The problem with website contact forms
When I built my website louisaguiseauthor.com, I added a contact form on my Message Me page, even though when I browse other websites the contact forms annoy me. Why did I do this? Well, a website contact form looked professional and provided something to fill the page. A couple of years later and bye bye website contact form.
So, why the change of heart? Why did I remove my contact form from my website?
Well, one reason is that having the website contact form led to hundreds of spam messages! Messages that I wasn’t even being alerted to, and I was wasting time deleting. A very tiny proportion of the messages were genuine and actually for me. And this isn’t unique to me, website contract forms are notorious for bringing in the spam.
If I wanted the form to actually alert me to any messages, I’d have to pay even more to upgrade the Wordpress Add On, and why pay when I already have an email address?
Website contact forms can be useful if you want to guide the user to provide certain details, but I don’t, so this use for me is redundant.
It’s 2025, and there are lots of ways to contact me. I’d prefer email for formal communication, but written the right way there’s Twitter, Facebook, Bluesky, Instagram, LinkedIn and more. I can give site visitors more options to get in touch with me AND gain some new followers at the same time.
Contact forms can be an extra chore for the user. It’s easier to copy and paste an email address, into an email that you might already have written and can just resend, then it is to fill out a form.
Sending an email also gives you a paper trail. Most contact forms offer no record of the message sent and you’re relying on the user to get back to you.
What do you think? Do you like or hate website contact forms? Is there one on your website? Comment below, or get in touch.
Louisa Guise is a Digital Marketing and Communications Professional and the author of How to Leave a Group Chat, a book about communication and smartphones which will shortly be available as an audiobook too. Subscribe to All About Digital Marketing for more gems like this.
