Responsive themes often hide the sidebar on phones or push it below everything else. Check key pages on a phone, add a number that dials when tapped to the header, and put the quote form in the main content.

Always there, on a computer

On the office computer, every page of the site has a quote form in the right-hand column: name, phone, email, a box for the details, and a button.

The owner sees it every time he checks the site, so it never occurs to him that phone visitors might not.

On a phone the same site looks tidy and modern. The quote form is nowhere near the top, or nowhere at all.

What a responsive theme does with a sidebar

A responsive theme rearranges each page to fit the screen. A narrow screen has no room for a second column, so the sidebar has to go somewhere.

Most themes either move it below everything else, after the main content and often just above the footer, or hide it entirely on small screens.

Both choices are sensible for a sidebar of archives and tag lists. They are a problem when the sidebar holds the one thing the site exists to collect.

Which of the two happens depends on the theme, and it can differ between a phone held upright and one turned sideways. Only looking will tell you.

Checking what the theme hides

Finding out takes less than an hour. Work through these checks:

The fifth check measures the cost. When phones bring a real share of visits and almost none of the quote requests, the form is probably out of their sight.

Why the owner never notices

Owners check their sites on the computer they work at, and designers present new sites on large screens. Nobody in the business sees the phone version often.

Phone visitors who cannot find a form rarely complain. They call a competitor whose number they can tap, or they mean to come back later and do not.

So the only symptom is a quiet one. Requests slip as phone visits climb, and nobody connects the two.

Putting the phone number first

On a phone, the fastest way to ask for a quote is often a call. Make the number part of the header on each page, written as a link that starts a call when tapped.

A number shown inside an image cannot be tapped, and plain text is not always recognised. It should be text, marked up so phones know it is a number to call.

Add the hours someone answers. A visitor deciding whether to call at seven in the evening wants to know whether anyone will pick up.

If calls after hours go to voicemail, say so, and say when messages are returned. A caller who expects the voicemail is readier to leave a message than one caught off guard by it.

Moving the form into the page

The form belongs where phone visitors are already looking: inside the main content of each service page, after the first section, and on a quote page of its own.

A short button near the top, labelled plainly with something like request a quote, can jump straight to the form further down the same page.

The sidebar can keep its copy for computer visitors. What matters is that no screen size leaves the form out.

A worked example

A warehouse racking installer designs, installs and inspects pallet racking for distribution centres, manufacturers and cold storage buildings across the southern Interior.

Its site had a quote form in the sidebar of every page. On phones the theme hid the sidebar entirely, so on a phone the form simply did not exist.

The owner found out when a warehouse manager mentioned that he had looked for a quote form on his phone, out on the warehouse floor, and given up.

Analytics confirmed the pattern. Phone visits made up a growing part of the traffic, yet quote requests came almost entirely from computers.

The developer added a tap-to-call number to every page header and a quote button under each page heading. Each service page now ends its first section with the form, cut to four fields.

Whichever page a phone visitor lands on, the number now sits at the top and the form a scroll or two below.

A form that works on a small screen

A form that appears is not yet a form that works. Fields should be large enough to tap, labels should sit above the boxes, and the button should run the width of the screen.

Phones show a different keyboard for each kind of field when the form asks them to: numbers for a phone field, an @ key for email. Whoever builds the form can set this.

Ask only what a first quote needs. Drawings, photographs and measurements can follow by email once someone has called back.

Then fill in the finished form on a phone with one thumb, standing up, the way a busy visitor would. Anything awkward in that test is awkward for customers too.

The counter-case

Some businesses rarely see phone visitors, such as suppliers whose buyers order from office computers. For them, the sidebar form may reach nearly everyone who matters.

Others find that phone visitors call rather than type, so the number matters more than the form. That is a reason to put the number first, not to leave the form hidden.

Either way, the check takes an hour, and it is worth repeating whenever the theme changes or a new kind of customer starts arriving.

Finding the form on a phone

  1. Open every key page on a phone.
  2. Note what the theme hides or moves to the bottom.
  3. Compare quote requests by device in Analytics.
  4. Add a tap-to-call number to every page header.
  5. Add a quote button near each page heading.
  6. Place the form inside the main content.
  7. Send a test quote from a phone.

Step four takes minutes and gives every phone visitor a way to reach you at once, even before the form itself has been moved.

The registration form where parents give up goes a step further, using Analytics to find the exact page of a longer form where visitors stop.

Frequently asked questions

Why is my quote form missing on phones?

Responsive themes have no room for a sidebar on a narrow screen, so they hide it or move it below everything else, and the form goes with it.

How can I see what my theme hides on phones?

Open each key page on a phone and scroll to the bottom, narrow a desktop browser window slowly, and ask whoever maintains the site which elements it hides.

How do I know if this is costing me enquiries?

Compare quote requests by device in Analytics. If phones bring a real share of visits but almost none of the requests, the form is probably out of their sight.

Where should the form go on a phone?

Inside the main content of each service page, after the first section, and on its own quote page, with a button near the top that jumps to it.

Should the phone number be at the top?

Yes, on every page, as text that dials when tapped, with the hours someone answers. Many phone visitors would rather call than type into a form.

Can the sidebar form stay for computer visitors?

Yes. The aim is not to remove it, but to make sure that no screen size, from a small phone to a wide monitor, leaves the form out.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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