Considering a Website Redesign? Improve the Homepage Instead

If your business is taking off, you might be wondering whether it’s time to rethink your website design. Website redesigns, however, involve multiple stakeholders and require substantial resources and time.

So, instead of redesigning and relaunching your entire site, why not refresh just your homepage?

Consider this – for most SaaS companies, the homepage has outsized importance in formulating an impression of the brand and in conversion rates. When your brand is growing traction, a homepage refresh can be a viable tactic for converting branded traffic at scale.

Here is what you need to know before kick-starting a homepage optimization project.

How to Tell if Your Brand Is Getting Traction

Tracking and monitoring the results of your brand-building activities can be a rather challenging task. Often, the safest way to determine if you’re getting any traction is by looking at data analytics and considering the immediate reaction and response people are giving your brand strategy.

Using Google Trends is one of the most straightforward approaches to evaluate the acceleration of brand awareness. The tool can give you valuable insights into how the interest in your brand and products has grown over time.

Another excellent way to tell if your brand is growing is by looking at your branded search terms in your Google Ads account and investigating their search volume.

Collecting quantitative data from platforms such as Google Ads and Google Analytics can further help you (re)formulate the value proposition and identify opportunities for content that resonates better with your website visitors.

Refreshing Your Homepage: Where to Start

Your homepage is your brand’s front door and the gateway to the rest of your site. It’s responsible for most of your website’s traffic, so optimizing it to attract traffic, engage visitors, and encourage conversions can pay off.

Focus on design touch-ups and A/B testing around UX content – it can help maximize and monetize the conversion value of all that branded traffic.

A good place to start is to take a look at Google Analytics and monitor the behavior of people who come to your homepage. You may also want to review your current homepage elements and ask yourself a few critical questions:

• What is happening above the fold?

• How can I better engage people above the fold and decrease the bounce rate?

• What can be improved at scroll depth?

• Can I incorporate more authority proof?

• What types of imagery do I have?

• Do I have a strong above-the-fold CTA, and am I repeating it throughout the page?

• What is the competition doing?

Homepage Optimization Best Practices

A killer homepage involves many elements in play. Here are some of the most prominent aspects to keep in mind when working on your homepage refresh project.

Talk to Your Target Audience

Before you start auditing and optimizing your homepage, it’s worth revisiting your ideal customer profiles. Are you addressing them clearly and directly on your homepage? Do the design, copy, and visuals all work together and help your target audience relate to your brand?

Refresh Your Content

When people land on your new homepage, the most noticeable thing should be revamped, fresh content. Because you only have a few seconds to grab the visitor’s attention, your content and design should be kept clear and simple.

For SaaS brands, reconsidering the traditional means of writing website copy and adapting some UX writing best practices is crucial. UX writing helps customers understand your product better and gives you a leg up on the competition.

Highlight the Call-to-Actions

For most homepages, the primary goal is to move people further down the marketing funnel. Your CTAs are the focus of this effort, so invest in A/B testing their performance. Small changes to the design, the colors, and the microcopy can have a huge impact on tour conversion rates.

Calls-to-action, just like your landing pages, should be built for each stage of the buyer’s journey. In essence, make sure you have an action for those who are ready to convert and those in exploration and evaluation loops of the decision-making process.

Use on-Brand Visuals

Supporting images and videos make up a big portion of most website designs. When redesigning your homepage, remember that your visuals need to give users a clear idea of what you stand for and what your business is offering them. This typically means that you should avoid cookie-cutter stock images unless absolutely necessary.

Adding a video element to your homepage is also a great way to show your users exactly how your SaaS solution works and how they can benefit from it.

Leverage Social and Authority Proof

If you don’t already, consider including social proof elements on your homepage to help earn your visitors’ trust. Using cognitive bias such as social proof can influence a prospect’s decision-making process and nudge them further down their path towards conversion.

The most common types are reviews, (video) testimonials, trust icons, and case studies. If you want to incorporate social proof on your updated page, try to stick to a handful of elements to avoid looking like you’re overselling your business.

Create a Better Homepage Experience for Your Users

Ultimately, your homepage isn’t set in stone – and it shouldn’t be. Keeping your homepage fresh and ensuring you’re providing the best possible user experience is the best way to keep users interested.

Along the same vein, take a look at how to create landing pages that convert – many of the same principles apply to your homepage too.