"Contact Us" Pages

What It Is

Having a Contact Us page is a best practice for managing your agency's website. It should be called "Contact Us" or "Contact (organization name)". The public expects to see this link on every page of your website, usually in the header or footer. If that's not feasible, at least provide a link from your homepage and every major entry point.

Why It's Important

Citizens expect to be able to contact their government to ask questions, get information, or report problems. It is important to provide some means for them to do that.

There are three sections of the OMB Policies for Federal Public Websites that refererence providing an easy means for the public to contact your agency and providing certain contact information:

• Section IA: "disseminate information to the public in a timely, equitable, efficient and appropriate manner,"
• Section 3F: "identify mandatory links and post (or link to) the following information on their principal website and any known major entry points to their sites: …. information made available under the Freedom of Information Act …. the agency point of contact for small businesses as required by the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2002"
• Section 4A: "establish and maintain communications with members of the public and with State and local governments to ensure your agency creates information dissemination products meeting their respective needs."

Implementation Guidance

• Be sure the link title and the page title are the same. For example, if you call the link "Contact Us," the page to which you link should also be titled "Contact Us."
• At a minimum, include the following pieces of information on your "Contact Us" or "Contact (organization name)" page:
  • Primary organization mailing address
  • Street addresses for any regional or local customer service offices
  • Phone number(s), including numbers for any regional or local offices, toll-free numbers, and TTY numbers, if available
  • Email address(es) or web–based contact form
  • Your agency's policy and procedures for responding to email inquiries, including whether you will answer inquiries and the expected response time
  • Contact information to report data problems, as required by Information Quality regulations
  • Contact information for small businesses, as required by the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act
  • Instructions on how to request information through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
  • Method for reporting evidence of waste, fraud, or abuse to the Inspector General (as required by Consolidated Appropriations Act for FY 2008)
  • Contact information for reporting both technical and content problems with the website, including accessibility problems.
• If TTY lines are not available, your agency can use the Federal Relay Service.
• If you need assistance managing public inquiries, visit the Contact Centers channel on HowTo.gov to learn about email, phone, and publication distribution services offered by GSA.

Examples

• The Social Security Administration provides a Contact Us page with ways to call, email, write, or contact the agency in person
• The National Institutes of Health provides various ways to contact the agency and links to other frequent questions
• The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development lists ways to contact the agency based on the question you need answered
• The Environmental Protection Agency provides a Contact Us page with ways to call, email, or write to the agency and includes information on its regional offices

Resources

• Contact Us Page Sample Template (PDF, 44 KB, 2 pages, June 2009)

Many agencies follow this best practice, which is part of the guidelines and best practices published by the Interagency Committee on Government Information to aid agencies' implementation of OMB's Policies for Federal Public Websites.