left or right. Make sure you include indicators such as your left and their right. E.g. with your back to Spar, we are to the left or facing Spar, we are to the right.

Your Google Maps location is correct

Check it is correct – or indeed that you do have a presence on various online maps.

Everybody is driving from the same place

You know that driving from Dublin paragraph? Not everybody driving from Dublin may realise they are on the main road from Dublin to your office, if they joined the motorway enroute or travelled cross country. Mention the main road/motorway name here to help.

How does your contact us/location page size up for your business?