How to Write an About Us Page
Whether you are just starting out or have been running a successful store for a while, a killer About Us page can be a powerful marketing tool to increase conversions by building trust and relationships with your customers.
Global eCommerce retail sales are forecast to rise to over $6.5 trillion and account for 22% of all global retail sales by 2023. A great About Us page can give your store an easy extra competitive advantage in this rapidly expanding market.
This guide briefly details how to create an About Us page that will build trust, drive sales and improve retention rates for your store.
What Is an About Us Page?
An About Us page gives customers an insight into who is involved in an eCommerce store and the company’s story.
A good About Us page is authentic, personable and memorable. By harnessing a company’s personal story and unique selling points, a strong About Us page will create an impact that drives sales.
To give the potential customer a glimpse into the company, a remarkable About Us page breaks down these key points for the potential customer:
- Provide a straightforward mission
- Tell your company story
- Establish how your business evolved
- Offer insight into your inspiration
- Describe who the business serves
- Breakdown your product offering
- Offer social proof with real customer examples
- Detail the business values
In short, an About Us page is a reflection of the personality and purpose of your business and its co-founders.
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Why Is It Necessary to Have an About Us Page?
eCommerce retail sales are rapidly expanding, with the US market alone forecast to grow 16.1% in 2022, reaching over USD $1 Trillion. With competition becoming increasingly fierce, an About Us page can help a business gain a competitive advantage.
Potential customers place a lot of value on price, customer service and the delivery experience, however the company’s story can be one of its biggest selling points. This company story and individualization is particularly valuable for an online store that is selling products that are offered by other stores.
In the book “Likeonomics”, Rohit Bhargava argues that: “There is a real ROI to likeability, and exactly how big it is will amaze you.” Your About Us page can directly impact your company’s success by connecting with your potential shoppers on a personal level.
There is real-life demand for a unique story. 52% of consumers said the first thing they wanted to see when they landed on an online store was an About Us page. Because site visitors are interested in the brand story, use the About Us page as a page for store storytelling and to inspire trust.
This makes the About Us page of your online store one of the most important pages of your website. 73% of shoppers care about the company and not just the product when making a purchase. Your target customer will check whether they share your company’s mission and core values when deciding to make a purchase.
Your About Us page should drive sales by highlighting your major selling points to curious shoppers, enabling them to connect with your brand and leave a lasting positive first impression. Ultimately the goal is to drive sales by building trust.
How to Write an About Us Page
Creating an effective About Us page can give you a competitive edge, increasing sales through developing trust and relationships.
Here are eight easy tips to build a hard-hitting About Us page:
1. Introduce Your Mission Statement
To build your own story for your site visitors, jump straight into a statement that clearly identifies your company’s purpose. Answering the following questions can help you build a verbal picture of your store’s mission:
- What does your company do?
- How does your company do what it does?
- Why does your company do what it does?
This information gives the reader something to remember about your company. Take extra effort with your website copy to make your customers feel like they are buying into your personal brand.
2. Talk About Your Unique Value Proposition
Your value proposition clearly differentiates you from the competition. Communicating your competitive advantage will demonstrate why potential customers should purchase from your store.
This is different from a statement, slogan, or tagline, as a well written value proposition will go deeply into the problem that your product or service will solve. Follow these three tips breaking down a good value proposition:
- Direct Language: Aim to clearly identify your customers needs
- Breakdown the outcome: Directly address how your product will meet your customers needs
- What sets you apart: Summarize what differentiates your store from the competition
Putting together a value proposition will help you understand your target customers and place your store as the solution to their needs.
3. Tell Your Story
Brand storytelling can give customers a strong reason to purchase from your store. When done well, a good story that makes sense can inspire trust moving forward for first time visitors.
The company history will help shoppers understand the direction your company is going, as they get to know how the business got to where it is.
Successful serial entrepreneur Mike Kappel sums up his perception on telling your brand’s story:
”Telling the story of your brand is an ongoing process. Each day, your business grows, shifts, and adds new chapters to its story. Make business storytelling an essential part of your operations to attract and retain customers.”
The company history will help shoppers understand the direction your company is going, as they get to know how the business got to where it is.
4. Share What’s Going on Behind the Scenes
Transparency can be an effective marketing tool. Provide curious customers a peak at what is going on behind the scenes to help them connect with the human side of your business.
Employ visual elements like photos of your product being manufactured to gain credibility and brand value. Here are five quick benefits of lifting the lid on your store:
- Builds your brand personality: People love to hear the story behind your humble beginnings.
- Feels realistic: Makes your business appear more down to earth and human.
