FAQ Pages | Convert Your Customers
Following on with our mini-series Jobs You Can Do While In Lockdown, we wanted to focus on one of the most important page types you can include on your website.
FAQ pages are often overlooked and ignored in favour of more aesthetically pleasing choices such as portfolios and blogs. However, they are a fundamental part of any website, particularly when it comes to customer experience, as well as being vital for good search engine optimisation.
What Is An FAQ Page?
An FAQ page stands for frequently asked questions. Generally, it can be summed up as an organised collection of valuable information for your client.
Often, an FAQ page will answer general questions that customers are always asking, as well as going into detail about things that may help the client have a better experience with your business. For example, if you are a family photographer, you may want to include information about how to book a session, pricing, deposits etc. However, you may also want to give information about what to wear to their session, the best locations for family photoshoots…the list goes on.
Why Is An FAQ Page Important?
An FAQ page is fundamental if you want to increase the visibility of your site, establish your business as an authority in your industry and increase client conversions.
However, there are five main reasons why an FAQ page is an important part of any website.
It Addresses Visitor’s Needs
An FAQ page answers customer questions about the various products and services you offer. The idea is that your FAQ page answers any question or potential objection a customer might have before they even think of it. This increases sales as customers know everything they need to know from the beginning.
It Establishes You As An Expert
An FAQ page gives you the opportunity to tell your clients anything and everything they could need to know about your industry. This cements you and your business as an authority in your field.
As with anything, a customer is more likely to trust and invest in a business that they feel is an expert. Therefore, answering frequently asked questions helps you convert passing visitors into invested clients for your business.
It Helps Improve Sales
It’s proven that an FAQ page helps to convert visitors into customers. This is the aim of any business.
However, it’s important than any FAQ page is tailored to your potential customer. It needs to tell them what they really want to know about your business as well as your industry. Sharing general miscellaeaous information isn’t going to help them. It needs to be detailed, thought through and relevant.
Also, it is a prime opportunity for you to link to other pages on your website. For example pages with more information about your services, products or contact details. This also gives a better client experience, which is always a plus!
It Can Boost Your SEO
Frequently asked questions help search engines, like Google, understand what your business is about. And the more Google knows about your business, the better chance you have of appearing high up in the search engines.
An FAQ page also gives you the opportunity to publish useful information and content, without overloading or affecting the aesthetic appeal of other pages on your website.
Additionally, your frequently asked questions are a great place to add vital keywords to your website in a logical way, without appearing “spammy”. This is one of the best search engine optimisation practices.
Of course, the more specific and tailored your questions and answers are to your potential customer base and industry, the better you will appear to search engines. So bare that in mind!
It Saves You Time
An FAQ page can save you time and stress in three ways.
Firstly, whatever industry you specialise in or business you may run, there will always be questions that pop up time and time again amongst your customer base. These questions take up an enormous amount of your time and effort.
However, if you have an FAQ page your customers can find out all the answers themselves, without having to ask you. This is easier for you and easier for them.
Secondly, we all want to know certain pieces of information about a company before we invest in them. Mainly, the biggest question of them all, what’s it going to cost me? However, many business owners don’t like to discuss money and many customers don’t feel comfortable actually asking.
An FAQ page takes away the awkwardness and removes the middle man. Any nitty-gritty piece of information can be popped on your FAQ page so a customer can easily find it. And better yet, there’s no need to discuss it!
Finally, we have all invested in potential customers that for one reason or another have decided to take their business elsewhere. Maybe they discovered they don’t want what you’re offering, perhaps you were priced higher than expected or maybe they had different expectations of your service. This can be very disheartening and a big time waster.
An FAQ page gives you the opportunity of taking away any confusion a customer might have about your business. You can clearly state all the information a potential customer might need to know, right there in black and white. For example, information about pricing, photographic style, your services, products you offer and even your client expectations.
It really is a win-win all round.
How Can I Set Up An FAQ Page?
It’s really easy to set up an FAQ page, also called an accordion page, in your imagefile account. Not only can you add as much information as you want but you can also customise the appearance of the page to use your brand colours, fonts etc. This means your frequently asked questions page isn’t only functional but beautiful.
Top Tips
- Not sure what to include on your FAQ page? Start by making a list of any questions that constantly pop up in conversation with clients. These could be anything from which bus route is best to get to your studio to where you would recommend for an outdoor engagement session.
- Make sure that the information you include on your FAQ page is detailed and clear. The more information you can give the better informed your customers will be. Plus the better your website will look to search engines!
- You can add images to your FAQ page if needed. So if any of your questions would benefit from a visual aid, make sure you add it in there.
- Make sure that you link to any other relevant pages on your website. This will not only help the customer find out more information about your business but also make the client experience more enjoyable. After all, no one likes hunting for information.
- Don’t hide your FAQ page. It’s quite common for businesses to stick their frequently asked questions in their website footer or as a link in a page within a page. This isn’t going to help your customers. If they can’t find out the information for themselves, quickly and easily, they are going to get in contact with you and ask the same questions again. So make it obvious!
- Remember that your FAQ page is never “finished”. It’s key that you continue to add any questions that start to pop up regularly in conversation with clients if you want to keep your FAQ page relevant and up to date.
- Now, I know we all have the best intentions, but don’t kid yourself that you will remember all the questions you get asked by clients because you won’t. We recommend keeping a note of any frequently asked questions on your phone or in a document somewhere so that when you come to update your FAQ page it’s quick and easy.