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Learning to design “About Us” pages can teach you how to establish trust and credibility
Three factors that help persuade your users that your organization is worth engaging with
I realized that I didn’t know much about garnering trust as an organization until I had to design an “About Us” page.
“About Us” pages are weird, especially since many people might not pay attention to them while using a company’s site. It’s not surprising to think it’s a low priority page, but it can be beneficial for specific users and scenarios, such as:
- Business professionals who want to interact with business partners and investigate potential vendors
- Medical professionals, lawyers, journalists, or tradespeople who need answers about your company, products, or services
- Job seekers who are attracted by a job opportunity and want to learn about the organization before applying
“About Us” pages are often a way for the business to tell you about their product and their vision, team, and company focus. But in an age where overall consumer trust in businesses might be middling, it’s no surprise that users expect companies to demonstrate a heightened level of authenticity and transparency with every interaction with an organization.
As a result, designing an “About Us” page often teaches a lesson about establishing trust and credibility. It can also be a master class in learning Robert Cialdini’s six principles of influence.
Six principles of influence and how they can affect the design
Dr. Robert Cialdini, author of Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, talks about six principles of influence that marketers use to persuade users to take action:
- Reciprocity
- Commitment and Consistency
- Social Proof
- Authority
- Liking
- Scarcity
These factors always influence the design to some degree, especially in terms of the copy that’s produced to describe products, but the “About Us” page is where 3 of these factors are often…
