I remember one of my favorite web designers explaining to me why her business phone number was splattered visibly all over her web site. I thought it looked a little silly. She said she took no chances that her visitors would:
A. Not find it
B. Have some stupid excuse for not using it.
She was VERY customer service oriented and it showed.
Phone numbers are tricky things. If you work from home, and your product or service is International, this could present some thought to time zones and privacy. I don't list my phone number because I won't answer it if I'm testing a site. (Unless its family of course, and they run the risk that I'll be non-conversational and snippy.)
Anyway, I hypocritcally insist to all ecommerce site owners to make sure their customer service phone number is visible and accessible from every page, and especially on product pages, contact, orders forms, RFQ's etc.
It's a courtesy. It's also a sign of credibility. However, its not total proof of customer service. Whatever you may think about phone numbers on web sites, I thought this story was a good illustration of what can happen, or not.
The author writes, "I always recommend to clients that they put their phone number prominently on every page of their ecommerce sites. I believe it re-assures customers that if they have a problem, the customer can talk to someone.
I just proved to myself that it was the right advice for the wrong reason.">
To User Persona or Not to User Persona...What is a User Persona?
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