Contact Forms vs Email Links
Some bloggers offer a contact form (where you enter your contact information and the contact form gets sent to the author), and some bloggers offer their email address, so you can email them directly. So which contact method is better? That’s what we’ll look at.
Email to Contact
I used to think this method was time consuming (clicking the icon, entering contact information and details, etc.), but now I like this contact method better, because it feels more like you’re contacting the author personally, rather than through a form.
Some things to watch out for with emails to contact:
- You are giving readers permission to email you anything once you give out your email.
- Beware of spam. It may be a good idea to get some spam guard for your email account.
- Some readers sign you up for programs, as their affiliate. (So once you click a link in the email, they earn money off you.) Watch out.
- A lot of readers are lazy. Some people don’t have their email as an icon on their desktop, so it might take a while for them to open their email account.
Things to keep in mind:
- Make sure your email address is okay for your audience. An email address like 12345ilikeicecream@yourdomain.com wouldn’t make you look very good. A simple email address like yourname@yourdomain.com would do it.
Contact Forms for Contact
This way of contacting authors is more convenient, but when I see those forms on blogs, it feels like the author thinking readers are incapable of emailing or readers aren’t “trusted” with their email.
Things to watch out for:
- Some forms go through errors. Not all contact forms are accurate; be sure to test your form before asking your readers to contact via forms.
- Forms may be read by a third party. Depending on which contact form processor you use, they may be read by a third party.
Things to keep in mind:
- Make it visible, so readers do not have to search for the contact form.
- Some readers are lazy; provide an easy way for them to contact you. (e.g. no spam prevention words, terms to agree with before contacting, terms to read before contacting, etc.)
You can choose your contact method based on these factors. Which one do you prefer?
Arbitration in San Diego, with experts at Allen Barron. The motto is, New Thinking, New Results.
July 1st, 2007 at 2:28 am
Hi Grace, I prefer contact forms. The thing about using an email address is that it can easily be picked up by spam harvesters — bots scouring the Web for addresses to be used for spam. True, it’s very easy to just click on that link to be taken to your favorite email client, but there’s just too much risk. I get enough spam anyway just by spammers guessing at my email address (I never post my email anywhere).
Forms, on the other hand, help protect one’s email address, and this is the reason I’ve chosen this method on my blogs. It’s not that I don’t trust my readers with my email, it’s because I don’t trust spammers with it. :) And the only way to distinguish who is sending me something is if I have a challenge for a human reader to respond to like asking a question, “Is fire hot or cold?” or some easy math question. Something that tells the form that a human is most likely the one doing the send rather than automated bots.
July 1st, 2007 at 9:31 am
Contact forms for me too. I have had trouble with spam harvesters and get a fair amount of spam a day. There’s a few wordpress plugins specifically for putting up contact forms, and they’re pretty good.
July 1st, 2007 at 3:34 pm
[…] Contact Forms vs Email Links(Grace) - Grace from Neonscent.com has an interesting post comparing and weighing the options of using a contact form vs. a regular e-mail link. […]
July 1st, 2007 at 4:02 pm
[…] - Contact Forms VS Email Links I used to think this method was time consuming (clicking the icon, entering contact information and […]
July 1st, 2007 at 4:39 pm
Mark- Spam is something I’ve been thinking about. I’m might just switch to contact forms.
Rhys- Would you mind sharing some of those plugins? :)
July 1st, 2007 at 4:44 pm
The one I use is Form Mailer. It’s a bit tricky to set up, but very handy if you want multiple contact forms and customising.
http://www.dagondesign.com/articles/secure-form-mailer-plugin-for-wordpress/
July 1st, 2007 at 4:45 pm
I’m with Contact Form. I used to share email previously, rather than getting feedback I received lot of spam :-)
You can try out cForms, if you’re with WordPress.. it is my personal favorite.
July 1st, 2007 at 6:05 pm
Rhys & Benedict- Thanks for the recommendations, guys. I’ll keep those form processors in mind. :)
July 1st, 2007 at 6:48 pm
Here’s one that I use: http://green-beast.com/blog/?page_id=136
It has a lot of features available to you including themes.
July 1st, 2007 at 11:29 pm
I’m using contact form in my blog because is less prone to spam. However, it’s recommended not to write your email in your site but to place an image containing the email instead.
July 2nd, 2007 at 1:12 am
@nongeek, That might reduce you email address getting spamed. Also you and try Java Script version.
@grace, didn’t you miss to give a warm welcome for me? ;-)
July 2nd, 2007 at 3:04 am
nongeek- GMail has that service. It does prevent a little spam, though not all. I was wondering about that GMail images.
Benedict- Aww I’m sorry about that. :D A (belated) warm welcome to Benedict! (dun dun dun!) :)
July 2nd, 2007 at 3:31 am
Mark- Thanks for the recommendation! I’m getting so much recommendations, I might just make a post about it. (After my Monday Links post, of course. :D)
July 2nd, 2007 at 5:20 am
The biggest problem with giving Email, I think is the problem of spamming. I personally use contact form.
July 2nd, 2007 at 12:28 pm
Grace- hurray…!!! it’s party time :-)
July 2nd, 2007 at 6:06 pm
Nirmal- I think that’s the main reason people use contact forms. :D
Benedict- Oh goody goody gosh! (remember that from Carebears? :D)
July 2nd, 2007 at 6:18 pm
Grace - I’m recognizing the lovely hugs :P
I salute you.
July 2nd, 2007 at 6:55 pm
I also use the form mentioned previously. Easy to install and has given me no problems at all.
July 2nd, 2007 at 7:10 pm
I definitely prefer to e-mail variety :P (I can’t code PHP, and I’d thoroughly mess up a contact send thing :P)
July 3rd, 2007 at 4:14 am
Hi Emsz, if I may suggest, you might be interested in taking a look at Contactify. I’m not associated with it, but it is something that I’ve reviewed before. It’s as simple as adding a link to your blog - no forms or coding to worry with. When your readers click on that link they’ll be taken to an online form where their message will go straight to your email inbox. I hope this helps. :)
July 3rd, 2007 at 1:53 pm
Now there are sites offering to setup instant contact forms which you can place on your site with some copy pasting.. e mail links is certainly not advisable. Even emails in images are decoded by advanced spambots now a days
July 6th, 2007 at 8:23 pm
Thanks Mark, but with the help of a tutorial I already coded (that is to say copy and pasted with explanation) a contact form. Thanks for the link though :)
July 14th, 2007 at 7:11 am
I too prefer contact form over email. Main reason being spam as everybody above has stated.
“it feels like the author thinking readers are incapable of emailing or readers aren’t “trusted” with their email.”
I feel, it’s not about trust.. Its about giving a simple way to contact you.. and protecting yourself. And about giving your readers your email, they’ll automatically get it when you reply them..
July 14th, 2007 at 9:13 pm
[…] Contact Forms vs Email Links Anyone who owns a blog (or a website for that matter) has to make this decision. How should people contact you? By looking at my site you notice that I don’t have either yet. That is because I was torn on the issue myself. I will probably implement one of the two soon in order to give all of you people a chance to contact me directly. This article comes from NeonScent. […]
July 31st, 2007 at 12:19 pm
I blogged on this topic earlier today (http://seanreiser.com/node/114). Basically as a user I want to be able to archive my email and contact forms don’t let me do that like email, so I extend this same courtesy to my users.
July 31st, 2007 at 12:56 pm
Sean- My friends and readers recently convinced me to switch to contact forms for first-time contacts; replies are done by email so I know that they aren’t spam. I read your article– well done. Thanks for the mention!