A website homepage can make or break your sales. It’s like having a business meeting with your customer – you really want to present yourself well, answer all questions and make sure to check all the boxes. Making a great first impression is a huge part because you only make a sale when your customers stay. A home page that converts looks good, effectively presents the products and services it offers and encourages potential customers to buy. Here, we will discuss 5 crucial elements of a homepage that help do all these things for your business.
Use engaging hero image
As soon as visitors enter your website homepage, they should be greeted with a picture or video that depicts an ideal customer. This is known as the hero image. It is important that the hero image reflects the primary target demographic to motivate them to buy your product. Apcopay and Quinel’s home page makes excellent use of the hero section by showing customers that are satisfied with their services, perfectly depicting the businesses’ target demographic. Your website’s home page also should do the same – so your customers can see a happy reflection of themselves if they use your product.
Help your client to contact you right away (CTA)
In all forms of digital marketing calls to action is the key to success. The two types of calls to action are direct call to action and transitional call to action. A direct call to action pursues the customer to purchase immediately. “Buy Now” is a popular example of a direct call to action. A transitional call to action attempts to get the customers to learn more about your products and services. It usually gives contact information so the customers can ask any questions they might have, or asks to create a free profile or download brochures and such. This helps customers to move toward a direct call to action.
If your customer rejects your direct call, you can redirect them to a transitional call. The call to action should be placed on the most valuable section of your website. The top right corner of your homepage is ideal for this purpose. Customers’ eyes are easily drawn to this area, hence it should be kept uncluttered so the call to action is highlighted. Apcopay greatly utilizes this space for its call to action. Some other popular examples are Similarweb, McDonald’s, Burger King etc.
Show your services in the simplest way
No matter how complicated or simple your services are, you must present your customers with a 3 step plan on the home page. Here, simplicity is the key. It might be tempting to go into great details about your business because you want your customers to know everything you have to offer. But a 3 step plan must be kept straightforward, where you provide just enough information to reassure the client you know what to do and encourage them to learn more. Having too many steps will leave the customers confused, bored or both. Quinel, an internationally accredited testing laboratory and a client of ours, shows their work process in 3 simple steps on their homepage.
Use proper content to grab attention
This tip may seem simple, but many businesses often undermine the necessity of precise and meaningful content on their home page. Content can take many forms such as videos, blogs, podcasts, illustrations, infographics etc. You should choose the content forms that best suit your business. Every home page content should have a specific purpose and be oriented towards the business. Our client Apcopay, the leading payment brand in Malta, focuses its home page on visual content and uses text only when necessary. Imagina Gaming, another client of ours, features beautiful illustrations on its website. On a different side, the leading iGaming content creator iGaming NEXT features podcasts and blog posts on its home page.
Have a smart contact collection strategy
Simply asking people to provide email addresses or signup for newsletters rarely works. The best way to get people onto your email list is to offer them something in exchange. For example, Michelle Prince, the best-selling author and motivational speaker, offers a free training video to those who subscribe to her newsletter. Once you collect a potential customer’s email address, you can begin sending emails encouraging them to make a purchase. You can perform this task with autoresponder software which sends emails to those on the list. To maintain a customer’s interest without annoying them, send an email as frequently as every day or as rarely as once a week.
These 5 elements are the building blocks of a great website homepage. Using them properly will help capture customers’ attention, nurture their interest and finally encourage them to make transactions. If you would like to have a review of your homepage, contact us and we will be happy to provide you with an assessment.