Stop thinking about Frequently Asked Questions as a one-way street!
Yes, it’s essential to have this section on any business website. That’s because it allows visitors to learn about your business on their own terms. They can find solutions to common problems and pursue self-help before they reach out to your customer service team.
Without FAQs, you might find yourself with more disgruntled customers, or worse—more people just wandering away because they didn’t figure out the solutions that they needed to trust or choose your business. It might lead to you expending greater labor, cost, and resources on satisfying those customers or trying to woo them back.
It’s basically one of the top rules of marketing: Make it as easy as possible for potential consumers to find what they’re looking for—and that includes information or answers.
That’s why your FAQ section must be highly searchable. That can mean a few things:
That it’s easy to find within your website—with strong menu navigation and intuitive UX.
That it’s easy to find the correct categories within the dedicated help area itself.
That it’s very SEO-friendly. This way, people can even reach these answers easily via Google. (Trust us: You want people to get correct, up-to-date answers about your company from YOU.)
But FAQs are also important because they give YOU answers. Yes, it’s really a two-way street.
With a searchable FAQ section, you’ll have the opportunity to find out what your customers don’t understand and what they’d like to learn more about. Then, you can share that knowledge with them sooner. This will drive sales and reduce the timeline during which the buyer’s decision-making process takes place.
You can place that relevant information in prominent positions across your website, within emails or on social media. You’ll know you’re getting it right when fewer people are searching for those answers in your FAQs.
Plus, it helps you get to know the customer mindset a little bit better.
Let’s say that you sell chic white sneakers. Perhaps you’ll discover that people who spend the greatest amount on your website are more invested in color scheme customization than you expected; maybe this is a feature you should consider adding, if everyone is searching for info about it in your FAQs. Or let’s say that you do offer customization already; if people are having trouble learning how to customize their order, then your instructions might not be very clear. A few tweaks to your copy might clear that up and lead to more people paying for the upgrade.
It can also inform you about problems people have with your website, with your brand, or with your business. We don’t like to hear bad things about ourselves, but it does give us the chance to improve. People often browse FAQs when they need help, and they often need help when they have a problem and they’re frustrated.
Sometimes, FAQs are the last line of defense before people file a complaint or write bad reviews. Calm, clear, useful answers can show that you truly want to help resolve the issue, which can go a long way toward deescalating.
The most important thing to remember is that your FAQ section is truly a two-way street, because you stand to gain as much as you’re willing to give. Every website should have a strategic FAQ section that informs your business while helping customers move forward.
To learn how your FAQ section could be improved and go to work for you, well, just ask!