Your About Us page is a very important part of your online store. When someone walks into a small brick-and-mortar shop, there’s a face behind the counter. They can see who they are buying from.
Online, there is no such face. The closest you get is the About Us page.
It gives your shoppers the peace of mind of knowing who they are buying from, gaining their trust and eventually their money.
You might say, who even reads the About Us page? You’d be surprised.
How does an About Us page help my business?
According to a study on web usability, 52% of people want to see the About page when they visit a website for the first time.
Another study found that About page visitors are five times more likely to make a purchase and they spend 22.5% more on their purchases.
As they say, the first impression is the last impression!
Whatever product or service you aim to sell, it’s important to build rapport with your customers. Doing it early on in the shopping process allows you to not only connect with new customers but also build a loyal base.
It’s crucial that you show the uniqueness of the business, the problems your services solve for, as well as the values and beliefs of the business.
By giving the details on your company history and including profiles of the key players, you are showing them why they should trust you with their cash.
For eCommerce stores, the About Us page may do more marketing good than any other content, at least at this early stage in the customer journey.
While you may think the About Us page is just an afterthought or isn’t really necessary, leaving it out of your site can push people away. It’s about transparency and making a good first impression.
You want them to choose you over your competitors, don’t you?
Why is an About Us page necessary?
Some business owners will just try to throw together an About Us page or forget about it altogether. In doing so, they risk losing valuable customers.
It’s important to not only include this page but to use it to make a lasting impression on your prospective customers.
Here are a few big reasons why an About Us page is worth your time:
1. Transparency drives customer conversion.
It’s in our nature to find common ground when meeting someone new. We want to get to know them by empathizing with them and having eye contact.
That search for common ground doesn’t stop at new people. We want to know about the businesses we buy from. While we can’t look into their eyes, we can read our way to a similar place.
Shoppers go to your About Us page to get to know you and whether they can trust your business.
The About Us page is often the second most visited page after the homepage, so you’d want to use that page to its fullest. Having a page that capitalizes on a person’s natural curiosity will help your business thrive in the long run.
2. You can stand out from your competitors.
Your About Us page is the best place to show off the uniqueness of your product.
What sets you apart from your competitors? Why should I buy from you instead of them? Answer these questions by talking about your mission and values.
This lets the customers connect with your brand and that connection will keep them coming back.
3. It bolsters your brand image.
Your About Us page contains more than just the history of the company. It also contains the central beliefs of your brand, a glimpse into the workings of the company, and its achievements.
You are creating the image in the customer’s mind. Craft that image to your liking.
Together, all these elements build their trust in your brand, developing loyalty and word of mouth marketing. As this image develops and spreads, so does the impact.
This image affects not only the customer base but also the employees or future employees.
The elements of a good About Us page
Many About Us pages these days all look the same. Consequently, they fail to capture the visitor’s attention, giving them reason enough to leave altogether.
Great About Us pages have a few things in common:
● A design that is easy on the eyes and not stuffed with unnecessary information.
Take Gerard Cosmetics for example. The About Us page for this indie makeup brand has a simple interactive design that showcases their product and brand while still giving a very sophisticated feel.
● Compellingly tells your company story.
In their About page, Death Wish Coffee talks about how it all got started and their simple mission (‘to fuel you wherever you go’).
This gives the customers a view into what they stand for and why they exist.
● Uses exciting visuals to grab the customer's attention.
The retreat.guru website is chock full of images showing off their services and gorgeous retreat locations. This gives their customers a good idea of what they are in for when they book a yoga or meditation retreat. Their About Us page speaks to their authority in the space and features their team’s stories alongside their childhood photos.
● Easy navigation for first-timers.
A simple and straightforward design (like Gerard Cosmetics’) that allows visitors to navigate your site intuitively to get where they need to go next (the shop page, we hope!).
● Feature your bonafides to gain trust.
This means testimonials, awards, and any other accolades that give social proof of your brand’s goodness. Fellow B Corp Cotopaxi features quotes from major magazines attesting to their amazing success and mission.
● Don’t be a faker.
While it should be obvious, it can be tempting to ‘fake it until you make it’. Don’t. Your customer testimonials should be authentic. Customers are savvy and they quickly will sniff out a lie. It’s not a good look for a new business to be found out as deceitful.
● Use a strong call to action.
Once your customer has learned about you, you can move them easily into the sales funnel. Like, to the shop page for immediate immersion. Or send them on to read more about what your company does.
● Give them a way to talk to you.
At the end of your page, include contact information to give customers a way to get in touch. Knowing they can talk to someone adds trust.
How to build an effective About Us template
Knowing how to write an About Us page is about including all the right pieces. Doing it right requires just a few key elements.
With the right combination, you can build a template for any future eCommerce forays.
1. Your unique selling point is the anchor of your story.
What makes you stand out? What pain points do you address for your customers?
Knowing your unique selling points establishes the central thrust of your About page.
2. Deliver your brand story without writing a novel.
The brand story presents you as unique from and better than your competitors.
While another company might have a similar product, they lack the story, mission, and values that define yours.
Now, tell this story briefly and effectively. Keep them engaged and then send them on to shop knowing what makes you special.
3. Describe the problem you are addressing and how your product solves for it.
Customers come to you because they have a pain point, some problem that needs solving.
Demonstrate that you have the answers to their problems.
4. Show the faces of your company.
Humans are intuitively drawn to other human faces. Like the person behind the register at a physical shop, your customers want to see who you are.
Using images of your team humanizes your company and deepens their connection to you.
5. Give visitors a peek behind the curtains.
Considering the increasing demand for transparency in the world, providing a look at the internal workings of your company will help endear you to your customers.
6. Call it what you want.
It doesn’t have to be called the About Us page. Give it your own character. For instance, Meet the Team, Who We Are, or Our Story. It’s your page and your story.
7. How to get in touch.
Having your contact information close at hand lets your visitor know that you have their back when they need it.
Further, telling them where you are in the world (even just your city) gives you more authenticity.
Your takeaway
An About Us page is not just another page. The difference between a good one and a bad one is significant.
It’s not just about making more money. It’s about what your company looks like from the outside. Would you buy from you?
A side effect of doing it right just happens to be more sales. Just as a great resume will help you get a good job, a great About Us page will help you get good customers (and more of them).
