Free Fix Guide 6 of 27

Make Sure Every Way to Reach You Actually Works

The most common broken thing on a small business website is the contact page.

Signal this fixes
contact_paths_valid
Time
30 minutes
Cost
Free
Difficulty
Easy

What we measured

We tested each published way of contacting you - phone, email, form, and messaging - and checked whether each one works and reaches a real inbox.

Why it matters

Contact paths break silently. A form stops emailing after a plugin update. An email address forwards to an account nobody opens. A phone number on an old directory listing points at a line you cancelled two years ago.

You never find out. The customer just doesn't call back, and you assume business is slow.

Fix it yourself

Test the phone number from a phone that isn't yours

Call every number that appears anywhere: your website header, footer, contact page, Google Business Profile, Facebook, Yelp, invoices, business cards, and your truck.

Confirm each one rings where you expect. Write down any that don't.

Step 1

Make the phone number tappable

On a phone, your number must be a link, not just text. Over half of local-service traffic is mobile, and a number that can't be tapped costs calls.

In your page code it should look like:

<a href="tel:+15551234567">(555) 123-4567</a>

Test it: open your site on your phone and tap the number. If nothing happens, it isn't a link.

Step 2

Submit your own contact form

Fill it in as a customer would, with a real message like "TEST - please ignore." Then check three things: 1. Did you see a confirmation message on screen? If not, customers assume it failed and call a competitor.

2. Did the email actually arrive?

3. Did it land in spam? Check the junk folder.

If nothing arrived, the form is broken. This is extremely common after site updates.

Step 3

Common mistakes

Forms that silently stop working. Test yours monthly. Put it in your calendar.

Confirmation emails going to spam because your sending domain isn't authenticated. Ask your web host about SPF and DKIM.

An old number still live on a directory you forgot about. See the Fix Your Business Listings guide.

This fix is free. You can earn and keep any Agenarys Seal tier - including Platinum - without paying Agenarys anything beyond the audit itself. If you would rather have help doing it, we sell that. We never sell passage.

Sources and further reading

Verified by direct testing of your published contact paths

Agenarys · Operational Intelligence Audit · Standard v2026.1 Issued July 2026 · agenarys.com/guides/contact-paths

Send yourself an email at every published address

Every address on your website, listings, and signage. Confirm each arrives in a mailbox someone reads daily.

Retire any address nobody monitors - an unmonitored info@ is worse than no address at all.

Step 4

Check messaging channels

If you have Google Business Profile messaging, Facebook Messenger, Instagram DMs, or WhatsApp enabled, send yourself a message from another account.

Confirm you get a notification. If you can't respond within a few hours, turn the channel off - an unanswered message channel reads as a business that's closed.

Step 5

Put contact details in the footer of every page

Not just the contact page. Plain text - name, address, phone, hours - in the footer of every single page. This helps customers on any page, and it's what machines read.

Step 6

Every published phone number rings correctly.☐

The number is tappable on mobile.☐ Your form submits, shows a confirmation, and the email arrives (not in spam).☐

Every published email address reaches a monitored inbox.☐

Messaging channels are either monitored or turned off.☐ Contact details are in the footer of every page.☐