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Have you identified and prioritized your homepage objectives?

Announcement posted by Catchi 10 Dec 2011

Clear objectives on your website will result in increased conversion rates

Over the years we have seen and worked with many websites. A challenge that seems to pop up time and time again is managing the various objectives on the homepage properly. Most companies try to cram too many different objectives into their homepage, such as “sign up for our newsletter”, “learn more about X”, “Contact us now”, “download this whitepaper”, “do our online test”, etcetera all on the same page.

The problem with a large number of (most often non-prioritized) objectives is that it totally confuses your visitors. They arrive on your homepage, have a quick look around and get lost quite quickly because they don’t feel like they are being guided to a specific path of action. In these times of fast response times, nano second attention spans and fast browsing behavior, it is absolutely crucial to grab your visitors attention straight way. Like in a offline store, visitors to your website also want to feel welcome, know what you have on offer almost instantly and they want to know why they would take the action you suggest.Clarity therefore is the KEY. You only have a few seconds to grab their attention and guide them to a certain action or follow up page.

As your homepage is often the first point of contact with potential customers it can be seen as your ‘prime Real Estate’; therefore it needs to be managed very carefully and strategically. Less is almost always more and every website should be setup to sell. So start with making a list of all the different objectives on your homepage. Once you have identified your list, start prioritizing these objectives in terms of importance to your business model, revenue generation and long term focus. To find out your number one priority, think about what the most important objective is for you and your business. If you would have to choose 1 priority, what would you like your visitors to do that will relatively lead to generating the most revenue for you (short and long term). Next select your secondary objectives; these are less relevant to your longer term business plan and could be something like a short term Special Promotion you wish to display or a Featured Product you are promoting. Finally, you will have a few minor objectives that are necessary for a well functioning site, such as your navigation, your disclaimer or your contact information.

Here’s our recommendation: ideally, have 1 main objective, a maximum of 3 secondary objectives and only the necessary minor objectives.
Once you have identified your different objectives, start making adjustments to your homepage accordingly. Your main objective should get the best real estate and attract the most attention: about 30-60% of the page either in the main column or top banner, with clear headlines and a call to action. Your secondary objectives should be displayed in a less prominent position, with smaller headlines and smaller images. You still want them to be visible clearly, however not as the first point of attention. Your minor objectives can be placed on places such as the header or footer areas without images.

By prioritizing your objectives this way, you create more clarity, clear relevant direction of action and hence a more welcoming, effective homepage. This will result in a better conversion rate and ultimately more revenue for your company. Good luck!


Cornelis Boertjens is Website Conversion Specialist at Catchi. Catchi helps companies to optimize their website conversion rates, resulting in a higher percentage of visitors taking the action they desire. Catchi is a dedicated specialist in Website Conversion optimisation, which is a science and an art that requires a specialist team to get companies the best and fastest results.

For more information refer to Catchi's website: www.catchiwebsiteconversion.com or email Cornelis directly at cornelis@catchiwebsiteconversion.com