The About page is the one place on a site where a visitor expects the company to speak in its own voice rather than a sales voice. That expectation makes it disproportionately useful for trust — and disproportionately damaging when it reads as filler.
What Should an About Page Contain to Earn Trust?
A specific founding story, named people with real roles and photos, a verifiable location or business detail, and links out to proof — reviews, case studies, or press — rather than unsupported claims about quality or care.
Every sentence on the page should pass a simple test: could a skeptical reader verify it? "Founded in 2019 by a former operations manager who got tired of manual scheduling" is verifiable and specific. "We are passionate about delivering excellence" is neither. The page earns trust in proportion to how much of it is checkable fact rather than adjective.
Why Do Visitors Check the About Page Before Buying?
Because the About page is where visitors go to answer one question the rest of the site avoids: "Is there a real, accountable business behind this?"
Product and pricing pages are optimized to sell; the About page is assumed to be more candid, so visitors weight it more heavily as evidence. This is especially true for first-time visitors doing a quick credibility check before entering payment details, which is part of the broader set of website credibility signals a buyer scans before committing.
Should You Show Real Team Members' Faces?
Yes — named, photographed people with specific job titles are one of the strongest available signals that a real, accountable organization exists behind the site.
Stock photography, illustrated avatars, or a team section with no names at all reads as evasive, particularly once a purchase involves any ongoing relationship — a subscription, a service, or support. If privacy or size genuinely prevents showing individuals, name the founder or lead at minimum and explain the structure honestly rather than filling the space with generic imagery.
How Should You Write the Founding Story?
Anchor it in a specific problem, a specific moment, and a specific decision — the story should read as something that happened, not as a template filled in with your company name.
A dated timeline, a concrete before-and-after, or a named early customer all add texture that generic founding narratives lack. The goal is not literary polish; it is specificity, because specificity is what separates a real account from a marketing paragraph a competitor could copy word for word.
What Proof Elements Belong Alongside the Story?
Links to independent evidence — customer reviews, case studies, press mentions, or certifications — so the narrative is backed by something the company doesn't fully control.
A story alone is self-reported; pairing it with testimonials as trust signals or a link to your third-party certifications page moves the page from "here's what we say about ourselves" to "here's what we say, and here's who backs it up."
Which About Page Mistakes Undermine Trust?
Generic mission-statement language with no facts, stock photography presented as the team, outdated milestones, and dead links to press or partner logos that no longer resolve.
An About page that hasn't been updated since launch — still citing "our first year" three years in, or listing a team member who has since left — reads as neglected, and neglect on the one page meant to humanize the company is worse than having a thin page at all.
Does an About Page Need to Differ for B2B and B2C?
Yes — B2B buyers weight team credentials, funding, and client logos more heavily, while B2C buyers respond more to personal story and values.
A B2B evaluator is often building an internal case for procurement and needs facts to cite: team background, company stability, notable clients. A consumer buyer is more often making a faster, values-based decision. See B2B vs B2C trust building for how this split plays out across the rest of the site.
Summary
A trustworthy About page trades adjectives for verifiable facts: real names, a specific story, and links to independent proof. Keep it current, and match the emphasis — credentials versus story — to whether you're selling to a business or a consumer.