For sure, at least once in your life you have made use of a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page on a website. So, there is no doubt about how important it is for your online business.
Unfortunately, the FAQ page is commonly forgotten during website construction.
Beyond its obvious function – to provide answers to the questions that are asked the most by customers – a well-thought-out and creative FAQ page could save both you and your customers a lot of time, and most importantly, help to increase your business’ sales.
A well-designed FAQ area is useful for all stages of the customer journey. It can help people who are browsing to understand your offerings, lead consumers that are in the consideration phase to choose your store, or even guide customers who have already bought from you to solve a problem with their order.
Keep in mind that e-commerce business is all about trust. If customers question something about your store and cannot find the answer, they probably won’t buy from you.
People need to trust your brand and have confidence about what they will receive so that they can invest their money in your product or service without hesitation.
Your FAQ section could be a nice way to reassure your clients. By demonstrating your expertise and explaining your business model, it is possible to relieve some of the purchasing anxiety that your customer might feel.
A well-structured FAQ page could even help your site’s SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
Ready to take advantage of all of these benefits? Keep reading and learn how.
The uncertainty of one could be the doubt of all
Ideally, your website should be as intuitive as possible. But, questions will always exist. So, investigate what are the frequently asked questions customers have while on your website or about products with the help of your support team.
lso, be sure to read comments and reviews made by customers on your social media pages, they will be a good source of information.
Clickable Questions: This is the most frequently asked questions format, since it makes the content more scannable. The reader can easily identify the information they are looking for and click on it for a more in-depth answer. (SmugMug)
You could also do some benchmarking and become inspired by checking out what your competition has been doing. See what customers ask them and what answers are being provided. This will be the starting point to define which queries are worthy to be included on your own FAQ page.
But, don’t get stuck on this. Put yourself in your clients’ shoes and think about what could be the topics that they may have concerns about, and try to answer those questions.
You could also use this space to highlight some uniques characteristics of your business and what makes you stand out from your competitors. Keep in mind that these questions must focus on relevancy, utility and opportunities.
Keep it simple, welcoming and organized
Once you have written all the questions, you might have a long list of subjects to be answered. Try to segment the queries logically, breaking them into related topics.
By doing this, you make it easier for your website’s visitors to navigate between questions and reach the desired information quickly. They may find some other relevant information that they not even had thought before.
To make your customer’s researching effortless, think about adding a search bar. It could be helpful, since people might phrase the questions in different ways. Example: some people might ask “what are the payment methods accepted?” while others could ask “Can I pay using credit cards?”. Both questions are related with payment methods, but were written in different formats.
Also, try to categorize the subsections in a way that contains a mix of general and specialized questions. But remember, the goal is to simplify the customer’s life. So, be reasonable and don’t exaggerate in the amount of questions.
When you have a huge amount of questions, a search bar could make the life of your site’s visitor easier. (Github)
Although there is no right or wrong way to design the FAQ page, try to be as user-friendly as possible when creating the layout. Drop down menus are good ideas.
You can also be more creative and make use of icons related to the topic, combining them with short titles along with brief descriptions for every section. To distinguish queries from answers, one suggestion is to use different font sizes and colors.
FAQ page design inspiration: organizing your questions by category with noticeable headlines, so customers can easily jump to the section they’re looking for. (Pinterest)
Beyond the basics
To help your customers solve their problem, step-by-step tutorials are always a good idea, especially when complemented with screenshots to exemplify what you are saying.
While writing, try to be as clear as possible, avoiding terms that might be unknown to the reader. Remember to follow the brand guidelines, always using the “brand’s tone”, making it look like you are really talking to them.
Spotify has some interesting and creative example of FAQ pages.
Once you clarify all the users’ doubts, you have a great opportunity to include a call-to-action button. It is possible that your visitors were looking for something to reassure them that they are making the right choice before buying from your store.
So, try to incorporate a link taking them back to an offer related to the topic in order to push the customer back into the buying funnel.
In order to sell to your fullest potential, simply answering the questions of your shoppers is not enough. At your fingertips, you have someone that may be converted. So, don’t lose this unique opportunity and use it in the best way you can.
Help and be helped
Do you remember when I said that your FAQ page could help to improve your SEO? It is true and can be done since Google started to show more “rich answers” directly within search results. Once that FAQ pages’ structure is based on question and answer, they are a natural fit for targeting keywords. Some good practices could help you to transform your regular FAQ page into rich answers.
Maybe you are unfamiliar with this term, but, for sure, you know the concept. It consist of any attempt by Google to provide direct responses or snippets of information to the searcher’s query in a way that not requires a click through to a website.
Rich answers could affect your ranking; since the Google’s rich answer box are being considered the “position zero” on Google’s search results. See next how to get your content indexed as rich answer:
– Find the right questions: start by making a list of common topics you customers ask about. To uncover long tails keywords and specific phrases, make use of keyword research tools like Ubersuggest, Keyword Tool, and Google AdWords Keyword Planner.
Provide perfect answers: differently from the questions, the answers must be as simple and direct as possible. Create concise and relevant content.
– Add supplemental information: support your content with relevant images and further resources to hold the users’ attention and making them to spend more time on your site.
– Enhance User Experience: make sure that your content is both mobile and desktop friendly, so users could have a great experience on your website.- Use micro-formatting techniques: searching engines may give preference to clear schema markup, since it makes easier to find the information.
Of course that will give you some extra work, but believe me, it will be worthwhile. People might be searching on Google about subjects related to your business, but not directly to your brand, but even so, your page may appear on Google’s results.
An FAQ page is filled with SEO opportunities if used the right way. (Image from: Shivar Web)
Clients still in doubt?
From time to time, try to include answers for all the possible queries that someone might have, keeping your FAQ page constantly updated. But sometimes a query might not be answered so you can make use of Community Forums or Support Team features.
– ForumsCommunity Forums are a great idea to help your clients to find the answers that weren’t on your FAQs list. Since much of the content was done by another client, it might be easier for the reader to understand the information.
– Support TeamIf the visitors have not yet found the answer to their question within your FAQ, create an easily accessible question form or keep a contact phone or an email address as visible as possible, so they can speak with your company directly.
It is always a benefit to clarify any possible questions that your client may have, either through a FAQ page or others channels. (Amazon)
Placing it right
After all this hard work, your FAQ page has to be easily found by visitors. Depending on the nature of the business, there are a few places to put your FAQ.
The first logical option is to place it on your main navigation menu, but sometimes it can be placed inside the “about us” tab.
Some e-commerce stores also includes the FAQ page right below product descriptions, since some questions often pop up when customers are on their way through the purchasing process.
The placement location should be strategic based on what suits your business best.
As you could see, if well used, the frequently asked questions page can be more than just a location for information. Stop losing clients and sales due to an badly structured FAQ page and start implementing these ideas on your website right now.
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