OVERALL GRADE: D
Products/Services: C
In the first paragraph on their main About Us page,
Toll Brothers boasts (with justifiable pride) that as of 2012, it has won the
prestigious Builder of the Year Award from Professional
Builder magazine not once but twice. Unfortunately the font and size of
this paragraph don’t match the text below, and the content doesn't flow from
one section to the other. As a result, the page looks slapdash -- a dangerous
impression to give when one’s business is constructing high-end homes.
Our Commandment
6 of About Us pages is “Honor thy graphics.” Toll Brothers has a fabulous
source of images; photos of their homes ought to be featured prominently to help
break up the dense text on this page. Another great touch would be encouraging
us within the text to visit the pages on the site that let customers design
their own dream homes. And of course there should be a reference to the lengthy
page of customer
testimonials – a great way to inspire confidence if your customers will be
investing hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Personality: E
We were stumped by the photo on several of the About Us
pages that show two unidentified men. Are they the Brothers Toll? Why not say
so? To find Robert I. Toll’s bio, we had to drill down to Investor Relations
(available only via a link in the footer) and then Executive
Bios, the nineteenth item on a
list of 21 options!
Having finally found that page, we were dismayed to find that
Mr.
Toll’s bio jumps from his college years straight to his grandchildren and
philanthropic activities. There’s absolutely no indication of why, when, and with
whom he founded the company. Because we’re corporate historians, this is an
oversight we find difficult to forgive or forget.
Accessibility: D
As far as customer service goes, the Customer
Service page is a dead end: it offers no contact information. Worse yet,
it’s a wasted opportunity. Unless visitors read through three densely packed paragraphs,
they’ll never learn that Toll Brothers gets a satisfaction rating of 95% from
its customers. How many companies can equal that? Why isn't that statistic at
the top of the page, with a link to the page of customer
testimonials?
The Contact
page is an online form with 7 options, any one of which takes you to a page
with a lot of blanks to be filled in. It’s functional, but some pictures of
Toll Brothers homes would keep potential clients enthused while they slog
through the form.
TAKEAWAY
If you have great visuals, put them on your About Us pages
as well as the rest of your site. If you have a substantial corporate history,
brag about it!
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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