How to Write an eCommerce About Us Page | All-in-One Guide
It seems like almost all businesses have an “About Us Page” nowadays. It is one of the most important pages and one of the most frequently visited pages on your eCommerce website after the homepage.
Guess why?
We can say that many of the customer decisions might not always be down to price, it could have a lot to do with your business impression that they glean from your “About Us” page. We’re talking about the emotional factors that are likely to be involved in the purchasing journey. The personal, likable, and believable about us page enables visitors to know your story and judge whether you understand them and their needs or not, and whether to trust you and buy from you or not.
Paradoxically, the e-commerce about us page is one of the most overlooked elements by many businesses. Many merchants underestimate the great impact that a well-written about us page can make on their eCommerce business.
In this extensive deep-dive guide, you’ll learn how to build the best about us page for your eCommerce website. This guide discusses
- What is an about us page?
- The importance of having an about us page for your online store
- The 7 elements you need to set up the best about us page
- The best practices to write an about us page that’s as neat and informative as possible
- Examples of the best eCommerce about us pages we’ve ever come across
Ready to be inspired?!
Read on…
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What Is an eCommerce “About Us” Page?
In the purest sense, “About Us Page” is an essential webpage on your website that tells your visitors what your business does. The main purpose of an about us page is to inform the visitors about the company and its operations. That’s why some called it the business’s history page or the business’s story page.
The About Us text is one form of the marketing tools that attract potential customers with both the history and the aspirations of business, adding a human sense at the same time. It’s a reply to your audiences’ question “Tell me about yourself.”
The About Us page is a vital element for any eCommerce website, giving your online shoppers a deep insight into your brand history and the people behind it. The about us page features should include answers for the following questions:
- How did you start your brand?
- What are your brand values and beliefs?
- What makes you and your brand unique?
- Why should customers choose you?
Who Is Visiting My “About Us” Page?
Have you ever asked yourself for whom you spend all this time and effort to build your website’s About Us page?
Definitely, you do so for your existing or potential customers. They might be customers who are considering purchasing your products or services so they are trying to evaluate if they should trust you or not.
Customers who visit your about page are more likely to look for convincing answers to their bunch of questions that include:
- Is your business a private, public, or family-owned business?
- Is it a startup, small, or big company?
- What is the company’s history?
- Who is the owner?
- What is the core value of the company?
- What makes the company special?
Now you have a full understanding of what the about us page is and who visits it the most. Let’s go into detail about reasons for having a well-crafted eCommerce about us page business along with the best practices for creating one.
Why Should I Have an About Us Page for My Online Store?
As it was previously mentioned, the About Us pages are often treated as a must-have webpage rather than a valuable opportunity to connect with your customers by selling them your business story, your mission, your vision, and what makes you “Unique.”
In Fact, from now on, your eCommerce about us page should be treated as a goal-oriented sales page that focuses on highlighting the most important selling points of your story and brand, leaving a powerful impression on your potential customers.
Below, we explain the four key reasons why having an “about us” page is so important for your eCommerce website.
1. Satisfying Customers’ Curiosity about You and Your Business
People are more likely to visit your About Us page than just about any other webpage on your website.
Why?
Because people are naturally curious, not only about the products but also about you. Moreover, people love stories and love to learn more about your brand and your success story. So, it’s crucial to create an about page that satisfies the curiosity of your potential customers.
2. Showing How Unique You Are
Every business is one of its kind. No one else is running an eCommerce business for the same reasons you have. Being unique and “unlike anyone else” is better than being perfect, or being like everyone else.
Ironic that when asked about those businesses we’re loyal to, we almost always point out those differentiating factors that are unique. But in our own business, not so much. So, understanding the unique factors of your business is all it takes to succeed.
Your About Us page is the best webpage to tell this and to highlight the most important differences between you and your competitors. Besides, if people have met similar difficulties and achievements as your brand, they’ll be naturally attracted to your story.
