Is there a good way how to combine two contact forms in one?

Question

So insurance company customers have an access to their services through log in. One of the services is ability to ask questions to doctors/nurses and receive support from them.

Currently there are 2 forms actually: one is e-mail query, second is request a call back. Two types of how to get support from the service.

So the question is: what do you guys advise to do - to have 2 separate forms one after another or to combine it in one form? If you advise me to combine them, what is the smart way to do it?

Answer 1

I think this starts with: what is your intended support path for customers?

There are several different possible rationales that I can think of for having two contact methods:

• Catering to customer preference - the two are basically equivalent, and the customer can choose whichever they like (and once choosing one they are unlikely to switch to the other contact mode).
• Different methods based on urgency - phone calls are for more urgent query
• Email as preferred mode, with phone calls as a fall-back. - If the email is not able to answer a customer's question, speaking on the phone can solve the issue.

Another issue here is: Do you need to capture the same information in each case?

For an email enquiry, you need to get all of the information up front to answer the question, but a phone conversation allows more information to be obtained on the phone. So it may imply different forms are needed.

I think if you clarify the support path and the information requirements, what to do about the forms should become clear.

Ultimately, whether one form or two exists on the website is irrelevant to the user, but the user should be presented with a clear path and options to get needed support; there shouldn't be multiple paths that make it unclear which one should be selected.

Answer 2

I think it would be a better experience to have one form but ask the customer to choose their preferred method of contact, like so:

Allow the customer to provide a description of their issue and below it, ask them to pick their preferred method of contact.