A simple website or a system for enquiries?
A clear website is enough to be found and contacted. When enquiries grow and arrive through several channels, you also need one place to keep track of them. The signs that tell you where you stand.
Gianmarco PacettiCofounder · Software and product development
If customer enquiries are few and arrive through one channel, a clear website is enough: fast on a phone, with your contact details in view. When they come in through the form, WhatsApp, email and the phone, and some get lost, the website also needs one place to collect them and follow them up.
The website stays the foundation: it presents the business, answers the usual questions and makes it easy to call or message you. It's also where our business websites start. Here are the signs that tell you whether you need more.
In this guide (5)
What a website has to do first
- Say in a few lines what you do, where you are and who it's for
- Show real photos of the business
- Keep the call and WhatsApp buttons easy to see on a phone
- Give the answers people always ask for: opening hours, how to get there, what's included
- Be easy to find on Google, together with your business's Google profile
If your website does these things, you don't need anything else to get started. If it doesn't, sort that out before adding other tools: every later step builds on it.
When enquiries start getting lost
These are the most common signs:
- You can't say how many enquiries you got last week
- You reply twice to the same person, or not at all, because the message ended up in another app
- Every reply starts with more questions: dates, people, service, each one asked separately
- Information is scattered across email, chats, a notebook and your phone
If two or more of these sound familiar, the website is probably fine. What's missing is a tidy way to collect and follow up enquiries.
Two steps, in the right order
1. A form that asks the right questions
The first step is a form that asks straight away for what you need to reply: for example dates, number of people and service. The sender gets an email confirmation and you get a complete enquiry instead of "I'd like some information". The form collects enquiries: it doesn't book dates or take payments.
2. One place to find them again
The second step is a list where every enquiry stays, with its own code. You search it, filter it, give it a status (new, in progress, closed) and add a note. That's what the request panel does: you always know who is still waiting for a reply.
When you need something more
If besides enquiries you have to manage quotes, availability, shifts or stock, it's a different conversation: that's when you consider management software, off-the-shelf or custom. We cover it in the guide custom or off-the-shelf software. Among our client projects you'll find software in use, with screenshots.
Where to start
Start with the website. If enquiries grow, add a fuller form; if they start getting lost, one place to follow them up. Each step makes sense on its own and you don't have to do everything at once.