OVERALL GRADE: B
Products/Services: A
The main About Us page (Our Stories) offers first-hand accounts
of travelers to exotic locales who are excited about sharing their experiences.
It’s a great introduction to the company, one that honors Commandment 2 of
CorporateHistory.net’s 10
Commandments of About Us pages: Thou Shalt Not Generalize. The company’s
actual mission statement (Our Purpose)
is considerably less enticing: “To enable entrepreneurship, cultural exchange,
community-building and exploration worldwide by empowering people to share
experiences with others.” And we don’t even get gorgeous photos of exotic
places to go with that mouthful!
The layout of How
This Works is simple and clear, reminding us (probably not coincidentally)
of Airbnb,
which we evaluated in May 2011. The opening screen features an enticing
photo, one-line summaries of three tours we know Carnival Cruises will never
offer us, and brief statements on four topics of concern to travelers: quality
of the tour, trustworthiness of the guides, ease of use, and payments.
Scrolling down How This Works takes us to a
3-step guide to booking, then a series of testimonials, then links to a page of
media coverage. This is an excellent
sequence, worthy of emulation. Our only quibble is that there’s no link within
the text to a page where we can start searching for and booking tours.
The Media page is
a model for such pages: logo of the publication, date, and the title of the
article serving as a link to the article itself. Even visitors who don’t click
the link get a sense of the positive press response to Vayable.
Personality: C
Vayable’s guides are the face of the company, and the Ambassadors are the
highest-ranking guides. But there’s no way to search them out: the Ambassadors
page blithely tells us to look for the Ambassador badge on the guide’s Profile
and Experience pages. Why not make it simple for us to find the best of the
best, and let them impress us enough to search for tours?
Vayable’s management appears on the Team page ... we think. Nice photos,
interesting bios, but what roles do these three play in Vayable’s operations? Titles,
please, and how they became involved Vayable, and why. On the main About Us
page (Our Stories), Jamie Wong (listed
there as co-founder) recounts an outing in Morocco that changed her life, but
there’s no link from that to her Team bio, or vice versa.
Accessibility: B
The Support page
is also simply and clearly laid out: each heading shows the most frequently
asked questions, with an option to see more. Why not rearrange the questions, so
one column is aimed at tour guides, the other at travelers? In the current
layout, travelers have to scroll past all the FAQs for tour guides.
One major navigation error: there’s no way to get back to
the Vayable site from the Support page or any of its sub-pages. The Vayable
icon isn’t a link to the Home page, and there are no headers or footers with
links.
TAKEAWAY
Remember your audience’s context. If you’re a new company
offering a new service, be sure to explain who you are and how you operate. Otherwise,
your business history may be “history” all too soon.
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?). Today’s example was chosen at
random; CorporateHistory.net has no ties to this company. To talk about your About Us page, contact us!
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