Contact Form or mailto:?

Any preference

[martyt]

A comment in another thread made me wonder:

Is it better to have a "Contact Us" form right on the site, or just use mailto: links for customer service, order inquiries, etc.?

We've been doing the latter since day 1 and never had any complaints about it, but I wonder if customers would be more inclined to ask a question or suggest a product we don't carry or whatever if they had the form to use?

[lorax]

In order of appeal and impact (my order)

1. Toll free telephone number
2. Regular telephone number
3. contact form
4. mailto link

[nancyb]

my preference - same as lorax except switch the last two. I don't like using a form because I have no copy. In fact, if I can't find an email address I often go elsewhere rather than rely on a form.

[ken_b]

If you use a contact form, you could always place a mailto: link above or below the form with a note saying to use wichever the visitor prefers.

[Corey Bryant]

Consider both. Some people like to use email (me) and have a record of it. :) This helps me to know what was said, etc

-Corey

[iloveu]

Problem is if you put mailto on the site, you will definately get huge load of spam emails very soon.

[jollymcfats]

...and if you have a contact form, you'll get people you can't reply to because they've typed in their email address incorrectly. Personally I'd rather have the mailto: spam then a customer waiting for a reply that will never come.

[Paul_B]

Because of spam farming - even of encoded or JavaScript email addresses - I have stopped putting email addresses on websites and use only a contact form, which send a copy to the sender as a confrimation and the website owner...