- Show your inspiration: This adds value to your product or service and can make your customers feel like they are part of the process.
- Showcase your product: This is the perfect opportunity to focus on the quality of your product and develop trust.
- Develops understanding of your core values: Your company culture and company history mentioned earlier will be easy to understand and put into an everyday context.
5. Explain Who Your Customer Is
Remind your audience why they visited your site by identifying and mentioning your core customer. This will confirm that your business is the one they want to purchase from and dedicated to meeting their specific needs
While your About Us page can serve many purposes, a primary goal is to clarify exactly what you do and who you serve. Targeting different personas would require a different approach in your written content. Your language must relate to your visitors and address their needs.
6. Write About Case Studies and Testimonials
Use your About Us page to showcase social proof in the form of case studies and testimonials on your own site. Your potential buyer can envision themselves in the same position and this may influence their purchasing decision.
Use the last time you purchased a product online as inspiration to describe the customer case study or testimonial. You can break it down in more detail with a structure like the following:
- Discover a need/desire
- Find a product
- Read reviews
- Purchase
This information should be easily accessible for your potential buyers research and can be crucial in making or breaking a sale.
7. Talk About Your Brand Values
Core values can be valuable in differentiating your brand from your competitors. With 80% of shoppers forgetting branded content within three days, your values can resonate with your target customers, building a human connection.
Your core brand principles are the beliefs that your company stands for, the compass that guides your decision-making process. These core values are usually expressed in five or six bullet points, clearly stating the ethos behind your company culture.
8. Always Keep the Page Updated
Make sure your About Us page is kept well organized and constantly updated. Treat it like your store’s résumé, the more regularly you update it the less time it takes. An old outdated page will break down the trust and connection you are aiming to inspire.
There is a range of content you can experiment with on your own page, like including a video or contact details, or linking your contact page or other pages. You can expand the web page as your business grows over time.
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What To Avoid on Your About Us Page?
Now that we have broken down what makes a great About Us page, it’s time to understand what things to avoid:
Distract Readers
Make sure your words are the focus of the page. Good layout and design allow your content to stand out and make an impact. Bad design will do the opposite and draw attention away. Constantly review the page with fresh eyes to avoid this.
Forget to Tell People What You Do
Potential shoppers won’t be inclined to put in the extra effort to figure out what your product is. It can be beneficial to put some clear sentences at the top of your About Us page. This will ensure your customers know exactly what your business does and what your store sells.
Cram in Too Much
While your About Us page is one of the most important web pages for your business, there is more than one page on your website. Keep it snappy and provide more detailed information about the same things on another landing page, social media link or blog post.
Exaggeration
Avoid tired clichés, for obvious reasons. If a business states a product is going to disrupt a whole industry and it doesn’t, then customers will lose trust in the business. Save the superlatives for your social media outlets as pages overloaded with terms like popular, affordable or durable can harm your credibility through exaggeration.
Although, if you can back up these statements and prove why, there is no reason to be shy and not include this in your copy.
Forgetting a Call to Action
Decide what action you want visitors to take on your About Us page. This will depend on the information you are delivering and what your target audience is searching for. Arguably, your About Us page is a highly effective tool to inspire your website visitors to make a purchase, without being a direct pitch.
Stock Photos
Stock photos can be spotted a mile away and will weaken your credibility. Always use real people and places, whenever possible. An effective alternative can be a photo of yourself with your business partners, enjoying yourselves in keeping with your brand. This can not only reinforce your store’s story, but add a human connection.
Forgetting Feedback
Don’t hesitate to ask for feedback on your About Ust page from as wide a range of people as possible. Feedback can be a valuable tool to ensure your About Ust page is effective at promoting your business in keeping with your vision.
Direct Sales Pitch
Your About Us page should encourage your potential shoppers to take the next step and make a purchase from your business. A direct pitch will turn off those visitors who are looking to learn more about your store.
About Us Page Template
Writing for new markets and audiences can be a daunting task. If you’re not sure where to start when creating a killer About Us page, check out page templates to kick off your inspiration.
Use the following five points to build the structure for your copy:
- Mission statement
- Vision statement
- Values
- Target Market Summary
- Brief company history
When putting together your copy, try to shy away from writing in the third person, as this will make it less personal. Using the first person can establish a human connection. Your store’s About Us page is about your hard work, so describe the journey from your personal perspective.
Examples of Effective About Us Pages
Every eCommerce store is unique. That’s why there is a wide range of About Us pages and styles to take inspiration from. Have a look these five real-life examples and adapt what you like to fit your store:
1. Yeti. Bring in the power of storytelling.
The About Us page for YETI Coolers focuses clearly on breaking down the brand’s story. It brings together a focus on the user experience while detailing the company’s values by explaining who their ideal customers are.
