A client said my site felt like a DMV waiting room and now I get it
I run a small landscaping business in Toledo and about four months ago a regular customer, this older guy who owns a few rental units, sat me down after I finished his mulch job. He pulled up my website on his phone and said, and I quote, "this thing makes me feel like I'm waiting in line at the DMV, I can't find your phone number anywhere." I was kinda hurt at first because I paid my nephew $600 to build that page. But he was right. The number was buried at the bottom, the contact form had like nine fields, and the whole site took forever to load on his phone. So I had my nephew strip it down. Phone number at the very top, big and clickable, got rid of the form completely, and cut the page down to one screen. Since I made those changes in March my calls went from maybe 8 a month to 27 last month. Honestly the whole thing taught me that a business site is just a tool to get someone to call you fast, not a brochure. Has anyone else had a customer point out something dumb obvious on their site that you just couldn't see because you looked at it every day?
The "DMV waiting room" line is funny but I'm not so sure one guy's complaint should make you gut your whole site. Nine fields sounds like a lot until you remember some folks hate talking on the phone and would rather type out what they need at 11pm when they're thinking about that dead bush by the driveway. You traded a form that works for night owls for a phone number that only works when you're free to pick up, and that might cost you jobs you never hear about.