3. Building Your Brand Image and Reputation
Your About Us section is a powerful place to reveal exactly who you are, what your business is, and the way you want the world to perceive you. The well-crafted business story creates a unique and deep effect to highlight the brand’s image. It also creates loyalty from your current customer base and helps you get more potential customers and referrals on an ongoing basis.
4. Boosting the Buying Process
Needless to say, the “About Us” page is where your business starts building a bond with potential customers. Most people visiting your website know nothing about your business, so they are depending on YOU to tell them everything they need to encourage them to make the purchasing decision. If you don’t give them all the information that makes them trust you, then that’s your fault.
So now that you know the importance of having a good About Us page for online store, read on to see what you need to include into yours!
7 Key Elements to Nail an eCommerce About Us Page
Whatever your business field is or whatever your niche is, the below list includes the key About us page features and elements must be included in any About Page text to make sure you haven’t missed anything crucial.
1. History / Business Story
Telling your business history gives your visitors a deep insight into the success history behind your online store. This gives you a chance to share information about when, how, and where you started, and everything your business has fulfilled on the way.
Your existing or potential customers might be interested in seeing how your business grew over the years. So, you can use the timeline diagram to present your history and share your business achievements in a visually engaging way.
2. Visual Representations
We live in a visual world. You cannot imagine how important is it to include some visual representations in your about us page.
Using graphics, charts, images, infographics, videos, or any other visual elements will add colors to your page, make your page more attractive, grab your visitors’ attention, and often make a bigger impression than any copy ever could.
It’ll be interesting to include real photos of your products or your employees with products.
E-Commerce About Us Page Example:
The following About us page example is a good one for the Egyptian “Ratios” bakery online store showing real photos for croissant dough and the stages of preparing a high-quality loaf of bread alongside their inspiring success story.
3. Vision and Mission Statement
This is where your business personality appears and this is the ideal space to communicate with your audience in the way you are comfortable with giving them a summary of your company culture and core values.
Your vision and mission statement tell your customers more about your dreams and values you believe in. This should summarise answers for some questions like what is unique about you, who are you as a brand, and what are your key features?
4. Testimonials / Customer Feedback
Sharing some testimonials from your genuine customers or fans adds an aura of confidence to your business. Testimonials are a kind of positive review from your satisfied customers. They prove that you have real customers and therefore a legitimate business, not some sort of online scam.
Testimonials create an emotional connection and it can be a powerful tool when it comes to converting new customers. At last, we can say that the more testimonials you have, the more your potential customers will assume that you must be a trustworthy store.
5. Team Member Profiles
You can add an emotional sense to your About Us page by adding details of the people who are driving the passion at your eCommerce business. Even if you’re using the latest artificial intelligence techniques, people still find it comfortable to connect with human beings, not just machines, so allow the personality of your team to shine through the About Us page.
E-Commerce About Us Page Example:
Death Wish Coffee is one of the craziest coffee brands. Its About Page also is one of the best About Us page examples for eCommerce websites. It is precise with a detailed description for team members with a separate page for every single member in the team that describes his/her big role in giving power with brands. This makes the customer mix with the brand personality as much as they love their products.
6. Certifications / Rewards
These days, many people don’t feel safe about making an online purchase from any eCommerce site. There are, of course, a lot of factors that let your customers know whether your eCommerce site is trustworthy or not.
A significant benefit of adding certifications or rewards to your about page gives credibility and trust for your business and help you gain your visitors’ trust, along with other elements affecting how trustworthy you online store is.
7. Call-To-Actions (CTAs)
Too many eCommerce businesses forget to include a call-to-action (CTA) in their about page. It’s very important to motivate your potential prospects to complete a certain action before leaving your store.
Placing a CTA button at your about page can do wonders for your conversion rates. Based on your eCommerce business model, aim for a simple and actionable CTA, such as:
- Shop now
- Learn more
- Find out more
- Get 40% discount now
- Check out our newest product
- Schedule a free consultation
Writing your call-to-action is easy. Just keep it short, easy to understand, and offer a benefit.
Best Practices of How to Create the Best About Us Page
First and foremost, it’s rare to find an eCommerce business lacking an About us page. Also, it’s very common that eCommerce businesses follow some about us templates that lack personal touch and uniqueness while creating, one of their most fundamental and most important pages.
