For most trades the conversion is a phone call, which means the website’s job ends at the moment somebody taps a number, and the biggest losses happen on either side of that tap, in places no website report shows you.
Make the number tappable and permanent
The single most common defect on contractor sites is a phone number that is plain text on a phone. It has to be dialled by hand, which most people will not do, and there is no way to tell from your analytics that it happened.
Beyond that: keep the number reachable from every screen position rather than only in the header, so somebody halfway down a service page does not have to scroll back up. A persistent bar along the bottom of a mobile screen is unglamorous and works.
The form is not the alternative you think it is
Forms exist for the people who will not ring: those at work, out of hours, or arranging non-urgent work. That is a real group, and worth serving.
Two things make forms fail on trade sites. The first is length: each additional field costs completions, and address, preferred times and how-did-you-hear-about-us can all be settled on the callback. Name, number and a description of the problem is usually the whole requirement.
The second is silence afterwards. A form submitted into nothing, with no confirmation on screen and no reply for a day, is a lead you paid for and lost after winning it. Tell them what happens next and when, then do that.
The gap nobody measures
Here is the part that sits outside the website and decides more bookings than any design change.
Somebody taps your number. The website has done everything right. Then the phone rings out, or reaches a voicemail box, or is answered by someone who takes a message. That visitor is back in the search results within a minute, calling the next firm, and your analytics records a successful conversion.
This is worth measuring before optimising anything on the page. Ring your own number at nine on a Saturday evening and see what a customer gets. Count how many calls go unanswered in a week. If the answer rate is poor, no amount of design work will show up in booked jobs, because the leak is after the part you were improving.
Match the page to what brought them
Somebody arriving from a search for a specific repair should land on a page about that repair, and see words matching what they searched within the first second. Sending that traffic to a general home page makes them start the search again on your site, and a proportion will not.
The same applies to advertising, more expensively, because you paid for the click.
Say what happens next
Hesitation before calling a tradesperson is usually about the unknowns: will they charge me for coming out, how soon can they get here, will they try to sell me a replacement.
Answering those in plain language on the page: the call-out fee or its absence, typical response time, how quoting works, removes the reasons not to ring. It is copy rather than design, and it moves conversions more than button colour.
Where the losses actually are
In rough order of how much they cost a typical contractor: unanswered calls, an untappable or hard-to-find number, ad traffic landing on the wrong page, a form with too many fields, slow replies to form submissions, and only then anything about layout or colour.
Most of that list is not a design problem, which is why redesigns so often fail to move the number of booked jobs. If you want the version of this that explains why the reporting looks fine while the phone does not ring, see the metrics that mislead contractors.
Frequently asked questions
How many fields should my contact form have?
Three or four. Name, phone number and a description of the problem covers it; everything else can be settled on the call you are trying to earn.
Should I use a chat widget?
Only if somebody answers it promptly. An unstaffed chat window that replies after two hours does the same damage as an unanswered phone, with more expectation attached.
Why did my redesign not increase bookings?
Frequently because the loss was never on the site. Unanswered calls, mismatched landing pages and slow form replies all survive a redesign untouched.
How quickly should I respond to a form submission?
Within the hour during working time, and say so on the page. Anyone submitting a form has usually contacted someone else too.
Where to start
Open your site on your own phone and try to book yourself. Tap the number, submit the form, and note everything that is awkward. Then ring the office from a number it does not recognise and see how long it takes to be answered, that last one usually costs more than everything on the screen combined.
Real Time Marketing has worked with home service contractors since 2016: plumbing, HVAC, roofing, electrical and other trades, nationwide, from our office in Bradenton, Florida. Agreements are month-to-month. See our website design or book a strategy call.
