Contact Information
Let people know how to reach your organization, office, or individuals if they have questions.
Why use this content type
When you author Contact Information on Mass.gov, you’re creating a chunk of information that can be added to pages, so visitors know who or which office to contact if they have further questions. It is different than other content types because it never stands alone. Visitors only see it embedded in other pages. When you update your Contact Information (e.g., phone numbers, email addresses), it will update on every page that contains a Contact Information module.
Contact Information can be added to all content types other than Promotional and Topic pages.
Important: In the CMS, you will be able to author or edit a Contact Information “page” that is only visible to Mass.gov authors. However, this “page” is only for internal use: Regular visitors will get an error if they click on links to it. Never link to Contact Information either inline or in link fields, except in fields called Contacts
Alternatives to Contact Information
The Person content type can be used to add contact information for an individual to pages across Mass.gov. Unlike with the Contact Information content type, you can use the Person content type to create a page with a publicly accessible URL.
You can also add contact information within rich text fields without using the Contact Information content type.
How Contact Information displays on different content types
Content Information displays differently on different content types.
On Organization pages, it appears
Under "Contact us" in the sub-navigation bar that runs across the page under the title
In a “Contact us” section that can be located anywhere on the page
On the back end of the Org page, under the Title Banner tab, you select the Contact Information from an autocomplete field.
On most most other content types (Curated Lists, Information Details, Service pages, etc.), Contact Information appears both at the bottom of the page and on the right-hand side. On Guides, Contact Information only appears on the right-hand side.
Customizing how Contact Information displays
As noted above, you can create multiple versions of Contact Information for your organization and use the different versions on different pages. This can be used to make your Contact Information shorter or longer.
One way to streamline how Contact Information displays on an Organization page is to skip the Primary Contact Information field. Instead, you can link to a separate Information Details or Curated List page that includes a contacts list or directory from a field such as Who We Serve that includes a Rich text toolbar. But note that a "Contact us" tab won't appear on the sub-navigation bar under your page title if you choose this option.
How to create Content Information
Contact tab
Display and Administrative title
The Display title is what appears on the page at the top of a Contact information block. The Administrative title does not appear on the page, but rather is used by authors to manage Contact Information within the CMS. You might, for example, create 2 Contact Information items with identical Display titles of “Department of Technology Services”—1 that includes just an email address and another that includes an email address, phone number, and more. You could give them different Administrative titles so that you can tell them apart while in “editor” mode.
Description
This description will only be seen if you create a Curated List with the People and Contacts subtype. Adding a description allows you to give people more information about the contact.
Addresses and Phone Numbers
Mass.gov adheres to AP style guidelines for addresses. This means that all addresses must follow this format:
Abbreviate “Street,” “Avenue,” and “Boulevard,” but spell out everything else
For example: 200 North Road but 200 North St.
Phone number formatting: (XXX) XXX-XXXX
Link(s)
Link
Use the Link field to add a link to a contact form or staff directory.
Email
Use the Email field to add an email address.
Hours
If possible, you should use the typical hours field, even though it means selecting each day and time individually. This will help keep formatting uniform across Mass.gov, which contributes to a better user experience. You can add hours in 5-minute increments.
If you have different sets of hours, for example winter and summer hours, click the "Add group of hours" button to add more groupings. Make sure to add a group title for each since the public will see these titles above the groups.
Organization
You’ll find the Organization(s) field at the bottom of the first tab in every Mass.gov content type, and in documents. This field tells Mass.gov’s search which pages belong to which organization. This field also powers the "Offered by" relationship indicator that displays at the top of all Mass.gov pages. Making sure your Organization(s) field is filled out correctly will help users who land on your content find their way to your Organization Page.
Labels
Use the Label(s) field if you plan on using this Contact Information to build an automatic list for a directory.
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