Brand Storytelling on Your Website
Brand Storytelling on Your Website
Why Your About Page Might Be Your Best Salesperson
Why Your About Page Might Be Your Best Salesperson
Giulia
Giulia
Most small business owners treat their About page as an afterthought. A few lines written in a rush, a stock photo, and on to the "important" pages. Yet for small and independent brands, that page often does more selling than anything else on the site.
Research from the Baymard Institute found that on small, independent brand websites, 62% of visitors actively sought out pages like About Us, Our Story, and Our Process before deciding to buy. On large retail sites, that figure dropped to 37%. In other words, when people buy from a small brand, they want to get to know you first. Some go looking for your story before they've even glanced at what you sell.
That curiosity is a gift. Here are five things visitors are hoping to find when they click your About page, and how to give it to them.
1. Your origin story
People remember stories far better than feature lists. How did your business start? What problem frustrated you enough to do something about it? What were you doing before this?
In Baymard's testing, visitors consistently warmed to brands after reading about the founder. One participant put it simply: knowing what the founder cares about really matters when it's a smaller company. Your story is the one thing competitors can never copy, and it's often what tips someone from browsing into buying.
You don't need a dramatic tale. "I spent ten years in corporate kitchens and wanted to bake bread the slow way" is a perfectly good origin story. Honest and specific beats polished and vague every time.
3. What goes into what you sell
Whether you sell skincare, knitwear, candles, or coffee, your customers want to know what's inside. Ingredients, materials, sourcing. When this information was missing, Baymard's participants quickly moved on to a competitor who explained it properly.
What you leave out matters too. If your products are vegan, fragrance free, or made without plastics, say so clearly. Customers with allergies, sensitivities, or strong preferences are actively scanning for these details, and finding them builds instant trust.
4. How it's made
Handmade in small batches. Sewn by a family workshop you've worked with for years. Printed on recycled stock. The way you make things is part of why customers choose you over a cheaper alternative from a big retailer.
In testing, visitors described ethical manufacturing as a genuine selling point, and many went hunting through About pages specifically to learn more about it. If your process is something you're proud of, give it room to breathe. A dedicated page, behind-the-scenes photos, or a short video can do a lot of quiet convincing.
5. Why yours is worth it
Small brands almost always cost more than the mass-market version, and your website needs to answer the unspoken question: why should I pay more?
Product descriptions alone rarely carry that weight. Pages that explain your craftsmanship, your standards, and the thinking behind your work help hesitant visitors understand what makes your products genuinely different. One participant in Baymard's study found a brand's quality story buried deep in the site and asked why it wasn't on the homepage, saying she would have been hooked much sooner.
That's the lesson. If you have a great story about quality, don't hide it.
Your story deserves a place in your menu
If there's one takeaway, it's this: brand storytelling earns its place in your main navigation. Pages like Our Story, Our Process, and Our Materials are some of the most visited and most persuasive pages on small brand websites, so treat them as core content rather than filler.
Customers buying from an independent brand want the online version of chatting with the owner in a lovely little shop. Give them that feeling, and you've turned a browser into a believer.
If you'd like help shaping your story into a website that feels as personal as your business, that's exactly what we do at Bloomly Studio. [Get in touch] and let's tell it beautifully.
Sources: Baymard Institute, Direct-to-Consumer Research: 5 Effective Ways for DTC Sites to Tell Their Brand and Product Stories.
Most small business owners treat their About page as an afterthought. A few lines written in a rush, a stock photo, and on to the "important" pages. Yet for small and independent brands, that page often does more selling than anything else on the site.
Research from the Baymard Institute found that on small, independent brand websites, 62% of visitors actively sought out pages like About Us, Our Story, and Our Process before deciding to buy. On large retail sites, that figure dropped to 37%. In other words, when people buy from a small brand, they want to get to know you first. Some go looking for your story before they've even glanced at what you sell.
That curiosity is a gift. Here are five things visitors are hoping to find when they click your About page, and how to give it to them.
1. Your origin story
People remember stories far better than feature lists. How did your business start? What problem frustrated you enough to do something about it? What were you doing before this?
In Baymard's testing, visitors consistently warmed to brands after reading about the founder. One participant put it simply: knowing what the founder cares about really matters when it's a smaller company. Your story is the one thing competitors can never copy, and it's often what tips someone from browsing into buying.
You don't need a dramatic tale. "I spent ten years in corporate kitchens and wanted to bake bread the slow way" is a perfectly good origin story. Honest and specific beats polished and vague every time.
3. What goes into what you sell
Whether you sell skincare, knitwear, candles, or coffee, your customers want to know what's inside. Ingredients, materials, sourcing. When this information was missing, Baymard's participants quickly moved on to a competitor who explained it properly.
What you leave out matters too. If your products are vegan, fragrance free, or made without plastics, say so clearly. Customers with allergies, sensitivities, or strong preferences are actively scanning for these details, and finding them builds instant trust.
4. How it's made
Handmade in small batches. Sewn by a family workshop you've worked with for years. Printed on recycled stock. The way you make things is part of why customers choose you over a cheaper alternative from a big retailer.
In testing, visitors described ethical manufacturing as a genuine selling point, and many went hunting through About pages specifically to learn more about it. If your process is something you're proud of, give it room to breathe. A dedicated page, behind-the-scenes photos, or a short video can do a lot of quiet convincing.
5. Why yours is worth it
Small brands almost always cost more than the mass-market version, and your website needs to answer the unspoken question: why should I pay more?
Product descriptions alone rarely carry that weight. Pages that explain your craftsmanship, your standards, and the thinking behind your work help hesitant visitors understand what makes your products genuinely different. One participant in Baymard's study found a brand's quality story buried deep in the site and asked why it wasn't on the homepage, saying she would have been hooked much sooner.
That's the lesson. If you have a great story about quality, don't hide it.
Your story deserves a place in your menu
If there's one takeaway, it's this: brand storytelling earns its place in your main navigation. Pages like Our Story, Our Process, and Our Materials are some of the most visited and most persuasive pages on small brand websites, so treat them as core content rather than filler.
Customers buying from an independent brand want the online version of chatting with the owner in a lovely little shop. Give them that feeling, and you've turned a browser into a believer.
If you'd like help shaping your story into a website that feels as personal as your business, that's exactly what we do at Bloomly Studio. [Get in touch] and let's tell it beautifully.
Sources: Baymard Institute, Direct-to-Consumer Research: 5 Effective Ways for DTC Sites to Tell Their Brand and Product Stories.