A contact form is not email

When we assess websites for the Internet Crystal Mark, we check whether your contact details are sufficient. We expect to see:-

• a street address
• a telephone number
• an email address

as a bare minimum.

We have noticed a trend for websites to have a contact form instead of an email address. (Often labelled as email on the contact page.)

The biggest difference between the two (from the point of view of the website user) is that the user has no record of information they have entered into the contact form. Whilst this is not a problem for the website owner, it is a distinct disadvantage to the user.

Because of this, we recommend that all contact pages on websites include an actual email address as one of the contact options.

It is fine to also have a contact form, but this should not be instead of an email address, and should not be labelled 'email'.