In this stage, we’re going to share with you some of the best practices to learn how to write an About Us page for your online store along with sharing some of the best About Us pages we’ve ever come across.
1. Use the Art of Storytelling
When it comes to building trust with potential customers, it’s extremely powerful to show your personal and human side. You can easily create a level of trust and empathy by using “Storytelling” that has the power to deeply connect with your audience. Don’t hesitate to talk honestly about your humble beginnings and why you do what you do.
For example, your story can be that you’ve been traveling around Africa and were shocked by the amount of plastic waste. So, you’ve decided to create an online store that sells environment-friendly products such as grocery reusable bags, reusable water bottles, bamboo straws, etc.
The honest story will not only create a deeper connection with your existing and potential customers but also show them your moral values and the human side of your brand.
E-Commerce About Us Page Example:
Taaluma Totes shows us one of the best About Us Pages for eCommerce websites that depend on storytelling. Their story was short and simple with no complicated terms.
Some companies prefer to show their unique value on their About Us pages. For examples, they may:
- Allocate a portion of revenue to a charity.
- Manufacture products in a specific country to provide job opportunities in a certain community for people with disabilities.
This is used by Taaluma Totes that shows how they source materials for their unique products and how their donations help support the country of origin.
2. Explain How You Can Help Your Customers
Guess what is the poorly written “about us” page looks like?
We can say that they’re pages that are sharing and glorifying only things about the company while ignoring the customers’ needs for what they want to hear about how can you help them.
So, try to not be completely self-centered. Your About page should be as much about your customer as it is about you and your business.
Leave some spaces on your about webpage to focus on your customers and their problems related to your business or your products and services.
E-Commerce About Us Page Example:
That’s exactly what New Chapter Inc. accomplished. It is a business that focuses on producing organic multivitamins that are fermented from natural ingredients. At the very top of their eCommerce About Us page, they share their values, mission, and vision, the ways their product can help customers.
3. Show Some Personality
You’re not like everyone else and your business is not like any business else. So, stand out with an About Us page that shows off who you really are with a real brand voice and witty headlines.
This takes us to the importance of sharing information about your team members who power your business behind the scene.
E-Commerce About Us Page Example:
HERRLICHT is a workshop in Germany for wood frames for glasses. In its eCommerce About Us page, they did a great job of showcasing the people behind the well-crafted special pieces, making the brand seem human.
4. Share Testimonials and Customer Feedback
Would you rather trust a company talking about how awesome it is or a company recommended by one of your colleagues?
Of course, you prefer recommendations especially if your colleague is more likely to be unbiased and give you a realistic understanding of what the company is like.
Including customer testimonials on your About page can give prospects and leads a more down-to-earth view of your company.
If your business is new and doesn’t yet have testimonials to share with your visitors, don’t panic. It’s enough to talk about your goals and describe what you’re doing to reach them.
5. Direct Customer to Do an Action
What is the next action you want your customers to do once they finish checking your About page?
You probably don’t want them to leave the page with nothing to do.
So, it’s important to create a call-to-action (CTA) to send encourage them to check your shop, fill a contact form, or get them to sign up for your newsletter to receive deals and updates, etc.
The question now is where should you place your CTA on the About page?
Hmm, some experts say that adding a simple CTA button at the bottom of your about page can do wonders for your store conversion rates, supporting their claim that the bottom the About Us page is the place where your reader is active and engaged more with your brand.
Others say that placing a simple CTA button at the top of your about page has a great impact on increasing conversion rate, supporting their claim saying that today’s internet users don’t have enough time to read the whole about us text but only pass their eyes at the highlights that interest them.
So, what is the best practice?
Actually, it depends on many factors including your business model, your customers’ behavior, your website design, and so on.
It’s recommended to try many types of CTA buttons and apply A/B tests on them to find the best practice for your own unique eCommerce business.
