37Signals, founded by three young entrepreneurs in 1999 and
based in Chicago, is a privately held company that develops web applications.
Its first and still most popular product is Basecamp, which allows collaborative
project management over the Internet. The 37Signals About Us page (“Our Story”)
is here.
OVERALL GRADE: C Plus
37Signals has a single About Us page with an elegantly laid
out timeline, followed by the bios of company leaders and then a list of
services offered. These are all good choices for an About Us page, but when the
page opens, we have no idea that so much is there. We’d like to see the
timeline, bios, and services all appear “above the fold” -- on the opening
screen. Subway’s
About Us page is a good example.
Accessibility: A
On the Contact Us
page we’re given a snail-mail address and an email address, which we greatly
prefer to an online email form, since it allows us to keep a copy. The company
also offers answers to quick queries via Twitter: a welcome new option.
Products/Services: C
The timeline is elegant, but doesn’t focus enough on the
company’s products. Dates in gray mark major innovations on the Net or in
technology. The connection between those events and the company milestones, in
red, aren’t always obvious. We have seen timelines and company histories that brilliantly
tie a company’s past to events on the world scene. This one doesn’t.
In the list of services at the end on this page, we’d like
to have teasers that would encourage us to click on the links. If we could see the
headings on the Basecamp page
we’d be more interested in visiting it, and a direct link to the page that offers a free trial might
entice us even more.
Personality: C
The leadership team of 37Signals is Jason Fried and David
Heinemeier Hansson, plus Jeff Bezos of Amazon, the company’s sole investor. Since
Fried is a co-founder of the company, why not quote him on how the company was
conceived, what principles it runs on, what services it offers, and what books
he’s written? Also worth mentioning is the fact that MIT’s Technology Review
named him one of the top 35 innovators in the world under age 35. (We repeat:
the Wikipedia article on your company should not be a better source of
information than your own About Us page.)
TAKEAWAY
We are fans of breathing space in page layout, but there is
too much white space and too little information on this About Us page.
Does your Web site’s “About Us” section
accurately convey your organization’s history and capabilities? Every two weeks
we evaluate one example, grading it in three areas that are key to potential
customers: Personality (Who are you?), Products/Services (What can you do for
us?), and Accessibility (How can we reach you?). Contact us if you’d like to
have your site evaluated—there’s no charge and no obligation.
Today’s example was chosen at random;
CorporateHistory.net has no ties to this company.
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