In the past few months we published quite a few articles highlighting the importance of an eCommerce homepage, product page, checkout page as well as the way you display the website navigation. While many people invest almost all of their time (and money) in designing, re-designing, and organizing the information on these pages which have proven to impact conversions and sales, a lot less attention is given to pages which almost every website features such as the contact information, the About Us page and the brand's history.
While we do believe that you should be thinking and striving to make your homepage and product pages nothing less than attractive to your customers’ eyes, informative and sales oriented, we are also very well aware that presenting your brand’s values, putting a face next to a brand’s name and telling your story can make a whole lot of difference in customers trusting your website rather than trusting more the competition out there.
Blue Acorn did a very interesting research on this particular topic; according to their data, users who visit a brand’s About Us page are 5 times more likely to buy a product from the brand. Moreover, the same users spend around 22.5% more on their purchases than other customers who did not browse the 'about the brand' page.
So what does that tell us? The first obvious thing is that you should invest some of your time and efforts in designing a good About Us page that contains relevant information to your potential customers. The second thing that the above-mentioned data point towards is the power of a brand’s voice. A voice that addresses its customers and tells them the personal story behind the brand is a voice that is heard above others.
To help you communicate your brand to your customers in a compelling way, we put together a smart guide to a great About Us page that will resonate with those reading it.
The About Us page is not your 'sell page'
A lot of brands (and we mean a lot) make the same mistake: the About Us page is filled with promises to customers and ways in which they will be happy with the services and products. While it is important to assure your customers you are professional and you offer quality services and products, selling these points directly and in a straightforward manner will disappoint readers. They clicked the About Us page to find out more about the brand, its values and the people in charge, not to hear you brag about your products.
After all, your product pages should contain all the relevant information in regard to quality as well as descriptive sales points.
Your About Us page should be about you, not about sales.
Trust is the keyword
What you want users to think once they skim your About Us is that you are trustworthy. If users trust you, they will more likely buy from you and stay loyal to your brand.
So how do you make them trust you? Having great products, quality shipping services and answering their requests timely is key to make customers come back and buy some more.
But those who haven’t purchased yet from you or are not sure if they want to will probably click on your About US page first. Here is your chance to win them over. Tell them about yourself, who you are and why you launched the brand.
Getting personal means that you are not hiding something and that you are a real life person that puts his/her name next to the brand’s name. Users will trust you more if they know your story and who you are.
If you are not comfortable with publishing a picture and a full name, use your first name. Tell users how and why you started your business and what are the core values of your brand.
Also, tell them what you do to make sure these values are put in action and customers are truly cherished.
Tell the story how the brand started
Users may be interested in reading how your brand started and how did it get to wherever it currently stands. Even if the story seems uninteresting to you, details about the hurdles you had to overcome and the successes that made you proud will make your brand’s story more emotional. Emotions are what bring people together.
Ditching the corporate story for a more personal one makes you way more likable to your audience.
Use multimedia to show the invisible
What users see on your website is your logo, and that is it. How about showing them that there is more to your brand than just a nice design?
If you work in a nice office, why not take a few shots and show where the business happens. If you’re not camera shy, a few images of you and your collaborators while at work will enable users to connect more personally to your brand's voice.
If you would rather not get that up and personal, ask your loyal customers to describe your brand and let others know why these clients keep coming back to you.
Finally, make sure your About Us page is visible on your homepage. You may not include it in your main navigation; however, let customers find it as easily as possible.