The Anatomy of a Stellar Ecommerce Website: About Us

Believe it or not, your About Us page offers a big chance to convert visitors—from visitors to leads, and from leads to buyers. Unfortunately, many don’t realize the true power that comes with a conversion-focused ecommerce About Us page. It’s not too late.

The two biggest faux pas are the “About our CEO” page and the “About our Customers” page. When creating an About Us page, you want to avoid these potential disasters. Visitors want to know about your company, not your company owner…and definitely not your ideal customer. So what do you need to do to make sure visitors get the full story?

Answer the Big Question

When potential customers end up on your About Us page, they’re there for a reason: they want to know about your company. So tell them. What do you sell? How do your products and services solve your buyers’ pain? What makes your company different from your competitors?

It’s really not so hard when you see it here, right? You know what you need to say now, so let’s talk about how to say it. Here are the main components every conversion-focused About Us page should include.

Company Name and Logo

Your company name, logo, and even your tagline should appear on every page, even if you think that same information will be covered later. The point is for visitors to recognize your brand no matter when and where they see it, so the more you get it in front of their eyes, the more likely they’ll be to remember you later.

Introduction

When you meet someone new, you don’t just launch right into what you do. That’s just rude. Instead, you introduce yourself, right? This is where you’ll share information about your CEO, owner, staff members, and anyone else who helps with day-to-day operations. Images are great, too. They give buyers the sense that they really know you and your employees.

See how Plated separates the About Us page into smaller pages? Each piece gets as much attention as the others, including this staff page, where all team members are introduced.

Tell a Story

Your brand story is probably the most important piece of the whole pie. This is where you tell visitors why you do what you do. How did you get started? What do you hope to accomplish? How can you make life easier for your buyers?

You have a real chance to connect with your visitors here. Your story should be told in the same brand voice as the rest of the page, but you can’t let an opportunity slip by in the name of fun. Take the time to appeal to your buyers’ emotions. You may not get another opportunity to show your buyers why you’re different. Check out this example from ModCloth, which even appears on the site in “book” form, with pages to turn and everything.

Social Proof

Testimonials and reviews can always live on another page, but it’s a great idea to share a quote or two from your favorites. This lets potential buyers know they’re on the right track when they find your page. There’s no need to choke your page with piles of proclamations, though. Just a line or two is all you need.

Here’s the About Us page from BarkBox, featuring real images from happy customers. This user-generated content says a lot more to prospective buyers about future satisfaction than your copywriter ever could.

Where You’re Going

Believe it or not, many consumers like the idea of being early adopters. Even if you’re just getting started, you can hook buyers and turn them into brand advocates. Just tell them where you’re going and how you plan to get there. If visitors like what you have to say, they’ll tag along for the ride.

Contact Information

Honestly, this should appear on every page. As with your logo and company name, you can’t let the contact info disappear on the About Us page just because the whole page is about you. Whether in a header or footer, your address, email, and phone number should always appear. Clickable links are also advised so visitors don’t have to navigate away in order to contact you.

Social Sharing Buttons

Again, these should appear on every page, but especially your About Us page. Your visitors will want to see what else you have to offer at some point, and your social channels are the perfect place to learn more about you.

Who knew so many things needed to go into one page on your ecommerce site? The truth is that every page should be perfectly crafted with all the important components. That’s why we’re breaking down every last page of your ecommerce site in this series. While you’re working on improving your About Us page, we’ll be breaking down the next important page.

As always, when you need help, we’re here for you. Updating and optimizing an ecommerce site is a huge undertaking, but you don’t have to do it alone. Whether you just need a few tweaks or you want to start over from the beginning, we can help.