5 Ways to Get Visitors Engaging with Your Website’s About Us Page
By Steve Grant | November 19th 2017
By Steve Grant The About Us page on a website is, actually, incredibly important. Why then do so many people give it little or no thought at all or, worse still, leave it off their website altogether?
It’s common to see a website’s About Us page filled with reams of detail about the history of the business and how it merged with this company and that company over the years. This sort of thing, unless contained in a succinct paragraph and kept relevant, can become extremely disengaging for a reader, very quickly.
The thing is, your About Us page is the very page that visitors flock to in order to discover what’s behind your brand, and is the very page that can be used to drive an action, whether that’s a sale or an enquiry.
Content marketing agency Siege Media recently put together a list of 50 Inspiring ‘About Us’ Page Examples. They reveal that customers that view an About Us page spend 22.5 per cent more than those who don’t look at it.
So it’s clearly important, but the question is, what makes an About Us page truly great?
What makes an About Us page truly great?
Siege Media analysed 50 pages to see if they could learn just this and in doing so reiterated our point that an About Us page doesn’t have to list the history of the firm or its board changes over the years. Instead, this page should become a focal point for expressing the brand’s values and marketing messages, and the use of video, testimonials and calls to action should also play a vital role.
The following are our five favourite key takeaways from the research, with some of our own suggestions added in for good measure.
1. Place key messages above the fold
Whilst this advice has been around for what seems like years, it continues to apply. Research shows that users spend 80 per cent of their time seeking information in the top half of the screen without having to scroll, and this applies regardless of what device they are viewing on.
Our suggested action: Be sure to keep your key messages and salient points above the fold and include a call to action in this section too.
Always place key messages above the fold.
2. Get emotional
It’s proven via brain scans that emotional responses to sales copy are two to three times more likely to encourage a customer to buy something.
Our suggested action: Tell a compelling story in an engaging way, but first work out the desired action you want the visitor to take. This could be to read on, buy something, make a donation, share, subscribe, etc. Then work out the emotional state that will drive that action, for example curious, inspired, confident, concerned, etc. Lastly, sprinkle in words that spark these emotions. You may need to do some research on this, but as a starter you could use things like unbelievable, successful, magical, revolutionary, advantage, effective, solution, trustworthy.
3. Use photos and video
According to a Forbes study, 59 per cent of senior executives have a preference for video over text when presented with both on a page. It’s also the case that seven out of ten millennials are likely to watch a video when doing online shopping. Photos are also proven to spur interest; in fact a recognisable image of a company leader is known to boost conversions by 35 per cent.
Our suggested action: Explainer videos in any format will enhance visitor engagement, so consider a video a worthwhile investment. Also be sure to incorporate good quality photographs into your About Us page and try to avoid stock images wherever possible: according to VWO, real images increase page conversions over stock by 45 per cent. Use people pictures, team shots, etc.
Video boosts on-page engagement.
4. Quote testimonials & positive reviews
Testimonials and positive reviews instil reassurance. 72 per cent of people say positive reviews inspire trust in a local business.
Our suggested action: Pick out your best testimonials, but make sure they come across as genuine. Include names (with permission) and wherever possible, photographs. Video testimonials are particularly engaging and effective. If you have a good Trustpilot rating, consider feeding your reviews directly onto your Home Page or About Us page.
Positive reviews inspire trust in a local business.
5. Include a Call to Action
If you don’t encourage action, you’re not telling your visitors what you expect them to do next. Adding a call to action towards the end of a page is said to increase conversions by 300 per cent, and including contact information is also important according to 51 per cent of people.
Our suggested action: Decide precisely what you want your visitors to do, and write something compelling to encourage them to do it. Not sure what to write? Bring in a professional copy writer who knows how to grab attention and compel action through the art of using the right words.
In Summary
Your About Us page forms an important asset in your online marketing strategy, so don’t waste the opportunity to put it to maximum use with the expertise of an online marketing agency in London. By collaborating with professionals who understand the dynamic landscape of digital marketing. Give consideration not only to content, but design too, thinking about the visitor journey and how best to point them where you’d ideally like them to go once they’ve learnt more about your company.
If you could use some professional, face to face help with website design, why not talk to Figment? It’s something we’ve been doing for several years, with a proven track record of success for the businesses we’ve worked with.