Homepage
Most brands treat the homepage like a brochure. It isn't. It converts the brand, not a specific product. A visitor who lands here is undecided. Your job is to end that.
Above the Fold
The first three seconds decide whether a visitor stays. Three questions that must be answered before any scroll:
- What do you sell? The hero image should make this obvious without reading a single word.
- Who is it for? One line of supporting copy, written for the specific person you're selling to, not a tagline.
- What should I do next? One primary CTA. Not three. If you have "Shop Now," "Take the Quiz," and "Learn More" all at the same weight, none of them win.
The hero image test
Cover the headline. Can a visitor tell what you sell from the image alone? If the answer is no, the image is wrong. Abstract photography, lifestyle scenes without the product, or stock images are all failure modes here.
LCP, Largest Contentful Paint
The hero image is almost always the LCP element, the largest asset the browser has to load before the page feels usable. A hero image above 200KB adds measurable bounce on mobile. Compress it. Test the load speed on a mid-range phone before calling the hero done.
Social Proof, Before the Scroll
Not full reviews. Aggregate signals. The goal is to create immediate credibility before the visitor has formed an opinion.
- Review count and aggregate rating, "4.8 stars · 2,400+ reviews" placed in or directly below the hero. A single star and number is enough.
- Press logos, "As seen in" with high-contrast logos, never small and faded. If you have a meaningful placement, show it early.
- Logo strips should be image-only. No text descriptions next to each logo. The brand name is the signal, don't dilute it.
Featured Collections
The homepage is where you direct traffic, not list inventory. Three rules:
- Show 3–6 collections max. More than 6 feels like a directory, not a curated experience.
- Each card is image-first. Collection name only, no paragraph descriptions on the cards.
- Show the collections that match how your customer actually shops, not how your catalog is organized internally. "Holiday Dresses" converts better than "Category: Dresses."
Email Capture
Bad offer
"Sign up for updates." Nobody wants updates. This converts at under 1% and makes your list worthless.
Good offer
A discount, exclusive product access, a quiz result, or content your customer would actually pay for. Something specific, something valuable.
- Popup timing: 30+ seconds minimum, or exit-intent. Never on page load. A popup within 5 seconds of arrival is a signal to leave.
- An inline email capture section below the fold converts better than a popup for most brands, less intrusive, higher-quality subscribers.
- Mobile: the popup must not cover the entire screen. A bottom sheet that slides up is better.
Below the Fold, What Belongs
- Bestsellers or featured products, 4–6 cards, sorted by revenue performance, not upload date.
- A brief brand story, 1–2 sentences and a single image. Not an essay. Visitors are not reading a full About section on the homepage.
- Social proof section, a UGC video carousel or a curated review set. Video outperforms static at every placement.
- A quiz entry point, placed mid-page for visitors who haven't found their path through browsing.
- Email capture, inline, not popup, if you haven't captured them yet.
Below the Fold, What Doesn't Belong
- Every collection listed. The homepage is not a sitemap.
- Long copy blocks about your brand. That belongs on the About page.
- Blog posts, unless your content is genuinely part of the purchase journey. For most stores, blog teasers on the homepage are noise.
- Duplicate CTAs for pages already in the navigation.
Mobile Homepage
- Hero stacks cleanly, product image visible above the fold, CTA within thumb reach.
- Logo strip: scrollable carousel or compressed to fit 4–5 logos. Never squashed into illegible rows.
- Collections: 2-up grid or a swipeable carousel, not a stacked list that takes 10 scrolls to get through.
- No scroll animations. They look nice on desktop. On a mid-range phone with a slow connection, they add jank and perceived lag.
What good looks like
A visitor knows what you sell and who it's for before they scroll. One CTA is dominant. The hero image loads fast. Social proof appears above the fold. Curated collections make the catalog feel manageable. Below the fold: bestsellers, a brief story, proof, and a quiz path, in that order. Nothing that could be cut without losing a sale.
This is 1 area. The full audit covers 11.
Which of your leaks is actually costing the most?
A checklist shows you what to look for. It cannot tell you which leak is bleeding the most revenue on your store, or in what order to fix. The Store Autopsy ranks the 20 to 70 leaks actually costing you money, top 3 surfaced, delivered in about 2 weeks. $800, credited in full toward the fix. Proof, not opinions.
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See the full audit