Your Website: That Crucial First Impression
When someone lands on your homepage (rather than a specific campaign landing page) where have they come from? The chances are it's a Google search result page (SERP), from a link elsewhere on the internet (perhaps in the information from your social media pages) or even from a footer link in an email you've sent out.
In most cases, you'll want to direct website visitors straight to the exact page they want, based on the reason they've clicked through to your website. Promotional campaign pages or product pages are usually the destination for links in advertising, after all you've promoted a particular product or deal so you want the customer to go straight there from the ad they click.
This said, there will be people who end up on the homepage of your website, and with third party cookies on the way out, adding dynamic content to your homepage to create a more personal experience for these visitors is getting more difficult. What we can do, however, is ensure that the homepage is appealing to the majority of your target demographic, and that starts with making it appeal to everyone.
Page load speed is one of the biggest factors affecting page abandonment, with a 2 second page loading delay responsible for up to 87% of abandonments. Improving the load speed of your website pages can make a huge difference in turning visitors into customers. Of course, internet connection speeds vary from network to network, but you can ensure that the data needed to load your website is minimal to guarantee a fast load speed.
Clarity and design are also factors that matter to everyone, so a clear design with plenty of white space to prevent overwhelm and allow key messages to stand out is important. Ensure your most important messages are at the top of the design – a popular way to communicate promotions and offers is a series of thin banners at the top, in colours that are part of your brand, that people will see straight away. Numbers help a lot here, so make sure the savings and promotions are very clear; think “3 for 2” rather than “multibuy discount”, and “30% off site wide” rather than “huge savings on everything”.
Once these basics are in place, you can start to appeal to your target demographic. Think about seasonality, and what problems your customers are likely to be facing at this time of year. For example, if you sell skincare products, there's no point in having sun protection front and centre on your homepage over the winter. Companies providing business services might promote their tax return services from September to January, while end-of-year services will be more relevant in March and April.
We're not saying you need to overhaul your homepage content all the time, but it pays to be relevant and to provide your customers with what they are likely to need at the time they need it. If a guest came to your home, they'd expect to be able to give you their coat before they were served a drink and seated, and it's the same with website visitors. People who are likely to be seeking winter skincare products don't want to scroll past SPF and tanning products, or foot care for summer feet before they get to the first step in their buying journey.
With a website designed, built and managed by Parua you can have a relevant, attractive homepage whatever the season, with no hassle on your part, so get in touch with us to get great conversion rates all year long.
