Store Design
What to Put on Your About Page
Why an About page builds trust for a new online shop, what to put on it, three short South African examples, the mistakes to avoid, and how to build yours in ShopEazy.
When someone lands on your shop for the first time, they're quietly asking one question before they buy: who is behind this, and can I trust them? At a market stall they can see you, chat to you and pick things up. Online, your About page has to do that job.
Customers who aren't sure yet often go looking for it just before they decide. A good one answers their question in a minute of reading. This guide covers what to put on yours, with three short examples, and the mistakes that make an About page easy to skip.
Why it matters more for a new online shop
South African shoppers have learnt to be careful online. Fake shops, parcels that never arrive and sellers who disappear after payment are real worries. A new shop with a name nobody knows has to earn trust from scratch.
Big brands get away with a thin About page because people already know them. You can't, but you have something they don't: a real person, a real place and a real reason for starting. Put those on the page and you stop being a stranger.
What to include
Your real story
Start with why you started. Not a mission statement, just the true version: what you were doing, what you noticed, and what you decided to do about it. Two or three short paragraphs are enough. Write it the way you'd tell it to a customer at your stall.
Specific details make it believable. "We make candles" is forgettable. "I started pouring soy candles in my Durban kitchen because I couldn't find one that didn't give me a headache" is someone you can picture.
Faces
Show the people behind the shop. One good photo of you, or of you and your team, does more for trust than any amount of words. It doesn't need a studio. Daylight, a phone and a real smile are enough. Add names and what each person does, so customers know who they're dealing with.
What you stand for
Pick three to five short points that say what you care about and what customers can count on. Keep each one concrete. "Quality" means nothing on its own. "Every candle is hand-poured and left to cure for two weeks before it ships" is a promise someone can hold you to.
Proof from real customers
What customers say about you is more convincing than anything you say about yourself. Show a few genuine reviews in the customer's own words. Never make them up, and never tidy them into something they didn't say. Shoppers can usually tell, and one fake review undoes a lot of honest work.
If you're brand new and don't have reviews yet, that's fine. Leave them out for now and add them once your first customers have their orders.
Where to find you
If you have a studio, a shop, a salon or a market stall, say where it is and when you're open. A physical address tells people you're not going anywhere. Even if you only sell online, mentioning the town or city you work from helps. Plenty of people like buying local.
One clear next step
Don't let the page end in a dead end. Finish with one button that takes people where you want them to go next: your shop, your booking page or a WhatsApp chat. One button, not five.
Three short examples
A candle maker
She opens with the kitchen story and a photo of herself pouring wax. Three values follow: hand-poured in small batches, soy wax with no harsh fragrance, and jars you can bring back for a refill. Two reviews mention how long the scent lasts. The page ends with a button to shop the candles.
A tour guide
He leads with who he is: born and raised in Bo-Kaap, and guiding walks through the neighbourhood for years. There's a photo of him with a small group on a bright street, and a few numbers, like the year he started and how many walks he's led. He says what guests can expect: small groups, stops for local food, and stories you won't find in a guidebook. Reviews from past guests come next, then a button to book a walk.
A salon
The owner introduces herself and her three stylists, each with a photo and a line about what they do best. Their values are about hygiene, honest advice and never rushing a client. The salon's address in Soweto, its opening hours and a map make it easy to find. A button at the end takes people to book an appointment.
Notice what the three have in common. Each one is short, each one shows real people, and each one ends with a single next step.
Common mistakes
- Writing like a corporation. "We are committed to delivering excellence" says nothing. Write like a person.
- Making it all about the product. Your product pages already cover that. This page is about you.
- Hiding the people. No faces and no names make a shop feel anonymous, which is the opposite of what you want.
- Going on too long. If it reads like a CV, people stop reading. Keep the story short and let photos and reviews do the rest.
- Borrowed or fake proof. Stock photos of a "team", made-up reviews, or logos of places you've never been featured in. Get caught once and you lose the trust the page was meant to build.
- Letting it go stale. If you've moved, changed your hours or grown the team, update the page.
- No next step. A customer who has just decided to trust you should be one tap away from your shop.
Build yours in ShopEazy
Your About page is included on every ShopEazy plan. In your console, go to Storefront, then Pages, and click Start your About page. It starts from the story you've already written for your home page's About section, adds your tagline, and gives you a What we stand for section, your real reviews and a button to your shop.
From there, make it yours. Add a photo of yourself with an Image and text block, introduce your team with a People block, and add a Visit us block to show your address, opening hours and a map from your store details. The Reviews block only ever shows real reviews from your customers, four stars and up, and you can't type into it, so shoppers can trust what they read.
Your changes save as a draft while you work, and you can preview the page exactly as shoppers will see it. Nothing goes live until you click Publish. For the step-by-step version, see Build your About page and other pages.
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Build your About page and other pages