Website visitors but no enquiries: people stay silent because getting in touch takes too much thinking
Ten on a Sunday night, someone with toothache, ready to book, opens a clinic's website and leaves within a minute. They were interested. Getting in touch just took too much thinking.
Key points
- Most people who visit a website and don't get in touch were interested. The site made them think about too many things first.
- The contact button should be visible on the first phone screen and say what it does, such as Book or Message on LINE.
- Showing a starting price and what affects it makes budget-conscious customers more willing to get in touch.
- A contact form should ask only what's needed for the first reply, and say when you'll get back to them.
- The most reliable way to find what to fix is to watch someone who has never seen the site try to use it on a phone.
Ten o'clock on a Sunday night, a woman can't sleep because of a throbbing lower molar. She picks up her phone, types "dentist near me" and taps the first dental clinic that comes up.
The first screen is a full-width photo of the clinic building and the words "Welcome to our dental clinic". Scroll down and there's the clinic's history, its vision, photos of equipment. She only wants to know three things: are they open tomorrow, roughly how much is a filling, and how does she book?
She taps "Contact us" in the menu and finds a form with eight fields, including a required email and a "Subject of enquiry" dropdown. She closes it and taps the next search result.
Monday morning, the clinic manager looks at the website report. Several hundred visits last month, but fewer than ten new patients said they found the clinic through the site. There's no way for him to know that one of those visitors had toothache at 10 pm and was ready to book.
Most people who visit and stay silent were interested
When a website gets visitors but no enquiries, owners tend to assume the visitors weren't the right people, or were just browsing. Some were. But someone searching "dentist near me" at ten at night isn't browsing.
What happens more often is that they have to think too hard before they can get in touch. Where's the button? Will the price be more than I can afford? What do I write in this form? Every pause to think is a moment they might tap back, and the next search result is a thumb's width away.
So a more useful question than "how do I get more visitors?" is "how many things does a visitor have to think about before they can contact us?" Then reduce them one at a time.
The contact button has to be visible on the first phone screen
Open your own site on your phone and look at the first screen without scrolling. If you can't see a single way to get in touch, many customers won't either. People on phones rarely read a whole page looking for a button.
Buttons that work tend to say what happens when you press them. "Book an appointment", "Message us on LINE" and "Call the clinic" are clearer than "Contact us". They sit where a thumb can reach and follow you down as you scroll. The phone number should start a call when tapped, not be text the customer has to memorise and dial.
Pick one main route and make it stand out. If most of your customers already message on LINE, make the LINE button the most prominent. There's no need to line up every channel at the same size and make the customer choose all over again.
No prices on the website means customers have to guess, and people who guess rarely ask
Plenty of businesses leave prices off because they don't want competitors to see them, or because the price depends on the case. That's understandable. But from the customer's side, a site with no prices makes them guess, and many guess higher than reality, then don't ask because they don't want to waste anyone's time.
A dental clinic doesn't need to price every case. Give starting prices for the services people search for most, like scaling, fillings and extractions, then explain briefly what changes the price and that an exam is needed for an exact figure. That alone takes most of the worry about budget away.
Uncertainty isn't only about price. Clinic patients wonder whether it will hurt, how long it takes, whether they can walk in today or need to book. Answer these on the site and hesitant people are more willing to get in touch. Which pages answer questions like these is covered in what pages a business website needs.
A contact form that asks too much is a door that's too heavy
That eight-field form wasn't wrong. Every field made sense from the clinic's side. But for someone with toothache holding a phone in one hand, every field is something to think about, and a required email field is often where people give up.
Forms people finish ask only what's needed for the first reply: name, phone number or LINE, and a short note on what they need. Everything else can be asked when you talk. Under the send button, say clearly what happens next. "The clinic will call you back by tomorrow morning" gets more people to press send than a button that says nothing.
The other thing that makes forms go quiet is that nobody sees them. A form that lands in an inbox nobody opens leaves the customer waiting and waiting. Someone who sends a form at 10 pm and hears nothing until the next evening has already booked elsewhere. Have the form notify you somewhere the shop checks every day, like LINE.
Answer the worries before customers have to ask
Hesitant customers often have small questions, not big enough to message about, but big enough to stop them deciding. Is there parking? Are you open on Sundays? Is there a female dentist? Can I bring my child?
These don't need their own page. Put them near the booking button or the map. Make sure the opening hours are right and match your Google Maps pin, and announce special holidays in advance.
Trust is a worry too. Real photos of the dentists, their names and the inside of the clinic make a stranger feel they're going to see actual people, not the building in the photo.
Open your own website as a stranger would
The most reliable way to find where your site makes people think too hard is to watch someone who has never seen it use it. Hand your phone to a friend or relative, give them a task like "you have toothache and want an appointment tomorrow", then sit quietly and don't help. Wherever they pause, frown or ask "where do I tap?" is what needs fixing.
While you're at it, check whether the site passes these:
- The first phone screen says what you do and how to get in touch
- There's a starting price, or at least what the price depends on
- The contact button actually opens a chat or starts a call
- The form has only the fields you need and says when you'll reply
- The opening hours on the site match your Google Maps pin
If you use Google Analytics (GA4), set it up to count contact button taps and form submissions as well. That number tells you far more clearly than visitor counts whether your fixes are working. If you're rethinking the whole site, read our business website guide for owners alongside this.
woowey builds websites for businesses on a monthly plan, and if you already have a site, we can move it over. Our team puts the way to get in touch on the first screen, builds a short enquiry form that sends new leads to you on LINE, and for clinics and other appointment businesses, sets up online booking so customers can pick a time themselves. Tell us where your customers are getting stuck. Just tell us that much, and we'll handle the rest.
Next Sunday night, if the woman with toothache opens that same clinic's website, the first screen might say they open at nine tomorrow, what a filling starts at, and have a booking button right under her thumb. She books half past nine, puts the phone down and goes to sleep.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my website get visitors but no enquiries?
Usually because the site makes people think too hard before getting in touch: the contact button is hard to find on a phone, there are no prices, or the form asks for too much.
Should I put prices on my website?
Yes, at least a starting price or range, with a note on what affects it. Customers can see whether it fits their budget and feel comfortable getting in touch.
How many fields should a website contact form have?
Only what you need for the first reply, usually name, phone number or LINE, and what they need. Ask the rest when you talk.
How can I tell whether my website brings in customers?
Count contact button taps, form submissions and bookings made through the site, and ask new customers where they found you. Visitor numbers alone can't tell you.
The woowey team
We build websites and systems for businesses
We build websites, booking systems, online stores and back offices for Thai businesses, then look after them every month. What we write here comes from what we see working with real shops.
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Type what you need. The woowey team builds your website and systems, then looks after them every month.
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