Website enquiry forms: let people explain the problem

Choosing a service on a website can mean naming the solution before you've had a chance to explain what's wrong. You might know that enquiries keep getting lost between people, without knowing whether you need different software or a change to the way the work is handled.

On Carbon Black Digital's own enquiry form, you can choose “Not sure — tell me” and answer a plain question: “What's slowing you down right now?”

The form leaves space for that answer. You don't need to arrive with a technical brief.

Give uncertainty somewhere to go

Our form lists the services we provide, including websites and operations portals. Those choices are useful when someone already knows what they need. The unsure option matters for everyone who doesn't.

A business owner could describe having to chase the same details before preparing each quote. That's a hypothetical example, but it's enough to start asking useful questions: which details are missing, who has them, and where does the delay happen?

Requiring that person to choose a software category wouldn't answer any of those questions. It could send the conversation in the wrong direction before anyone has looked at the work.

Explain what sending the form commits someone to

There's a short statement beside our submit button explaining that an enquiry does not start a paid engagement. Scope and fees are agreed first.

That distinction belongs where the decision happens. A person asking for help should be able to tell whether they're starting a conversation or agreeing to pay for something.

Clear wording cannot replace the conversation about scope. It can make the first step less ambiguous.

Ask for enough detail to make a reply useful

We ask which business the enquiry is about and who is getting in touch. An email address is required; a phone number is optional. The problem description is required too. That leaves a way to reply without asking for every possible contact detail.

The open question is useful because it leaves room for the work itself. An enquiry about a website might turn out to involve the handover after a form is submitted. A description of that handover gives us something more specific to discuss than a service name alone.

Check what happens after the click

When we reviewed our own website analytics, the report included form-submit events. We kept those separate from confirmed enquiries: the report alone didn't establish whether a message had reached someone or what happened next.

For your own website, follow a clearly labelled test enquiry through to the inbox or system your team actually uses. Check that its details arrived and that someone knows they're responsible for replying. Also check what the visitor sees when a submission fails.

We haven't measured whether the wording on our form improves conversion. The visible choices are there to inspect, and the delivery check is still a separate job. Start by reading your form as someone who understands their problem but hasn't decided how to solve it.