The “about” or “about us” page (or any other variant) is the one that is largely forgotten on most company websites, including (unbelievably) eCommerce ones.
NOTE: For a better setting and situation in the right emotional state, I recommend reading the following paragraph with the music of "Schindler's List" in the background, or something equally tearful.
The about page is the Cinderella of pages. Lost, ignored, abandoned, it languishes in a corner of the menu, often relegated even to a dark corner in the footer. It was the first to be born, when its creators were excited and wanted to tell who they were and why they started this business.
Now it is nothing more than a memory of a happy and innocent past.
It hasn't been updated in years. There she stands, embarrassed at how much her sisters, home page, and product pages are pampered, while she is ignored. Outdated, it is a mere residue of an era that will never return. She could tell many things, but they have silenced her, because what matters are the products. Now her voice, when someone stops to listen to her, sounds like the rustling of the yellowed pages of an old book, while she thinks of all those good times that have been lost in time, like tears in the rain.
Ok, you get an idea.
The point is that the "about" page should be one of the most pampered on an eCommerce website, because it is one of the basic props to build trust. And when you're a stranger, trust has a lot to do with generating that coveted impulse purchase. In fact, if it is important on a company website, in eCommerce the content of the "about" page is essential.
How to Create a Great About Page
The "about" page is supposed to be where you tell your prospect who you are and why you're here. And you do it with the aim of building trust in him or her so that they are encouraged to buy. For that there is a basic and fundamental key: you have to tell the truth.
Being honest is the first thing that any client is going to demand of you, among other things because if you are not, they will catch you very easily. Therefore, do not pretend to be what you are not or present yourself as a large company when your team is made up of three people and a cat. Let's see some keys on how to do it.
1. Forget the corporate tone
Since you are most likely not a large corporation, starting your presentation by talking about your corporate mission, vision and values ​​is not the best idea. Especially because in 90% of cases these corporate values ​​are more an exercise in volunteerism than a reality.
In the same way, presenting who is in charge of the company using the term CEO (Chief Executive Officer) when your team is small does not make your company more important, but more pretentious. Are there really “executives” in your company?
What's more, now the big corporations (at least the most advanced ones) are fleeing like the plague from suits, ties and any element that distances them from their potential clients (see if not what the big bosses of the biggest Internet companies do in their public presentations, from Tim Cook to Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk ).
By God, if Mark Zuckerberg always wears a sweatshirt and sneakers!), it is at least shocking that there are so many SMEs determined to equip themselves with the veneer of a large corporation, believing that this makes them more solvent, when it is just the opposite. It makes them more distant.
2. Tell a story
An "about" page is much more than a set of billing and sales data and figures (which I would not even put in many cases). It is the place where you will tell your story. That does not mean that you count each and every one of the milestones of your company from its origins. but you do say where you come from and why you decided or decided to start this business.
People like to see how companies evolve. Use a "storytelling" style to tell a story in which there are emotions, which seeks the emotional involvement of whoever reads it.
3. Introduce your team
It is by far the most important part of the "about" page. People want to know who is behind a brand or a logo . You have to put faces to your business, humanize it and even give them a voice on that page. Introduce all the members of your team if you are few and the management staff if you are many, but do not do it coldly. No convict type photos but with a suit and tie.
Careful photos, portrait style, in which something of the character of that person is seen. Or casual or fun photos if that is the message you want to convey. Each one with a brief presentation text and a link to their social networks for those who want to know more about them.
4. Be careful with the videos
Adding videos to your "about" page is fine. Even creating a video presentation is even better. But be careful with those videos. Either they are spontaneous and people show themselves as they are, or they resort to an animated video. Nothing is more horrifying than a corporate video in which executives in ties talk stiffly about their company as if they've swallowed a broomstick. The style of the video has to be consistent with the message you want to convey to your customers.
5 terrible design mistakes… that you should not make in your eCommerce
5. No triumphalism, hanging medals and empty messages
“We have the best team of professionals”, “the satisfaction of our clients is our goal”, “we are a great company at your service” and other similar messages are one of those things that should make the computer self-destruct when trying to write them. . These are messages that, by dint of repeating themselves thousands of times, no longer mean anything.
What company does not say of itself that it has the best team? Do you know someone who says "we have an average team, but it's the best we can afford"? Being the best, giving the best service, that kind of thing, is proven with facts, and it is a thousand times more interesting to have a page where your own customers talk about you than to make those kinds of empty content claims on your page. "about".
My recommendation is that you be humble , that you do not seek to place yourself above anyone and that you try to win the complicity of whoever sees your “about” page.
6. Are you listed on the stock market? Do not? Well save the economic data
If you win little money, or lose it, surely you will not want to count it. Well, if you win a lot, don't count it either . Anyone who wants to know your billing should ask you, or else look in the Mercantile Registry, since these data are public.
When you earn a lot of money, the perception in those who read you may be that you are scamming them, and that you could earn a little less and sell cheaper.
If you want to give data, do it about your clients, but don't lie. It is scandalous, when not laughable, to see how many startups that claimed to have hundreds of thousands of clients have closed after three months. It is better to manage customer satisfaction statistics or submit to external audits or reports, in which a third party certifies that, in fact, you are the one that sells the most or is the best valued by its customers.
7. Show that you have a future strategy
Tell your plans, they are almost never super secret and they will end up copying you anyway. Show that you have prospects and that your company is not conformist . Tell people how far you want to go from a realistic perspective and what your challenges are for the immediate future: internationalization, growth, new products, new markets...
8. Be socially responsible, and talk about it
Companies that carry out corporate social responsibility actions are always better valued. Above all, if those actions demonstrate your involvement with the social fabric that surrounds you. CSR is not just charitable actions, it goes much further. What you do for the benefit of the community should be featured prominently on your "about" page.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the digital age
9. Create a press room
If you want the press to talk about you, you have to issue press releases regularly , and you should seek professional advice for this. The media that are interested in your sector, especially the digital ones and blogs, are hungry for news but have little time and resources to start writing, so you will have to give it to them.
10. Either you update the "about" page regularly, or better delete it
Too many companies have an absolutely outdated “about” page, which creates a lousy impression of abandonment . You need to update it regularly, whenever there is a change and at least once a year.
I personally use these pages as a "cotton test": if it is not up to date, the company in question is not taking care of its Internet presence as it should.
As you can see, more than an “about” page, we are talking about a whole category of pages within the main menu. At least that's how it should be. The reason is very simple: people want companies that are increasingly transparent and that do not lie to them. The best thing is that you speak about yourself, and do not wait for others to do it for you.
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