I just finished reading profiles of Internet Retailer’s Hot 100 E-tailers for 2009. It’s always fun to see what companies in other industries are doing that our clients and Let’s Grow readers might adapt. One thing that struck me was how many of the Hot 100 Retail Web Sites had incorporated a Q&A feature directly on their product pages. That’s right, not a separate FAQ section, but right on each product page.
With this new feature, a prospect with a question doesn’t have to search for contact information, and is promised a quick response by a company representative. Both questions and answers are posted on the product page, further reducing future questions without the need to revise product descriptions. In some cases, other customers are able to post answers as well.
For one of the more elaborate examples, have a look at one of Golfballs.com’s products, such as this: http://www.golfballs.com/PC3017/PING-G15-Driver.html. Towards the bottom of the page, you’ll find questions and answers by both Golfballs employees and other customers. To help readers better evaluate the responses, customers who answer questions are identified as having a low-, medium- or high-handicap.
Pretty nifty, huh?
