Most sites have a customer support FAQ page. This is a section where frequently asked questions get an appropriate answer. Creating an FAQ page is often seen as a tool to reduce the workload of customer support team, but it can drive sales as well.
If you’re not using your FAQ page for sales and marketing, you’re not using it to its full potential.
Here’s how you can get the most out of this often-forgetten and often-underutilised section of most websites.
Do You Really Need an FAQ?
Shorten Your Sales Cycle
Sometimes your page copy doesn’t directly address your prospects’ pain points.
If prospects have questions, answering them is the easiest way to get the sale. And for new customers, it’s your duty as a business to delight them and make the experience as enjoyable as possible.
Having an FAQ page not only relieves the stress on your customer support team by answering the most common questions, but you can also earn trust by demonstrating product expertise.
The faster you do this, the shorter your sales cycle.
Highlight Key Information
Every visitor that comes to your site will have found it in a different way. They may have posed a question to their search engine and unwittingly stumbled onto your FAQ page.
Once they start reading the answer, they might be intrigued to find out more about what solution you can offer.
It’s not guaranteed, neither is it immediate (that’s why you have retargeting).
But it’s important that you take every opportunity to mention vital information like your key selling points, contact details and how the customer can take further action.
Boost your SEO
Many sites treat an FAQ section as a stand-alone page that uses question and answer format to communicate information.
While this serves as a basic function of an FAQ page, you can also build in your FAQ section with dedicated pages for each answer. The purpose? To make your website more search-friendly and discoverable on search engines.
How To Create an FAQ Page In Just 4 Steps
Step 1: Gather your most common objections and frequently asked questions
Identify your customers’ top 3 objections
If you think about it, FAQs are actually objections you need to overcome.
It could be as simple as “Will this work for me?”
Maybe you’ve come across absurd (yet genuine) questions like “If my business suffers a loss after I’ve hired you, will you compensate me.”
Or something weird like “Can women above 40 attend your workshops?”
You want to take the top 3 things that are keeping people from giving you money. And put that at the top of your customer FAQ.
Then place your most frequently asked questions fourth on the list.
Research what your customers really want to know
Focus on relevancy, utility and opportunities to turn that question into a path to further engagement or conversion.
Tips when deciding how to create a FAQ page:
- Inbox and customer support tickets
- SEMrush to find out what others are searching for in relation to your product/service
- Spy on competitors FAQ
Step 2: Make it easy to consume
Structure and Order
Structure your FAQ section so it’s easy for visitors to jump between questions and have their questions answered.
Tips when deciding how to create a FAQ page:
- Have drop-down menus to create sub-topics to make navigation easier
- Use icons for quick understanding
- Apart from answering questions, provide solutions and alternatives to get around a problem
- Order your questions logically, starting with the most basic questions and then proceed to the more complex ones.
Step 3: Have a clear answer to each question
Avoid jargon
Let’s say you provide subscription-based accounting services to SMEs.
I’m sure you provide a range of services. But in your FAQ, abstain from getting too technical.
Put it in simple lay-man English like “It works best for B2B SMEs looking to scale their business without incurring overheads of an entire accounting team. With our outsourced CFO solution, you can get more out of your business accounts at a fraction of the investment.”
Your FAQ section is to help someone understand your business better. There’s no point trying to impress prospects and end up confusing them.
Add images and videos when appropriate
Sometimes visuals answer the questions more quickly and concisely than words can.
Things to include in FAQ images and videos: How to use product/steps for setting up, how not to use it, key features, how to store/protect product.
Then provide an option to make a purchase.
The problem most FAQs have is that they just answer the question and things are left there.
Don’t be afraid to transition from customer service to sales.
Deep Link
By hyperlinking each question to a separate page, you can help surface each answer through Google.
Here’s how it works: If you optimise your content or landing page for a certain keyphrase, it tells Google “Hey, look here. This is important, please index this!”
Even if your audience isn’t directly searching for your branded product/service, they might be searching for a question that appears on your FAQ page. And your page comes up because its deemed as useful.
Here’s an example from Hubspot’s FAQ page that directs users to separate customer support and information pages where users can find an answer (and make a purchase once they’ve resolved their query).
We’ve done it ourselves with blog posts. These have become our highest-trafficked pages.
Step 4: Place the FAQ page prominently on your site
In your navbar
The navigation bar (aka menu section) is the place that’s most noticeable to users.
If you were to look at things in terms of User Interface and User Experience (UI/UX), placing your FAQ here makes the most sense.
At the bottom of your home page
In our Website That Converts Template, you’ll see that FAQs are at the bottom of the page. And with good reason.
The average site visitor looks at a website’s hero image and if it doesn’t capture their attention, they bounce immediately.
By placing your FAQ section below, it means this visitor has taken time to scroll through your entire page. And the FAQ section comes at the right time when they’re deciding what to do next.
At this point, it’s your chance to come in to offer assistance and lead your prospect into a sales conversation.
As a chatbot widget
Chatbot widgets can be placed on pages of your choice and customised based on different actions.
You can choose for it to pop up when a customer spends a certain amount of time on your page.
When they scroll to a certain portion of your website.
Or if a particular button is clicked.
Now you can lead them through a messenger funnel and follow up for a sale when they are ready.
What’s the next step
Always let your prospects know what’s the next step.
After having their fears allayed, what’s the next step – is it placing an order, booking a demo, talking to the sales team?
Always remember this: your role is not to sell, but to help your customers buy.
So make it as simple as possible for them.
Remove any possible barrier.
Make that experience pleasant while strengthening your reputation as a trustworthy business that truly understands its customers.
Build trust with visitors and customers and they will more likely move through your conversion funnel.