E-Commerce About Us Page Example:
The Egyptian online store “Nefertari” for handmade beauty care products uses a call to action in their website About us page brilliantly mixing between the CTA and Frear of Missing Out (FOMO) technique to encourage visitors to hurry to make a purchase and get the benefit of their limited-time offer.
6. Keep Your About Us Page Updated
Never forget to update your “About Us” page every once in a while. You cannot imagine how significant is that.
Well-written About Us page can build trust and credibility in ways that no other webpage can do. But an outdated, old page shows neglect, and as a result, destroys the trust that you suffered a lot to build.
To avoid this from happening, get into the habit of updating it every six months or so.
5 Things to Avoid While Writing Your E-Commerce About Us Page
After learning how to create an about us page the best way, check the quick summary of the 5-must avoids to create a great About Us page with no mistakes:
1. Avoid Dilatation
Today’s consumers don’t have time to read long stories about your business’s success or endless details about your products or services, especially if they’re using a smartphone, and this is common. Hit the point and keep your story short and sweet.
If it’s a must to mention your product or service, then provide brief information and keep the details in your main selling or product page.
2. Avoid Using Superlatives and Stick to Facts
What is superlative?
A superlative is a way of claiming that something is the absolute best it can be. Here are some examples:
- The best
- The top
- The largest
- The most
- The ultimate
Most of today’s shoppers have highly honed “bullshit detectors”. When they see a statement such as “We have the best products in the country” they’re not impressed, instead, they question the statement’s truth.
When talking about your eCommerce business, it’s better to talk about facts: your achievements, growth, motivations, values, etc. rather than using superlative statements that may reflect poor thinking.
Never use superlatives when talking about your online store. For example, never call my business “the best in class,” even though some others do. Use terms that can be defended by facts. I do refer to myself as a “passionate” online store because it has spent years improving customer experience. I guess that’s a fair characterization. Don’t call business “best-selling” or “award-winning” unless you have facts to support these claims.
3. Avoid Using Stock Photos
Custom photography is preferable over using stock images.
Why?!
No matter how professional the stock photo is, it will always be someone else’s interpretation of the idea, vision, emotion, concept, etc. that you are trying to convey.
One of the greatest benefits of the custom photo is that it presents you with the opportunity to show your website’s visitors something they have never seen before. This will help building your own unique identity and promoting your company’s image that you want in visitors’ minds.
With stock photos, that is just not possible because stock photos are used over and over again by many other users and anyone can spot a stock photo. It could weaken your credibility.
Rather, you can use custom photography to show a group photo of your team, either at work time or at an event. It not only humanizes your company, but it can also add a sweet and unique flavor to your brand.
4. Avoid Using Video Alone
Many internet users love video — and some hate it. Although the video is a great way to create quick rapport with visitors on your About Us Page, there are some visitors who are coming to your website at work and they may not want to play anything that has a voice, however delightful. Some visitors also may not have 5:48 minutes to spend figuring out who you are.
So, the best practice is to combine text and video. And if you like to use video on your About Page, make it interesting, keep it short, and include some text.
5. Avoid Being Boring
For some reason, when people sit down to write an about us page text, everything they know about crafting interesting and compelling content suddenly everything they’ve learned starts to run away from minds.
To fix this, follow the below tips:
- Use your own writing voice.
- Don’t be afraid to be a little funny.
- Don’t be afraid to be a bit of a dork.
- Don’t be afraid to use different styles of writing.
- Make it simple and get rid of any complicated jargon.
Wrapping Up
Once you start writing your about page, you might stop after two paragraphs thinking that there is nothing else I can add. The mission may seem difficult in the beginning, but if you have a point of view and know exactly what you’re doing and why, you’ll find that you have enough to start with.
Keep in mind that the most important function of the About Us page for any eCommerce website is to sell your business to potential customers and convince them why they should choose you, not your competitors.
Based on this, start writing your about us text applying the above-mentioned tips and we’re sure that you’ll be impressed by the final result.
Writing an “About Us Page” for your online store is a make-or-break moment. Remember that small savings now could very well have a much greater cost down the road. Think carefully of every single word you write and don’t waste this remarkable page.
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