How to Craft An Engaging About Page
Fact: for a lot of brands out there, the About page should not be about the Founder, but the customers. Yet this is one mistake businesses make again and again. Perhaps it’s the vagueness of the term “About” page that throws people, or perhaps it’s a lack of understanding of the consumer.
The majority of customers will simply not be interested in hearing about the ins and outs of how and why a you founded your brand. They want to know what your brand can do for them, how it can impact their lives, and how they too can fit into the story.
Creating meaning through storytelling
Whether for extinguishing fires in the Amazon, limiting global warming to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels, or reducing meat consumption, narratives can provoke emotional responses and align perspectives among diverse groups.
Narratives matter because they help people shape meaning about the world around them, and in turn, stories shape people’s narratives about themselves. Our brain’s Default Mode Network is responsible for narrative formation, and it also engages in self-referencing, transporting us into our thoughts and imagination. Whenever you imagine yourself using a product or desiring something in your life, as well as remembering something quite vividly, your brain is engaging in self-referencing behaviour. In fact, the tendency for people to better remember things when it has been encoded in reference to the self is strongly supported by behavioural science studies. Research has shown that self-referencing may be a particularly influential strategy in helping individuals to form richly detailed and accurate memories. (1) This explains why a strong brand story with a message that people can relate to is far more memorable than one that doesn’t engage people’s imagination or emotions.
The power of the story
Think about the difference between these two paragraphs on an About page. Which one do you think tells the better story for the customer?
In 2018, Andy finally hit a wall with his physical and mental health and started practising meditation. He loved how it helped his brain relax and the sense of space it gave him. He practised everyday for 3 years, and even managed to persuade his friends and family to get on board and start integrating it into their life. One evening during meditation, Andy had the idea to create a meditation app to help other people benefit from the practice just as much as he had. He created the first prototype, named Headspace, and shortly after he had raised over £100,000 as first investment on Kickstarter. Headspace was born, and today helps thousands of people across the world learn to love meditation.
Headspace was started with one mission: to improve the health and happiness of the world. Think of Headspace as your mind’s best friend. We’re here for you whenever you need us, wherever you are, helping you get through tough times and find joy in every day. Through science-backed meditation and mindfulness tools, Headspace helps you create life-changing habits to support your mental health and find a healthier, happier you. Headspace is proven to reduce stress by 14% in just 10 days. It can also help you relax your mind in minutes, improve focus, and get the best sleep ever.
Small hint: if you aren’t sure which is better, it’s number two. Story one speaks far too much about the founder and doesn’t even acknowledge the customer. In contrast, story two tells the customer why the brand will change their life and help them get through the tough times whenever they need it, and it does it in a way that feels way more personal and inclusive.
Solve a problem
Think about it like reading the blurb on a book. You don’t want to know the full life story of the author, you want to get a hint of the book’s story, because that’s far more exciting. Yet there are countless brands with an About page that has just become their personal life story, painfully written in the first person.
The reason this doesn’t hit the mark is because most of the people who visit your site will be your potential customer, here because they have a physical or emotional need. Reading your life story isn’t going to inspire them to connect with your brand, nor excite them about your product, and your customer doesn’t want to have to read an essay about your personal struggles and the turning point for creating your business.
The customer loves to feel like the brand was created for them to solve a real need in their life. They want to feel heard, understood, and part of the story, as though stumbling on this website will quite possibly change their lives for the better. They want to feel inspired to learn more, to visit the product page, to download the app, to book the service and to share it with others.
What can you turn into a story?
If or when you go to write your About page, think about the following questions:
What you can turn into a compelling story.
What have you learned from your target audience that you can use as key insights to tell a story of struggle, and triumph?
What problem are they experiencing, and how does your brand solve it?
What persona can you build into the narrative?
Just like a book that you can’t put down, a good brand story also need a hero or a persona that your audience can relate to. You don’t have to reference this persona directly, but you have to keep this persona in mind when writing the story, describing a need or frustration, a struggle or source of conflict, the desire for a solution, and the eventual inspiring outcome.
Connect emotionally
Remember that a good brand narrative doesn’t happen overnight, and if you’re doing it alone without the help of a copywriter, it might even take months of small tweaks until it feels right. But whatever you do, try and connect with your audience on an emotional level, and don’t make your About page about you as a founder. Make it speak to your customer, and leave the “about you” part for your Team page ;)
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