The Importance of a Good About Page and What to Include

An ecommerce store’s About page is a critical element of the shopping experience. Customers expect to find this page and many of them use its content in their purchasing decision. 

Sadly, many ecommerce entrepreneurs don’t give this page the attention it deserves. They slap up something quick because they know they ought to, and then never visit the page again. 

In this article, we're going to explain why an About page is important and how to create your own. 

Why You Need an About Page

Customers are concerned about more than just product details these days. They have a lot of options, so they want to know about the companies they choose to do business with. They want to know about you on a personal level. 

According to research by KoMarketing, 52% of customers want to read an About page when they consider buying products from a new store. This makes the page an absolute necessity.

You see, it all comes down to trust. If you want customers to buy from you, you have to make them trust you. 31% of customers say trustworthiness is the most important part of their decision making process that leads to a purchase. 

A key way to build that trust is with a well-crafted About page. This page helps establish you as a real business with a story and mission. It helps your potential customers know if you are someone they want to give their money to. 

How to Create an Effective About Page

Creating a good About page is actually easy. It doesn’t require advanced writing or design skills. As the ecommerce owner or manager, you are the perfect person to create this page. Follow these tips to design an effective About page. 

Tell your story

Your customers want to know about you. This is the one place where you can talk about yourself, not the customer. Give them your entire story, right from the beginning, including how you started your store and grew it to its current level. Storytelling is a powerful way to connect deeply with your audience while simultaneously creating trust and empathy. 

Don’t be afraid to get personal here. Tell them about your struggles and obstacles. Brag about your victories and successes. And then tell them where you hope to go in the future. Notice how Sweet Loren tells a story that’s far greater than their products.

Here are a few key questions your page should answer:

• Who are you? What is your background?
• What do you do? How do you contribute to the brand?
• How does your store improve or change customer lives?
• What value do you offer that customers can’t get anywhere else?
• What is your story? Why did you start your store? What inspired you?
• How are you different from your competitors? Why does that matter?
• Have you been successful? How much and in what ways?
• What is your vision for the future? What do you hope to achieve?

If possible, try to tie your story into something your customers love. Yes, you may have started your store in order to make a lot of money, but there’s probably more to it than that. Dig deep so your customers know you aren’t just a business. 

Use your brand’s voice

Your About page is an excellent opportunity to use your brand voice. Your voice is not what you say. It’s how you say it. Are you stiff and professional? Silly and humorous? Do you tell long-winded stories with an emotional element, or do you get straight to the facts? Whatever your voice is, make sure it aligns with the rest of your brand: your site, press releases, social media pages, emails, etc.

Notice how Bliss exhibits their personality through images, copy, and design.

Mention your team

Customers love to see the names and faces of real people who are part of your team. It helps humanize your business so your customers can make a connection with your brand. If your team is small, list the names and backgrounds of everyone.

Larq does a great job of putting its people front-and-center.

If your team is large, you should at least mention your company's leadership and the people your customers are most likely to come in contact with. Along with their bios, explain what they do, their backgrounds, and any qualifications or credentials new customers may want to know about.

Add testimonials and customer feedback

Your customers care what other customers think about your store. 90% of customers admit that positive reviews and feedback influence their decision to buy.

If you want customers to think you’re the best store to meet their needs, you need to show them what past customers think. You can do this by showing off testimonials, reviews, or data that create social proof. 

Show lots of photos and videos

While the bulk of your page will probably be text, it's also a good idea to include lots of high-quality images about your business. Show photos of your team and your customers. Show customers what happens behind the scenes. Nike is very good at creating narrative with images.

If possible, create a video in your brand's style. Be sure to include plenty of your products. And if you can, ask one of your top customers to participate so they can talk about your brand and how it helped them.

Include a call-to-action

The final element on your About page should be a call-to-action that entices visitors to engage further with your brand. This can provide a big boost to your conversion rate.

Your call-to-action can be anything you like. You might direct visitors to important shopping categories/collections. Or you might ask them to follow you on social media or sign up to your email list. Ideally, you should offer an incentive at this point. Someone reading your About page is a warm customer, so give them a little boost to move forward.

This brand adds some links to other interesting content at the bottom of their About page. If you’re interested, you can dive into these pages to learn more.

Avoid these mistakes

When it comes to your About page, you have a lot of room for creativity, but that doesn’t mean you should include just anything. Here are some things that don’t belong on your page.

• Sales pitch - It’s okay to talk about your products, but this page is not for selling. People won’t trust you if you use this as an opportunity to sell.
• Too much text - 38% of people will stop reading a page if they are presented with a wall of text. Use images and creative layouts to give the page some breathing room. 
• Too much imagery - Just like too much text is a problem, so are too many images and videos. You need some text to add context and information. Don’t rely only on visual media. 
• Meaningless content / fluff - People only read about 28% of the words on an average web page, so keep your content succinct and to-the-point. It’s okay to add personality, but don’t get carried away with long-winded stories. 

Make your About page easy to find

Most of your shoppers won’t visit your About page, but some will really want to see it. So it’s important not to hide this page somewhere hard to find. It probably doesn’t need to be in your primary menu (save that for shopping links), but there should definitely be a link to it in your footer.

Update your About page regularly

You don’t want your visitors to read outdated information on your About page. They might draw inaccurate conclusions about your business. For instance, if you used to work with a charity, but don’t anymore, it’s important to scrub that off your About page so customers don’t purchase under the assumption that some of their money is going to a cause. 

How often should you update your About page? We recommend that you give it a quick read every six months, but don’t ignore it for longer than a year. 

Key Takeaway

The About page is one of the most visited pages of any ecommerce site. It’s your one chance to make a good first impression. This means it deserves your time and attention. It’s important to provide your customers with all of the information they need to make a purchase, which includes your story, team, and mission.

If you design your page well (and avoid being boring and generic), your About page will boost your conversions and ultimately your revenue.

Also in News