If someone is interested in finding out more about your business, they do not have to swing by your office, drop something in the mail or pick up the phone any more. All it takes is filling out an online form to get the ball rolling on a potential business relationship. Contact forms have the ability to reach the interested people on your business by just a single click of button. It is one of the great things about having a business website. Many businesses feature contact forms on their websites to generate new business opportunities and to capture leads.

For many companies, the economy has really caused slumping sales. Some are responding by stepping up their sales efforts and the most intelligent companies are improving their web sites to generate more leads. Companies typically have a single contact link or button at the top of their websites. But why readers hunt for a place to contact you? By putting a short simple lead generation form beside or bottom of your web pages, you are giving people an easy way to make contact. If you have visited a lot of websites, at some point you likely saw a site that had a contact form is just a series of questions filled out by your visitor that is sent to your email when it is filled out. Here are some benefits of having a contact form in your website.

Reduce Spam
Since contact forms are handled sever side and your email address is not readily available spammers cannot harvest it as easily and this is much safer then using a mailto: tag.

Helps to get more Information
You can learn more about your visitors than just his or her email address, if you have to fill out their name, address, phone number, and other information, you can follow up the lead more effectively.

More Secure
Generally, data submitted via contact form is better encrypted than messages sent with an email. This benefits users who may feel the need to provide sensitive information in their electronic communications.

Customer can communicate at any time
A phone number on your site may only be answered during business hours. If someone wants to contact you at night or on the weekend, a contact form lets them to do that.

Consistency
Since all the information is provided to you the same way, the emails from the contact form are consistent and can help you stay organized. When the contact form is used for every response you get will be the same, which will make it easier to read and understand.

Easily Customizable
Creating a contact form that collects only the information you need is much preferred to having a wade through a long email to find out why the person communicated with you.

Easy to Analyze
Contact form data can be routed directly to your CRM system. This can lead to more effective lead generation and better customer sales service by the sales.

Mobile Friendly
Imagine trying to type out an email on a smart phone or even a tablet. Filling out the contact form lessens that burden for the user.

Multi-functionality
You can encourage users to sign up for your monthly virtual newsletter. Ask a question, submit a donation or download content. Whatever you want people to do, a customized contact form can enable them to do it more easily.

Instant Gratification for User
Many people dread phoning a company or organization to address an issue. But sending a contact form with question, problem or request allow then to be heard without being stuck on the telephone for an identity period of time.

Expedited Processes
Do you want people to make an appointment with your company? Put a calendar function on the contact form. Are you trying to reach out to Facebook friends? Put a contact form on your page, you can even implement live chat via your contact form for immediate one-on-one communication with each user.

Proactive Messaging
If you like, you can configure your contact form so that it appears whenever a certain page is visited. Or a user tries to exit the site. Or certain amount of time passes while the user is browsing the site.

Analytics
A useful contact form lets you peruse data about who fills out each contact form, where they might be located, and what assistance they are seeking. Then you can tweak your site or business accordingly to improve your chances of being successful.

Well designed website contact forms deliver new prospects and repeat customers to your business. They save your time and money, providing convenient email communication with your prospects and customers. Contact form are most effective if designed to meet your business needs. Some business need single form, other may benefit from having more than one form.