Imagine that a prospective client has been referred to your firm. Their next step will likely be to visit your website and see if your firm meets their needs. Assuming your website makes a great impression, they will want to start a conversation. But of the long list of qualified people on your site, the question arises, whom should they call?
Help your visitors take the next very important step by adding a Key Contact on service, industry and project/case study pages. A Key Contact is extremely valuable to prospective clients as it clearly identifies whom they should get in touch with to discuss their needs. Taking the guesswork out of the equation significantly helps clients make a decision to reach out to your firm, quickly. This technique is more user-friendly than trying to pick a person out of a long list. It’s also more personable than calling the main phone number or filling out the website contact form.
We know adding key contacts can sometimes stir up strong internal politics. For this reason, many firms don’t bother to identify key contacts for any or all of their services. But leaving them off can be highly detrimental to your clients’ experience with your site. Thus, it is vital to guide the discussion with partners back to prospective clients as the target audience of the website. What matters most is designing a site that is useful for prospects and encourages them to get in touch. It’s a win-win for your clients and your firm as a whole.
Law Firm Examples:
Obermayer – The Key Contacts appear in the sidebar on the Overview tab and at the top of the Attorneys tab on each practice and industry page.
Bowditch – The Key Contact with a portrait appears prominently and consistently in the sidebar across all the tabs on practice and industry pages.
Ligris – One Key Contact appears at the top of the left sidebar of every practice and client type page.
Peabody & Arnold – The Main Contact(s) appear first in the list of attorneys associated with each practice.
Architecture Examples:
LPA|A – After the introductory text on all project and case studies, the key contacts appear with miniature, circular portraits with their name and title.
DRA – Key Contacts appear on the portfolio landing pages by type of work. While there are no key contacts for Academic work, site visitors can find their key contact based on the more specific academic sub-group, such as K-12 Public Schools, Career & Technical Schools, etc.
Engineering Examples:
Tighe & Bond – The project pages show project leadership, which a prospective client may wish to contact if they have a similar need. When there is more than one project leader, the key contacts rotate in the sidebar, attracting more attention. The service and market pages show key contacts first in the band of related people near the bottom of the page.
Environmental Partners – The service leaders appear at the end of each service page over a bright, coral band. Similarly, key project team members appear at the end of project pages.
Sanborn Head – Key contacts appear consistently in the right sidebar of service, market, and project pages for ease of findability.
Bryant – Since Bryant has several locations, the key contacts on services and markets appear with their state called out. Project contacts are also available on project pages.
Walker – The service pages include text-only links to key contacts, while project pages show one key contact with a portrait.
Accounting (CPA) Example:
Edelstein & Company – At the bottom of each service and industry page, Edelstein includes a line of text indicating who to contact to learn more.
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