Do you really need an FAQ page?
This depends on two things:
- How much time you spend answering the same questions over and over again [*]
- Whether your audience expects you to have an FAQ page
[*] – Interestingly, the first criterion leads to the biggest misconception about having an FAQ page (or even an FAQ section within your sales page). Namely, that every frequently asked question qualifies as “FAQ.”
Yet, that’s not the case.
The biggest misconception about FAQ pages (and sections!)
Not every question you get asked often qualifies as an FAQ
Especially fundamental questions about your business, like:
- What do you offer?
- Whom are your services for?
- Why choose you?
- How much does it cost?
- How long does your online course lasts?
…or any other information that has a major influence on your prospects’ buying decision should be present in your main website copy: Homepage, sales pages, and About page.
Examples of questions that qualify as FAQ:
- What are the shipping costs?
- Is there a money-back guarantee?
- How do you get a refund?
- How long will I have access to the course materials?
- I’m (in this super-specific but common situation). Will this (offer) still help me?
- Specific questions about a piece software (what’s the newest version, how to install, how to trouble-shoot, etc.)
…or any other information that is not a direct deal breaker but can ease a common uncertainty for a prospect and give them a final nudge.
In short:
❌ Does not belong to FAQ: crucial information about your offer that has a big influence on buying decision.
✔ Belongs to FAQ: additional information that is not a direct deal breaker for most but addresses a super-specific but common uncertainty/objection.
In most of the cases, it’s better to answer the questions your website visitors may have on the spot—on a specific page they may need this information.
FAQ page: Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Weeds out the clients who won’t be a good fit
- Reassures your ideal clients that you are what they need
- Saves you time creating separate pages
- Can boost your SEO
Cons:
- Not many people will visit it (based on my experience in analyzing website performance data of my clients)
- When someone has a question on another page, they may not think of checking your FAQ page and may leave your website
- In case of multiple offers, it takes longer to find information related to one specific offer
You may think that there are more pros than cons. But if you look closely, the first two cons cancel the first two pro points:
💡 An FAQ page won’t help you weed out bad leads or reassure your ideal clients that you’re a good fit if the majority of the prospects don’t visit it.
What to add to your website instead of an FAQ page?
Instead of lumping all the questions about all of your offer(s) on one page, anticipate the questions your prospects may have on every page and provide the answers on the spot:
- On your homepage
- On your service / product pages
- On the checkout page
- Anywhere where you ask a prospect to take an action but anticipate particular reservations
What about an FAQ section on a sales page?
If you think that, after reading your main copy, your ideal clients may still have some questions that qualify as FAQ, include a short FAQ section at the end of your sales page.
Yet, don’t rely on it to communicate important information. Based on my experience on client projects watching hours of session replayes, and analyzing the heat maps, not many prospects engage with an FAQ section.
Decided to have an FAQ page anyways? Follow these best practices:
- Structure it for easy navigation
- Make it scannable
- List most often asked questions first
- Don’t duplicate existing content
- Make the answers succinct and to the point linking to the in-depth posts on the topic, if necessary.
- Add a link to your Contact page at the end encouraging your visitors to contact you if they haven’t found the answer to their question
Agonizing over your website copy?
Get a clear roadmap that shows you what to write on each web page (and how).
Not sure what to put on your homepage? Tired of rewriting your About page? Don’t know how to structure your service pages?
Building a website can be overwhelming. But it doesn’t have to be.
Use this website content checklist to fill every page of your website with content your audience will love and turn your business website into a business generating machine.
- A handy PDF with 200+ checkpoints for the 9 most important pages of your website
- Super-specific content creation tips
- Checkpoint summary images to print out and track progress
