Customers are the lifeblood of business, and good customer service is one of the best ways to build a strong and lasting relationship with them. One issue many eCommerce stores face is not being able to grow that relationship in person. While there are many live chat support apps available for Shopify, it’s important not to overlook traditional online customer support like an FAQ page that let’s customers quickly find answers on their own. Keep reading to find out what makes an FAQ page great and how to create one for your Shopify store.
Why Is an FAQ Page Important for eCommerce?
Customers who visit the FAQ page are still in the “information seeking” stage of the buying cycle. Helping them find the right answers fills in the knowledge gap and moves the customer along the purchase funnel. It’s important that the answers are convincing, which not only resolves the customer’s concerns but also builds trust with your brand.
In addition, having an FAQ page can play a supporting part in your overall Shopify SEO strategy.
- The FAQ page offers the perfect setting to include long-tail keywords that you have chosen for your site.
- Adding question keywords on the FAQ page can match how customers search on Google, which can help your site rank in search results.
- The FAQ page can support your content marketing and link building efforts by providing topics for in-depth blog articles and a variety of opportunities for internal and inbound links.
How to Add a FAQ Page to Your Shopify Store
Your FAQ page can be simple and straightforward, complex with several sections, or anywhere in between. It’s possible to create a FAQ page in Shopify manually, but in reality, building the page from scratch will take time. In addition, if you hire a developer for a truly customized FAQ experience, you will need to spend a hefty fee.
A cheaper alternative and perhaps the most popular option for Shopify users is to use a Shopify FAQ app. You have numerous options to choose from, but here are the three we like.
HelpCenter
Price: Free, $4.95 / Month
HelpCenter is an FAQ app that allows you to create numerous categories. Moreover, the easily customizable layout options give you the freedom to create a design that matches your site. It also includes search functionality that allows customers to jump to the answers that are most relevant to their questions. Lightweight, easy to set up, and free to use.
FAQ Accordion
Price: Free, $4.99–79.99 / Month
If you need plenty of smart features, then FAQ Accordion is a worthy choice. The page comes with an accordion layout that lets visitors expand and collapse answers with a simple click or tap. As for the design, cou can choose the colors you like, add interactive hover effects, and use icons for questions.
In addition, FAQ Accordion allows the inclusion of text, images, links, and videos. Along with the search functionality, you can also add an upvote / downvote feature to your questions.
This app’s free plan is limited compared to HelpCenter, but you can unlock some great features with a little money.
Easy FAQ
Price: Free, $3.99–4.99 / Month
Apart from the standard features available across all Shopify FAQ apps, Easy FAQ offers the ability to embed selected questions and answers on any page in your store — even your product pages! To make use of this feature, you will probably need to upgrade to one of the paid plans depending on the number of products you have.
FAQ Page Strategy
What makes for a good FAQ? It’s about the customers. For established stores, it’s much easier to find good FAQ content by looking at past customer inquiries and surveying your customer support team. But what if you’ve received few or no customer inquiries?
FAQ sources within your Shopify store:
- Shopify has several survey apps available that let you poll visitors and verified customers with questions.
- Check for comments posted on product pages and blog posts.
- Review chat records if you’re running a live chat app.
FAQ sources outside your Shopify store:
- Visit forums like Reddit to gather the pain points and questions that are important to your target audience.
- Compile a list comparing the FAQ pages of your biggest competitors.
- Take time to analyze comments about your brand and competitors’ brands posted on social media.
How to Organize an FAQ Page
It shouldn’t feel like searching for a needle in a haystack to find the right answer in your store’s FAQ page. Again, take time to look at your top competitors to see how they order their FAQ pages and which seem best to you. Some common methods include organizing by:
- Basic list (if you have 10 or less questions)
- Topic / question type
- Sales / marketing funnel
If your FAQ list is long enough, it may be helpful to add a “Most Asked” section at the top or the ability to do a free search, which is provided as a feature with some paid FAQ apps.
Does Shopify have an FAQ template?
While an FAQ page is a standard feature of effective eCommerce sites, Shopify doesn’t provide a basic template out of the box — you either need to create one on your own or use an app. Unlike the terms of service template that Shopify will generate for you, FAQ pages are too varied by industry to be able to make a one-size-fits-all format.
However, in the event that you’re just starting a Shopify site, make sure the following questions appear in your FAQ.
- How safe is the personal information shared on the site?
- What security measures have you employed to protect my payment details?
- What is your order cancellation policy?
- Do you charge a late cancellation fee?
- How long does it take to ship my order?
- When will I receive my order?
- Can I track my order?
- What’s your return policy?
What Makes a FAQ Page Effective?
Accessibility
Until a few years ago, a site’s FAQ link could only be found at the bottom of the page in the footer menu. Today’s eCommerce stores understand the importance of getting answers to potential customers as quickly as possible. Hence, we suggest adding an FAQ link in the main menu.
Positive Tone
Maintain a friendly, encouraging, and confident tone throughout the FAQ page. This is useful whether you’re facing an unhappy customer with a problem or helping a visitor understand your brand and products better. Whatever might be their reason to visit the FAQ page, a positive tone can ensure they leave the page less upset or confused.
Keep It Short and Simple
Customers expect answers to be short and to the point. Answers that are overly wordy or long chase away potential sales. This is the age of tweets, photos, and 10–15 second TikTok videos. Younger audiences typically don’t have the patience to read long answers unless it’s a blog post that offers real value.
Add Search Functionality
As your business grows, your FAQ page should grow along with it — but having a long FAQ list can be a disadvantage. That’s because customers who can’t find an answer to their question quickly will leave the page. This problem is easily solved by including search functionality at the top of your FAQ.
Share Contact Information
You can’t possibly predict every question visitors will have. Prospects who leave the FAQ page without an answer might never visit your store again. This is easily remedied by displaying your contact information clearly in the FAQ page. Encourage prospects to contact you through phone, email, or chat if they can’t find the answers they’re looking for.
Add a Call-to-Action
Sometimes prospects need a slight nudge to make up their mind. This could be achieved by adding a compelling call-to-action (CTA) placed in relevant answers that encourages them to take the next step in the sales funnel.
Creating a Shopify FAQ Page Is Essential for Effective Customer Service
While the initial setup for an FAQ page in Shopify can take time, it should not be overlooked. By answering the right questions, you can increase sales, maintain customer satisfaction, and reduce time and money on providing customer support. For more effective apps that can help you spend less time growing your sales, be sure to check out our list of best Shopify apps.
