What is an FAQ Page?
An FAQ page is a webpage dedicated to listing and succinctly answering frequently asked questions from website visitors.
FAQ pages have been around since before the modern commercial Web.
They originated on Usenet groups both as a navigational tool and as stand-alone curated content. Ecommerce websites adopted the format, especially since online buyers could not physically examine products or talk to a sales rep.
Unfortunately, FAQ pages have also been used for miscellaneous catch-all content pages or as band-aids for bad user experience.
Should I Have an FAQ Page?
Ideally, your website would answer all customer questions as they crop up. The best user experience anticipates and solves problems before the user has to solve the issue themselves.
That said, FAQ pages are a known-page for users. It can be a nice reassurance for customers — there if they need it, but hopefully they don’t have to actually use it.
Really, it comes down to three questions.
- Are there frequent questions your customers are asking that can’t be easily addressed in an existing section of your website?
- Is your sales/service team (or your own inbox) constantly dealing with recurring with product and service questions?
- Are there outlier customers & use cases that would distract from your target audience if you addressed them in your primary content (ie, death by footnotes)?
If so, an FAQ page is for you.
Don’t create another page as a band-aid for bad website content or for the sake of having one. If your site can answer questions without calling it out on a separate page, then bite the bullet and just fix your website copy.
FAQ Page Best Practices
So what makes a good FAQ page?
Like most marketing questions – it depends. You have to break the problems down into components and solve each issue for your website.
Here are common starting points for structuring your page.
Find & answer real questions
You need to answer real questions. If you can anticipate a question – then you should figure out a way to answer it within your existing content when that question will crop up.
Inventing questions for the sake of answering them creates confusion and noise.
If you want to create educational content – then create proper educational content (ie, a Buyer’s Guide or a How To post). Don’t shoehorn a buyer’s guide into an standalone FAQ page.
You can find these from a variety of sources: your sales/customer service department, a feedback form on your website, or even your own email. You can also check out your social media channels — people love asking questions on a business’s Facebook page!
Make questions relevant & timely
Your customers shouldn’t be asking the same questions over a long period of time.
Either solve them within your website content or make sure you’re updating your FAQ page frequently to address new questions that arise, or to account for seasonality changes if those affect your business.