Form vs. Email Address: Customizing Contact
I might ruffle some feathers, but I want to address a constant debate I see between artists and casting directors when it comes to your website’s contact page: whether you should include your direct email address or keep it safe behind a form.
There are really three options for a contact page:
Direct Email Address
Contact Form
Team Contact Information
Forms help protect artists’ email inboxes from spam. Casting wants to be able to quickly send attachments. Previously, it was difficult to share attachments through forms. However, Squarespace now allows uploads to their NEW forms!
This is not a one-size-fits-all solution; I don’t pretend to know everything. I do want to discuss some pros and cons of different choices, share a few tips and examples, and invite you to ask questions or leave a comment.
Direct Email Address
While this allows industry collaborators to include attachments, posting your email address on your website (or elsewhere) makes you extremely susceptible to spam and inappropriate messages. Would you include your apartment address to allow physical mail from the entire world?
Spammers use web scraping tools to harvest and sell email addresses, resulting in a deluge of unwanted messages from many different service providers.
Tip One: Hide Address
To help cut down on spam, you can link text or a button, but you still run the risk of inappropriate messages. Here’s an example:
Tip Two: Obfuscate Address
You can replace the “@” symbol such as how Tess Primack shares her email address in the image here: directly people looking to share materials to use tess(at)tessprimack.com
Tip Three: Share email alias
Imagine if Oprah tried to use oprah@oprah.com as her primary email address. She would be flooded with email!
Consider setting up an email alias for general messages. You might try info@yourname.com, hello@yourname.com, or even acting@yourname.com. In your email inbox, you can set up filters that flag messages sent to that specific email alias.
Here’s an example, with our client DTD Presents, an event production company founded on doing things differently.
We used the email alias events@dtdpresents.com throughout their website. This email alias was formatted to send the message to both co-founders as well as place a green label on these emails that says ❇️ LEAD ❇️
Contact Form
While all of the direct email options above reduce spam, you still run the risk of receiving inappropriate messages. As such, we still recommend using a contact form, and have additional solutions for artists and casting below.
On the guest side, filling out a form is a straightforward process. Your audience doesn't need to open an email browser, compose a message, or worry about subject lines. Instead, they’re able to enter information while staying on your website.
On the admin side, forms provide a structured way to collect inquiries and keep your email address private. You have an area “backstage” to see all form submissions, and you can now style forms to match the aesthetic of your website.
We recommend enabling Google Captcha on forms as an extra layer of protection — verifying a sender is not a spam bot. This is now included on Squarespace 7.1, as well as the ability to easily grow your email list by keeping a tick box to opt-in.
Tip Five: Add options for attachments
If you’re on Squarespace, check out the new form field to accept file uploads. This allows you to receive attachments, such as sides for an audition.
Not on Squarespace? No problem! Here’s a workaround.
ADD TEXT AFTER FORM:
Upload Attachments
Team Contact Information
Obviously, not every artist has representation. That said, I would make this your primary goal as an artist. You deserve a team advocating for you and protecting you from extraneous noise. Adding team members can help you create more freedom and focus on what’s important to you.
For those artists who don’t love or trust their team, I would make it your goal to nurture those relationships or secure new reps.
Regardless of your relationship with reps, if you have them, it’s always possible to lead with contact information for your team but still include ways to “Direct Message” you.
Tip Six: Include “DM” as Secondary Option
Notice how we’re leading with an easy way to grab Jeanne Sakata’s preferred photos, bios, and resumes — then directing visitors to her reps in different areas.
In the third section, it’s still possible to send Jeanne a direct message.
Note to Casting
I know how difficult your job is: juggling projects, submissions, scheduling/rescheduling, and the 10k emails you receive daily!
That said, if you’re asking hundreds of artists to invest hours creating options for you, please take a few extra minutes when dispersing sides to create a link to download them for those using forms on their websites that don’t allow for file uploads.
You can upload the PDF to your website, GoogleDrive, or Dropbox and control security as needed per document — setting passwords, sharing access with specific emails, expiration dates, etc.
Note to Artists
Customize your contact page based on how much access you want the public to have in sharing messages with you.
We recommend using forms with file uploads and counting your losses for casting directors who don’t have your direct email address and won’t use your website form. If you’re expected to know how to create, edit, and share self-tape auditions in a matter of hours, I think it’s reasonable to expect a casting director to know how to share links to PDFs through Google Drive, Dropbox, or other cloud storage. 🤷
I think this boils down to FOMO (fear of missing out) for many artists and you might consider having a “return policy” for your business.
How many days do you require to deliver a good product?
In the same way I’m encouraging casting to keep sides accessible by link, you might consider having a library of clips or previous self-tape auditions you can share.
In the event of a last-minute audition with sides, here’s how I would respond:
Hi {First Name},
In order to deliver the best product, I’d need {# days} for this material. Since the deadline is {date}, here’s comparable material from {piece}.
{Link(s) to comparable work}
I hope this keeps me in consideration. If the team is willing to accept auditions after {deadline}, let me know and I’ll work on this ASAP!
I truly hope this helps and gives everyone some options and ideas for how they handle communications starting from their websites. Artists can help protect themselves through reps or contact forms, and use one of the options above to accept attachments through their site. Casting can help themselves receive more submissions by providing links to access attachments when contacting artists through their websites.