By telling the human side of the business’ story through the founder’s personal life, this online store can feel like a local business. Interesting About Us page examples will have a past, present and future when telling the story of their brand.
An About Us page that successfully has all these three stages can build trust and a human connection with their customers. YETI Coolers did a great job of telling their story to connect and engage with their About Us page visitors.
They review what they did before they started the company and what drove them to launch the business. This is followed by what the company is doing now and dropping some hints at where the company is heading in the future.
2. Eight Hour Day. Keep it short and sweet.
You can keep it simple and effective like Eight Hour Day in this About Us page example. Rather than overthinking the About Us page, they write briefly about their philosophy, mission and values.
Even with these few lines they showcase the founders behind the company, letting the customer understand their values. This humanizes the brand, especially using language and emojis that can inspire and bring forward emotion.
By focusing on describing who they are, they focus on the most important and necessary elements of an About Us page. By simply telling your customer who you are and what you do, you can engage people in a direct friendly manner and improve conversions.
3. Happy Socks. Using color and images.
While you can make an effective About Us page with nothing but text, images and bold use of color can make it more interesting. In these About Us page examples, the Happy Socks’ About Us page is very visual and easy to go through.
When including these elements, focus on what adds value to your About Us page and the story you are building. Unrelated images may make customers lose interest or even trust. In this case, the store is known for its bold style, and the striking design builds on the pre-existing brand aesthetic.
4. Mailchimp. Share your inspiring company mission and vision.
Your About Us page is the perfect place to share your company values. Checking out these About Us page examples, you can see that Mailchimp’s About Us page highlights their company’s culture and commitments.
They back up their commitment to corporate citizenship by detailing their $12 Million investment in small organizations. They breakdown that their business values are guided by their customers, resulting in their brand promise:
“Our customers repeatedly asked us to spread the Mailchimp magic to other channels. They taught us that Mailchimp’s brand promise is to help small businesses ‘look pro and grow,’ no matter the channel.”
89% of shoppers stay loyal to brands that share their values. Your company can create a connection with the customers through shared values demonstrated on your About Us page.
5. Marion Digital Marketing. Connect your customers with real people and real results.
One of the easiest ways to connect with your customers is to show them the real people they will be purchasing from. Show off the team behind the business. Marion Digital Marketing effectively combines this with proof of the team’s achievements.
Tony Mastri from Marion Digital Marketing breaks this down:
“An important element to include in the About Us section of your site is some sort of proof of your efficacy. Linking to a case study or award that you’ve won for a product or service is a great way to show that you walk the talk.”
Showcasing your team and their achievements can be just what your visitors need to build trust in your business.
FAQ
What Is an About Us Page?
Your About Us page is where your website visitors click to learn more about your company and the goods or services your store offers.
An About Us page is used by all types of businesses to give customers an insight into the team behind the business and exactly what it does.
What Does a Good About Us Page Include?
While the primary goal of an About Us page is to provide information about your company and what it can deliver, the text on these pages is a powerful marketing tool.
It can be the first page a visitor to your store looks for. Thomas Harpointner, CEO of AIS Media, states that the About Us page is “among the top three pages visitors look for when they visit a site.”
Entice potential shoppers with your aspirations and company history, while aiming to make a lasting connection by bringing in an honest human element. This can help you build a relationship with the customer and develop trust, with the ultimate aim of driving more sales.
What Content Should Be On the About Us Page?
Your About Us page should include the basics, such as when your store launched, who your company serves, it’s goals and mission. As it is all about trust and relationships. Focus on connecting with your website traffic.
You can share what makes your company unique. While other stores may sell a similar product, your team’s unique personalities, company history, perspectives and goals should be showcased.
These compelling stories, aims and anecdotes can provide a middle ground to charm a wide range of your potential clients.
How do I write an About Us page?
Your About Us page is a way for customers to learn about your company and develop a sense of trust. You can break it down into these five steps:
- Introduce your team
- Explain the problem that inspired the business to form
- Breakdown the solution and what obstacles you overcame to find it
- Share the achievements of your company
- Detail your business aims and vision for the future
To Sum Up
Creating an effective About Us page will increase sales by inspiring trust in your business. With this quick breakdown, you build an About Us page that is a powerful marketing tool.
This article details how an About Us page can boost sales, how you can create a high performing goal-orientated page for your store, and a range of examples to inspire you.
What is your favorite About Us page and why? Did we miss some eCommerce solutions that should be on this list? Give us a shout in the comments below.
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Written by
Baiba Blain
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