I’ve been reading through a lot of small brands’ “About” pages recently, and I noticed something: almost every one, under a heading like “Brand Story” or “Our Story”, includes the same sentence: “We care about quality.”
Some go a step further and explain the ingredients or techniques behind it.
There’s nothing wrong with the sentence itself, or with explaining the quality behind it. But as both a customer and a designer, I can’t help wondering why it sits in the brand story section rather than the product description.
What is that sentence actually doing for a brand?
The Observation: ‘Quality’ Is Assumed, Not Differentiating
No brand sets out to say, “we make sure the quality is bad,” or “we don’t really care how good the quality is” (which, oddly, might actually make for a more interesting brand statement). So telling a customer that you care about quality doesn’t reveal anything new. It only confirms the baseline they already expected from any brand asking for their money.
I believe most founders genuinely do care about quality. But when a sentence is true of nearly every brand in a market, it stops telling customers anything about that particular one.
As I wrote in post #1, I think most founders have a real story behind that care. “We care about quality” is just what’s left once the specific version of it has been smoothed away.
What’s Underneath “Quality”
I care more about why founders care about quality.
What I find interesting is that a business’s real “why” is often not the same as its reason for starting. More often, it’s a mix of the reason for continuing, and the experience you hope your customers have.
In practice, I ask:
- What’s the one thing you’d never compromise on, even if it cost more or took longer?
- How does that one thing affect your customers’ experience?
- Has a customer ever noticed that care without you having to explain it? What did they notice, or feel?
- Does this connect to why you built a business around this craft in the first place? If not, what do you like most about your own products?
If I’m a candle lover but not an expert, “we use imported soya wax” doesn’t mean much to me. “We use soya wax that doesn’t produce black smoke when burnt, and is harmless to health” is better, but it’s still not the full story. “We want to create the most comfortable, intimate indoor atmosphere, one that slows your life down” is the reason behind the care, and what I actually want as a customer.
Back to where we started: why does “we care about quality” live in the story section? I think it’s a placeholder for something emotional, for a real story still underneath the care.
If You’ve Written This Line In Your “Story” Before
I’d love to hear what’s actually underneath it for you. Feel free to send me an email. A good story is always welcome.
Until next time,
An
