If there's one page that's all about your brand, it's your 'About Us' page.
Unfortunately, it’s also the one page that lots of SaaS businesses get wrong.
They either use it as another space to sell, or overlook it during development. As a result, the page often fails to give visitors what they want. This is a lost opportunity to show who you are, and what your business is all about.
3 Types of People
There are 3 groups of people who are interested in your 'About Us' page:
- Prospects: before buying your product or service your prospects want to know a little more about you. The ‘About Us’ page should take them through your business story and answer any critical questions they might have.
- Job Seekers: job candidates will often check a company’s ‘About Us’ page before sending in their application. If you want the best candidates to apply, then you shouldn’t resort to stuffing your ‘About Us’ page with buzz words that don’t add any real value. Rather, show off your company's culture.
- Competitors & Potential Partners: a strong ‘About Us’ page is a clear statement of intent that shows the competition and potential partners your credibility. This opens up the opportunity for future collaborations and partnerships.
When it comes down to it, all three of these groups want to learn more about your business. If your ‘About Us’ page isn’t up to scratch, you’re losing out.
If you can't work out where to begin with improving your page, then here are 8 tips that'll make a world of difference.
1) Tell Your Story
Your ‘About Us’ page should tell prospects, job seekers and your competitors when your company started, who started it, why they started it and where it's going. You should list some of your biggest accolades and achievements, linking to sources for social proof. Make it interesting. No one wants to read a huge chunk of text.
The author and speaker Simon Sinek argues that everyone knows what organisations do. Some know how they do it, but very few people know why most organisations do what they do, and that's most important. What’s your brand's purpose or belief? Sinek argues people don’t buy what you do, but rather why you do it.
2) Share Your Credentials
You’ll share your credentials within your story, but you should also make it pretty clear what your business can do, how long you’ve been doing it for, and who you’ve worked with. Prospects want assurance that they will be able to trust you with their business, and your 'About Us' page can be a powerful source of socila proof.
Don’t bury your achievements with superlatives; let your prospects decide if your work is outstanding, innovative and cutting edge.
3) Showcase Your Personality
Customers will often choose a company that's a ‘good fit’. This goes beyond what product, service or unique value proposition a company has. By showcasing your personality on your ‘About Us’ page, your prospect will be able to decide if your company culture matches with theirs. If it does, great - and if it doesn’t, you'll have managed to side-step working with bad-fit customers in the future.
You can showcase your personality through the tone of your writing, pictures of your staff, and your story – you can be as creative as you like with all of these.
4) Make It Compelling
Your ‘About Us’ page should be as compelling as any other page on your site. All too often I see these pages created with block text and no compelling headlines. For those of us with a short attention span, this makes it an excruciating read!
5) Introduce Your Team
If a prospect clicks your ‘About Us’ page then it’s pretty clear that they want to learn more about who you are, not more about your products or services. Your ‘About Us’ page should be the next best thing to meeting face to face. Get personal: include pictures of yourself, your staff and your office. These images can build trust and put a face to your story.
6) Make It Relevant
I’ve often heard people say that your ‘About Us’ page should be all about your prospects and how you can benefit them. I fully disagree with this. By the time your prospects have reached your ‘About Us’ page – assuming the rest of your website is up to scratch – they will already know how your product or website will benefit them.
What you should do instead is frame your achievements and expertise. You want to highlight your relevant skills, expertise and achievements. Your prospects don’t need to know that you were the national 100 metre champion when you were 14.
7) Give Them a Next Step
After every piece of content you create, you should provide your prospects with a next step. You could ask them to follow you on Twitter, download an eGuide, or to check out one of your blog posts. Consider running an A/B test to determine what and how you ask them.
8) Make Your ‘About Us’ Page Visible
If your prospects can’t find your ‘About Us’ page then you may as well not have one. I have seen far too many links hidden at the bottom of the home page in miniature copy. As it’s one of the most visited pages on your website, you should make sure that it’s easily visible in the top navigation bar of your website.
While there is no magic formula for the perfect about us page – good ones all look different – these 8 tips will set you on the right track. Keep in mind that what works for one SaaS business might not work as well for you, so get to know your prospects, make your content relevant and compelling, introduce yourself and give them a next step. Throughout the development process you should be testing to really get the most out of the page.