Total: Refining contacts

A logically structured contact facility takes notably dynamic advantage of the web.

The Site

Total, the France-based oil and gas company, makes full use of the online medium to optimise contact management on its corporate website. From Contact, a universal utility link alongside the Search field at the top of pages, users are taken to an overview page that first offers a set of task-oriented links under the heading ‘Our site may already contain the information you are looking for’. For example, ‘Apply for a job or internship’, where the keywords ‘job’ and ‘internship’ are highlighted and linked to specific pages within the site, which open in a new window. Below this is a table of seven topics (for example, Investor Relations-Shareholders-Finance, Gas and Power) which link directly to the corresponding contact details page within Contact. These are mirrored on the page’s left-hand navigation menu.

Each of the seven topic pages is tailored around a mix of links to relevant web pages on the site, customised e-mail forms and standard postal, telephone and fax details for locations and/or businesses plus links to business websites where they exist.

The Takeaway

Total’s Contact pages harness the website to manage enquiries rather than simply provide a directory of ‘’by other means’ routes to its businesses and corporate functions. The result is a thorough, logically structured facility that takes notably dynamic advantage of the online medium.

For a start Contact capitalises on the resource itself, employing an FAQ-based approach to deflect enquirers whose questions can be answered without them leaving the site – a resolution that is quicker and more convenient for them, works the investment the company has made in the site and reduces the information resources it must provide elsewhere. Alternatively, a comprehensive range of different paths is set up for different audiences, with the balance of contact options presented tailored for need. Again, good for users and for enquiry-handling efficiency. Marshalling the contact information into a discrete section of the site and opening links from it in secondary windows allows users to reconsult the contact page easily.

First published on 24 May, 2007