Everyone is keen about building a strong call-to-action, run email campaign, a large product gallery to get more sales from their eCommerce website. But have you ever considered the eminence of the ‘About’ page on your online store? Almost all websites have an ‘About’ page. Unfortunately, most webmasters create this page randomly. As a result, the page becomes too insignificant to serve its purpose.
This is the point where you need to pause and reconsider some aspects:
- Have I created my ‘About’ page properly?
- Does this page serve the purposes for which it was created?
- Am I able to use the page accurately for my business?
Most of the times, a new customer on the website is likely to visit the ‘About’ page to find more information about your business, services, company background, etc. Hence, this is the most important section of the website to build trustworthiness about your online business. If you are able to build this trust, they are keen to take various actions- subscribe to the email list, browse through different products, participate in a contest, register for a free trial or even purchase an item. Therefore, the first step is the most vital- it starts with your ‘About’ page where you win the trust of your target audience. Now the point is- how to create a powerful ‘About’ page? To make sure your ‘About’ page serves the purpose successfully, you need to keep a keen eye on the following goals:
Welcome Your Audiences
No it does not mean starting the page with “Welcome to my website” or something similar.
When a visitor is on your page, there are only a few seconds to catch the attention. Any extra line without information leads to wastage of time of the viewer. Be straightforward, easy going, and interesting to avoid bounce out. Herein are few things you can add to make this page interesting:
Use Graphics, Videos, and Images
Even in the virtual world, using photos of people running the business bestows a community feeling that connects with your audiences. Visitors can see the staff and owner regulating the business. It helps to build trust and the urge to take more actions on the website. You can include your photos, group photos of the team, special events, etc.
Address Your Target Audience
Every business niche is different and so is your target audience who wants to buy products or services from you. You can identify them by their problems, demographics, and other factors. While writing your bio, introducing your services, or anything else, always make sure it meets the needs of your customers.
Include a Headline
A meaningful and concise headline in bold and large fonts can clearly state what your business is all about. For instance, if you are selling apparels and accessories, then you can use anything like “The Online Store for Fashion and Lifestyle”.
Clearly Explain What You Do
The main information, your audiences want to find at the ‘About’ page is what products or services you can offer, how these products and services meet their requirements or solves their problems, etc. This is why you need to clearly define what you offer, how you can solve the problems of the buyers, what needs do you address, etc. Include these aspects in the text part of your ‘About’ page.
Build Trust and Credibility
The prime goal of creating the ‘About’ page is to build reliability of your online business. Having seen the photos and the appealing headline, people would like to read further to get more information. This is the place to build the credibility of your online store. Include the following elements to accord value to this page:
Storytelling- History of Your Brand and Business
Every business has a history. Present this journey in form of a story, mentioning the landmark events, how you established this brand, your products, etc. Presenting the brand story is an art in itself and an excellent marketing strategy to build trustworthiness among the buyers. Also state in brief how your product is useful in solving the problems in daily life, eases the job, does everything faster and so on.
The brand story can include following details:
- Landmark incidents of getting the idea, company background, journey from failure to success, etc
- Your core values and beliefs
Your values and beliefs are of great importance to your audiences who have a common problem. They trust your product and you have a solution to their problem.
Exhibit Your Skills and Strength
This is an integral part of your brand story. Every business operates on some core values, mission, and dictum. Customers always want to know what core values drive the company operations for your business. For instance, an online florist store offering free shipping on all products must demonstrate why it is their business policy despite narrowing the profit margins. Explain your core values in brief in your brand mission statement. Explain your reason and inspiration of starting this business and what you look forward to do in future etc. Often audiences are inspired by your values and join the mission.
Explain the Unique Sales Proposition (USP) of Your Brand
While businesses in the same niche are almost similar, your USP is the exceptional quality of your brand that bestows a distinguished identity in the industry. This explains clearly, why someone should purchase products at your website or do business with you instead of others in the competition. The USP of your brand may be anything from active customer support, competitive price margins (maintaining top quality standards), business values, expertise in the industry, etc. For instance, Zomato revolutionized the food ordering process in the Indian market when it declared- “Get your delivery in 40 minutes or your meal is free”. It was able to grab the lion’s share in the Indian market quickly. Today, the app is used by more than 11 million monthly visitors. The customers trust and enjoy ordering food with a hit of a button on the platform.
Add Important Credentials
Exhibit your credentials including instances when your brand acquired media highlight. If your business has been featured in the media at multiple instances, it puts your business in a distinguished position.
Genuine Customer Testimonials
Customer testimonials are important to the first time visitors on your website. To make your testimonials reliable, include the photo of the buyers who have given authentic feedback after using your products. If a buyer has found your product useful and achieved benefits after using it, the new visitors gain more confidence to purchase it.
Keep Everything Short and Simple
The text part including your business story, sales proposition, your expertise, and others may seem too long when you start writing. Make it short, easy, and clear to understand quickly. Its good if you can write everything in an organized manner within 500 words. Longer the text part, the greater will be chances that your audiences may lose interest in the website. Include and present everything but keep it concise and organized. To make it short, you can provide some information in links such as contact details, testimonials, etc. While discussing about the products, the type of problems these items can address, you can tactfully place a link to the important product page to persuade the visitors to purchase the product to see how it benefits them.
Motivate the Visitors to Take the Next Action
The ultimate goal of creating an ‘About’ page is to engage your audiences and prompt them to take actions on your website. Unless you have a call-to-action (CTA) on the site, there is hardly any scope for your audience to act.
- Invite them to sign up for email newsletters
- Take a free trial
- Encourage them buy the first product and receive discount on the debut purchase
- Visit the product gallery
- Read your blog and articles
There is often a doubt about including CTA on different webpages. The question is- how many CTAs can you put on your ‘About’ page. You can include one or multiple CTAs on the ‘About’ page. However, there is an art of placing multiple CTAs on a single page. You have to spread them evenly throughout the page rather than grouping everything at the bottom of the page. You may put the email subscription CTA at the middle of the page. Always take note to place the most enticing offers at the end. For instance, you can provide a discount code or free trial offer at the end of page.
Keep an Eye on the Details when You Present Your Story
The primary goal of writing the ‘About’ page is to present your story. If you can demonstrate what your product is and how it solves their problem, it can do a lot for your business. This helps your customers to understand if the product does exactly what they need.
Conclusion
Your ‘About’ page is the first but crucial step that can motivate your audience to take a more actions on your website. If you can create this page successfully, it will help you to move a bit closer towards achieving your goals.