When is a website too humanized/personal?
A popular technique to attract customers and instil trust in them is to “humanize” your website. You want to make it appear that there are actually people behind the users’ screens and that those people are friendly humans with lives just like you.
There are tips all across the web on how to do this:
Man or Machine? Tactics to Humanize Your Website
To humanize your website means making it remind readers that there are people working behind the scenes that he/she can trust. It’s about creating those relationships through your content.
Top Website Tips: Humanise your website
- Include photos of your staff and premises on your ‘about’ or ‘contact’ page. Make sure photos around your shop or building have people in them. Showing you actually exist in the real world can help to cut through the scammers and creates instant trust.
- Add the email addresses of staff too, especially sales staff, rather than something generic such as sales@sitename.com.au.
- Blog about internal events and milestones within your company. As your company celebrates birthdays, anniversaries or special ‘customer only’ days, share event photos online to give your customers a glimpse ‘behind the scenes’. This provides your customers with a sense of being privileged and is a great trust builder.
But my question is, when does this go too far?
For example, I obviously want to include information about who we are and what we do. But do I want to include “personal stories” from any or all of my staff? Do I want to talk about the company’s scenic location even if the website is meant for users countrywide or even worldwide?
Where do users draw the line between “not knowing enough about who they’re dealing with” and “too much information I don’t need to know”? I wouldn’t want to go through the supermarket checkout and have the cashier tell me his life story.
Note: This is specifically related to e-commerce companies that sell nationwide, but would like to hear more general answers as well.