Feedback Mechanism

The feedback mechanism is usually implemented by using web forms and placing company e-mails and phone numbers on a contact page. In most cases it's more convenient for visitors to initiate a contact via a feedback form as it provides a number of predefined fields that can be filled out quickly.

Designing an effective feedback form is a rather complicated task which requires a detailed analysis of navigation paths and a lot of experiments with the interface. The number and arrangement of the fields, their color scheme, plus presence of various elements and even the name of the Web form – all affect the number of submitted forms. For example, a gaudy design, an abundant number of links to other site sections, and too many pictures distract the visitor from filling out the form and increase the number of exits from the page. The forms and fields which are too small, or a superfluous number of form fields also reduce the efficiency of the feedback mechanism.

To avoid the distortion of information, such as misprints in e-mails, it's useful to perform data validation on the client's side. Additional data validation on the server side allows to cut off a major amount of spam generated by robots. Make sure that the validation procedure on the server side is not stricter than the one on the client side, otherwise some forms may be lost.

As more users have been installing Windows XP SP2, more new problems with pop-ups and cookies have evolved. The first problem is that pop-up windows are simply blocked by the browser without notifications. The second problem is that the site that relies on cookies will not work for users whose browser doesn't accept cookies. According to our estimates, the number of browsers that don't accept cookie has grown from 2% to 27% within the first quarter of 2005 and has been continuing to grow.

It is useful to attach some technical information to each submitted form. This information includes the visitor's IP, geographic location, a site the visitor came from and a detailed path of his browsing through the site. The navigation path allows to make assumptions about the visitor's intentions and the kind of information about the company he already possesses. The visitor's geographic location helps to decide which company representative should follow up with the contact. Additionally, this technical information allows to filter spam and to save valuable time of the sales manager.