An owner can have a financing question before they are ready to complete an application. Your website should give that question a clear destination.
Describe the lending services your business offers. Then explain how an owner can speak with the person who handles a new inquiry.
What a business borrower looks for
Name the financing your business handles using descriptions it has approved. Keep the contact route beside that information.
The Small Business Administration's funding guide includes business plans and expense records among loan preparation materials. Your business should supply its own document instructions.
The things the site must show
Financing explained in ordinary words
Describe the purpose of the financing without making the reader interpret unexplained lending terms. Keep each description within the work your business accepts.
Put conditions beside the offer they concern. Use the information approved by the people responsible for your lending material.
Read the heading and contact button together. They should invite a discussion about the same service.
Document instructions that fit the request
Explain which information belongs in an initial inquiry and which belongs in an application. Keep the instructions separate enough that the owner understands the step.
If your site accepts documents, identify the approved place for them. The page should explain its purpose before asking the owner to provide records.
Review those instructions with the receiving person. A useful form collects information that person needs for the action described.
A call before an application
Give someone with a financing question a way to reach your office. Leave room to explain what they want to discuss.
If a button opens an application, name that action clearly. A reader asking for a conversation should recognize the destination they choose.
Keep the phone number beside the service description. Check the message after any written request against the action your business actually confirms.
The mistake to check for
Look for a contact button that opens an application without saying so. A reader may arrive prepared to ask about financing and face an unexpected document request.
Read the destination heading and fields against the invitation on the service page. Correct the point where the purpose changes.
What that gap can cost you
An unclear starting point can leave the office with an incomplete application instead of the question the owner wanted answered. Staff then have to establish that purpose.
A clear inquiry option keeps the financing question attached to the conversation.
The next step
Open the business lending page on your phone. Check how an owner asks a question and how they begin an application.
Related: Business lending websites
If you want an outside look at how financing questions reach your office, start with the free check.